1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

34th America's Cup

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Gator, Sep 7, 2013.

  1. Gator

    Gator Well-Known Member

    Any interest in this?

    It's certainly much more TV friendly, and there are a lot of good storylines, including a cheating scandal. Wait, a scandal in sailing? No!

    Even for those who have no connection to sailing, it's pretty interesting to watch. These boats are flat out insane.
     
  2. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    I know it's a college football Saturday, but I am glued to this thing. These boats are incredible. Throw in that it's on San Francisco Bay and all the off-the-water stuff, and it really is fascinating. And NBC's graphics are wicked good, making it very viewer friendly.
     
  3. Gator

    Gator Well-Known Member

    They went into great detail about the "foiling" but I'm still amazed each time I see it. And the graphics do make it pretty easy to understand.
     
  4. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Loved this article about the host yacht club, and its more prestigious rival:

     
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    This thing has been a clusterfuck in every way, from the wildly optimistic overestimates of economic benefit to the death of the sailor to the dispute that caused teams to pull out of the undercard races. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy in Ellison.

    I do love the docking two victories from him before the thing even starts. I just imagine the NFL saying "ok Belichick, you want to cheat? You're down 10-0 when the Super Bowl starts."
     
  6. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    It is incredible to watch - though I'd really like to see those involved actually seem to be interested in developing the global appeal. Making the ante so high you price out all but four countries isn't the way to go about things. Imagine if whomever won the Sprint Cup decided which courses NASCAR would race at, what type of cars would be raced and how long each race would be for the next season?
    Standardize the boats and materials, establish standards for courses and schedules and maybe it might look less like an X-Games event.
     
  7. Watched the 1992 and 1995 editions on ESPN, which were entertaining with both challenger and defender trials. I am not a fan of catamarans. Bring back yachts and keep it relatively low tech.
     
  8. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    All that said, seeing these big ass boats travelling at 30 knots and passing within 20 feet of each other is just nuts.
     
  9. Iron_chet

    Iron_chet Well-Known Member

    I realize I am threadjacking here but is Ellison's rep that nasty? There were some Oracle folks at my head office and I cracked about saying hi to Larry Ellison for me.

    The one guy grimly/humorously responded that if he sees Ellison coming in the halls he walks the other way.
     
  10. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    What's the deal with the "cheating scandal" that resulted in a two race penalty?

    I read they put weights on the boat, but don't understand how that would have given them an advantage.

    Also, is it conceivable this could have been done without the knowledge of the skipper? Seems to me the skipper would be very focused on issues of weight and balance.
     
  11. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

  12. pressboxer

    pressboxer Active Member

    As I posted elsewhere, the way to make America's Cup more interesting is to give each boat a cannon. Each gets two shots per race. Sink the other boat, win the race.

    Also, all crew members must wear an eye patch.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page