Tiger Woods: Olympian?

No.

 

It was forgone conclusion that rugby would get in. Anybody with half a brain knew that. Cities don't have to build new venues for it and Rogge is a former rugby player.

Plus, the Rugby World Cup is supposedly the third-most watch world-wide sporting event behind the Olympics and the soccer World Cup. Rugby is a huge sport outside the U.S.

Golf got in because of the possibility of the top players participating. Plus, every city on the planet has a golf course. Again, no venue cost.

 

I'm not talking about Olympic-caliber women's rugby players.... I'm talking about women's rugby players period.

And, golf, the most elitist game of all.

Pathetic choices.

And, WTF is this mutated version of rugby they are shoving out there anyway?

 

7s is insanely popular. Fast-paced and high scoring. I think it'll be very popular with American viewers.

 

Baseball as an Olympic sport doesn't make any sense considering you need to insert a two-week break into the season and there's already a World Baseball Classic. Thumbing its nose at the IOC is the only good thing MLB has done in the last 30 years.

 

I know quite a few female rugby players from college, where my school had it as a varsity sport.

Here's a hint: If someone tries to set you up on a blind date with a female rugby player, you must ask one question: Forward or back?

 

Also, America tends to do pretty well at it, iirc.

 

I don't care for any sport in the Olympics where the Olympic gold isn't the ultimate prize ... perhaps with hockey in the Winter Olympics being the lone exception because it's probably second behind the Stanley Cup.

The biggest offenders are more Summer than Winter:

Soccer - although it's not full national sides, winning the Olympics in soccer doesn't even rate a blip on the radar compared to World Cup/European championship/Champions League/FA Cup/EPL/La Liga/Italy/Bundesliga/the list goes on.

Cycling (except for track) - same thing ... Tour/Giro/Vuelta/a half dozen Classics/world championships

Baseball - uhhhh, World Series/league championship/division title/weekend sweep of the Phillies

Tennis - an Olympic gold would at best fourth behind Wimbledon/U.S. Open/French Open and maybe fifth behind the Ausie Open. Golf would be even worse behind any of the four Majors, Ryder Cup and the TPC.

Rugby - same deal. You've already got the World Cup and Tri-Nations (although the Olympics is 7s) ... still, there are already bigger tournaments for the sport.

I just think the Olympics should stick to traditional track & field/individual athletic type sports.

 

True in America, but not for much of the rest of the world.

People stopped Elena Dementieva on the street and said "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you" to her after she won Olympic gold last year. She explains:

"You know, when you win a tournament, or a big match, people will say, 'Congratulations,' or, 'Well done.' But the Olympics is different. They are thanking you for doing something for our country. It feels very nice.

"It was the same when I won the silver medal in Sydney in 2000. To me, even if I won here (U.S. Open), Wimbledon, or the others [majors], the Olympics would stand higher because everybody knows the Olympics.

"Tennis fans know the tournaments, but everybody knows the Olympics."

 

You might be right. I think for most Americans (myself included) just give us the medal count each day, and we're good to go. It doesn't really matter what the sports are. "Did we win? Yeah? OK. Good." The actual sport doesn't matter.

And harking back to the thread title, that's why I take Tiger as an Olympian very lightly. He's not interested in representing his country as evidenced by his piss poor Ryder Cup record. The greatest golfer of the age and perhaps all time, and when nothing is on the line for him personally (majors/money) he's lackluster at best.