U.S. Olympic cyclist asshats

I'm not convinced it was a political statement either, esp. given how awful the air quality is, but even if it was, I think it's more admirable to stand up for your beliefs than to sit down and shut up.

 

Eh ... wouldn't be the first time

 

I will say something as I have been there. Straining to breath is so far over the top that it is comical. The air isn't healthy but there isn't any straining unless you have asthma or some other respiratory disease.

 

Blitz didn't say that Blitz was "offended."
Blitz only said that, in his opinion, making a political statement on such a grand stage is asshattery.
Blitz only can offer Blitz's opinion.
Ands that's all Blitz will ever attempt to do.

The guys, if indeed they WERE making a political statement, were making it against "bad air." They were not, as was suggested here by one longtime poster, making a statement so much about "denial of human rights."

And I cling to that belief that this was an attempt by the four to make a political statement.
Not just four U.S. athletes trying to "breathe better"

 

What if, back in December, two of the four competed in Beijing and had respiratory problems, and were trying to prevent the same thing again? And after that experience, one of them had this to say:

"Your lungs burned as if you were smoking for the first time, as I'd imagine it. Your eyes, they burned and itched like you were getting out of a chlorinated pool, and all the lights had a halo around them."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/all-masks-0806cn,0,123977.story

 

PaulO: Meanwhile, in Beijing ...

Vac: The Smog Blog

Sully, from the hometown paper: Greetings from China

Suggestion to everyone over there: pray for rain.

 

Now we know what Blitz would do...but What Would Hed Bust do?

 

Straining as in putting it through a strainer, not laboring to breathe.

 

My personal memory of Hed bust:
Constantly praying that someday he'd be worthy of entrance to IJAG's Circle of Knowledge

 

Judging by your sig, congrats on always being the bridesmaid, never the bride.

 

Was watching Shepard Smith's show on Fox News earlier, and they had a report from Beijing. I assume the guy was on a balcony or something, because there were plants on either side of him that seemed to be blowing in the breeze. The background, though, looked like he was standing in front of a white wall.
The next two weeks ought to be fun.

 

Holy crap, I can't believe it. The air quality in Beijing is awful.

I just love how supposedly cash-strapped newspapers are spending roughly 20K per writer/photog etc. to tell us Beijing is awful, the smog is gonna kill all of us, the Chinese governament is repressive ...

And, oh, by the way, we need to lop 20 more people next week to remain profitable.