Mr Barguzin Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I have just seen something that I never thought I would ever see in a final: A 100 metre sprinter ease up after just 35 steps (relying on velocity to reach the finish line), spread out his arms in victory, break .... nay, exterminate the World Record for 100 metres and make it look so easy as daylight finished second. Michael Phelps is good, this guy is G_d. Usain Powell Unbelievable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrBrGr Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Damn - ! I missed that one! Actually (regrettably) I have missed more of this Olympiad than I ever have before - maybe because of the later time period . . . (us old folk need our rest . . . ) Phelps - just good?? C'mon, Piotr! This guy has only one more event to win, and he will have won more gold at one Olympiad than any other athlete in the history of the games. That's seven already this time around, and I believe he has set (or had a part in setting) a new world record in every event! Add those to the golds he won before, and he's already won more gold in Olympic competitions than any other human. I would think that makes him just a tad better than good - ! Maybe not God status. But really, really f**king great!!! " title="Applause" /> " title="Applause" /> " title="Applause" /> " title="Applause" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Fox Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 First off, the following is a little information to put the Olympics into context. I am not trying to belittle them in any way. I admire those folks greatly. I am not going to say why here, but I do have a little understanding of Native history in some areas. No, I am not native. But anyone who has studied their history knows how very fascinating it is. Much has been destroyed. Much still remains! " title="Applause" /> You will I am sure tell me that it would be impossible to play the following games. But, there are large numbers of documents proving they were indeed possible. These things were indeed done! A simple one. This is only an extremely easy one to get you warmed up. Place a stone on the floor. Standing straight up, throw another stone in the air. Object is to bend down, pick up the stone, and straighten up in time to catch that first stone as it comes down. Sounds simple? Give it a try. OK, a second very easy one to get you warmed up. This one was often played by the women. You will basically be standing on one foot as you play it. You have a ball about the size of a volly ball. Drop it, and catch it with your toe, knocking it back up into the air. Catch it on your knee, bouncing it in the air again, so that you can catch it with your toes again next time. Keep doing that continually for long periods of time... Now then. Those are just the really easy stuff for warm ups. Let's try La Croix. La Croix was commonly played on a relatively large field. Very common to play it on a field a mile long. But was played by times on a field up to twenty miles long. There are quotes that mention a hundred players per side. Others mention "Hundreds" of players per side. I believe that the second is most accurate for a number of reasons. (research oriented) So, put yourself in the middle of a field, with the goals being ten miles in opposite directions. Now, understand. There were few rules to this game. Pretty much anything went often. La Croix. Recognize it yet? How about La Crosse! Yep, that is it. You might think that they would place players at different spots on the field to take over. But remember. No rules. Little structure. So, they would I am sure do that to a limited degree. But only limited. Folks, this game was wide open! By the way, they sometimes played with a stick in each hand. Can you imagine how vicious that would be? But. Here is the kicker. There was not one one hour period. There was not three 20 minute periods. They would play this constantly for hours on end. I would have to check my references again, but believe it was sometimes played for something like ten hours. NON STOP! Our olympians run just over 26 miles. Can you imagine the distance these natives would run on a field of even ten miles in length over an 8 hour period? Another. Imagine kicking a stone in front of you. Up to 30 feet in the air. Have it land exactly on the course of the race track (path) you are racing on. You keep kicking that stone in front of you. For one mile. Or, I believe it was done up to 10 miles in length documented if I recall properly. One final one to tell you about. Was called snow snake. Kind of like Javelin. It was quite light. Curved up at the front end. Imagine throwing that along a path of ice on a frozen river. How many feet would you guess that they could throw that. Feet? Try miles. I cannot remember the record. But it was indeed a number of miles. And, these were not their super athletes. These were every day people. After researching all of this I had a huge amount of respect for these folks! And by the way, How many natives would you believe were in North America when the large European nations came along. Believe it or not, the population of North America was higher than that of Europe at the time! But of course they were decimated almost to extinction by the European diseases. W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrBrGr Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Remarkable. Even the simplest game. Just remarkable - ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Fox Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 To me, the interesting thing is what this proves. I would think we as humans should be able to obtain that level again. Yes, the human body has changed some but not that much. We have lost so much sitting in a car or cutter, or in front of a computer. In other words in 40 years, if we can get back to those levels, suddenly our record times of today are going to look very slow. People today tend to say "The changes in records are that speedy bathing suit, or something like that. There is not much more speed to be had. I maintain that as training improves, etc., we should actually have a long way to go yet! W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 Baggataway, the ancient precursor to lacrosse, was often used as a proxy for war between tribes or factions within tribes. Wasn't it also considered to be a "medicine game?" Phelps is just a freakin' monster! His team just took the gold, giving him 8 single-Olympic gold medals, 7 world records and 1 Olympic record, giving him 16 lifetime medals and 32 lifetime world records. The only record he hasn't broken yet is the NUMBER of world records owned by a single person. Mark Spitz still owns that one at 33. But, with only 1 more to go, he is sure to get it. As great as Phelps is, I agree with the others. There are records being shattered all over the place this year! So much so, that it's almost getting to the point where it is anticlimactic when somebody DOESN'T break a record! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrBrGr Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 I have just seen something that I never thought I would ever see in a final: A 100 metre sprinter ease up after just 35 steps (relying on velocity to reach the finish line), spread out his arms in victory, break .... nay, exterminate the World Record for 100 metres and make it look so easy as daylight finished second. Michael Phelps is good, this guy is G_d. Usain Powell Unbelievable. Saw the replay of that event tonight. Bolt set the new world record for the 100 m at 9.69. It's a shame he "coasted" at the end. He could have had 9.5 or thereabouts . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrBrGr Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 On a somewhat related note, I think it is notable that mothers are pretty much the same, no matter where they're from or who their sons are. The moms of Usain Bolt and Mike Phelps were overjoyed and proud of their sons' accomplishments, and both went pretty nuts after the races . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 Constantina Tomescu-Dita not only leaves all the others eating her dust but runs around the stadium several times rubbing it in after running the 26.2 mile marathon. the oldest ever to do so at 38. "I didn't notice when she made her move," reigning world champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya said. "She was sneaky somehow." When you're older I guess you turn stealth Well except for Torres. OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worker 11811 Posted August 17, 2008 Share Posted August 17, 2008 Constantina Tomescu-Dita not only leaves all the others eating her dust but runs around the stadium several times rubbing it in after running the 26.2 mile marathon. the oldest ever to do so at 38. We noticed that as well! She was hopping up and down while virtually every other competitor was gasping for breath! A sizable proportion of the panda population living in this Bear Den has migrated to the living room so that they can watch the Olympics. After all they ARE from China! They were all noticing Tomescu-Dita running around the stadium. They thought it was funny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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