Wednesday Link-Off: These Games Are Our Games

Another Wednesday, another set of our favourite links over the last three days. In our continuing series of the women of Olympics, here’s Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice.

There have been two big stories so far in this Olympics. First is Ye Shiwen swimming as fast as Ryan Lochte but passing her drug test. The other is NBC getting Twitter to ban their #1 Olympic coverage critic. (Deadspin)

The thing about Guy Adams’ ban is that Twitter alerted NBC to a possible terms of service violation so NBC could file a complain to get Adams’ account suspended which is especially suspicious considering that NBC is partnering with Twitter for Olympic coverage. (Daily Telegraph)

Adams’ account was reinstated yesterday afternoon after a detailed defence of his position and NBC succumbing to public pressure by withdrawing their complaint. (The Independent)

After the jump, a Canadian perspective on the Olympics, what’s wrong with video game reviews and David Feherty is clinically insane. Continue reading

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Sunday Link-Off: Let The Games Begin

Since the Olympics have started, I think we’re going to celebrate by leading off the Sunday and Wednesday sets of links with Olympic women. First up is Croatian women’s basketball player Antonija Misura.

People use all sorts of maths to figure out how many medals each country will win at the Olympics. Here’s a compilation of some of the better known projections. (Sports Myriad)

It’s amazing how much three seconds can change a country’s attitude to an Olympic sport but three seconds in 1972 changed how the US approached men’s basketball. (Bloomberg)

Much was made of the absolutely embarrassing approach US Track and Field took to the finish in the women’s 100m. For in-then-out runner Jeneba Tarmoh, it wasn’t just embarrassing but painful. (Sports Illustrated)

After the jump, the funny side of the Olympics, science proves that today’s pop music sucks and the best of Ralph Wiggum. Continue reading

How To Improve 12 Olympic Events

We’re hours away from the start of the 2012 Olympic Games. Billions of people will tune in to see their country’s best do battle for the gold. The problem is that apart from the next three weeks, no one really cares about these events. That’s why no one will watch unless there’s some sort of national interest or epic storyline. That’s why I think it’s time we rethink some Olympic events and bring them into the 21st century. So here are ways to improve 12 Olympic events. Continue reading

Sunday Link-Off: The New Media Rises

You probably didn’t notice but I was on vacation last week. Thanks to Jackie for covering for me and doing last week’s Wednesday links. I’m back in action today with the Sunday links. We’ve got a big week of programming coming this week. All that’s missing is the podcast. I am hoping to live blog today’s Edmonton Indy over on @LowdownLive but no guarantees. But first, here’s Canadian model Kim Cloutier. If you look up Canadian models on the interweb, she seems to be the consensus favourite.

When I first heard about the theatre shooting in Aurora, Colorado, I didn’t see it first in a newspaper or on TV. Twitter was the first to the story. Here’s a look at how Twitter and the rest of the social media is reshaping the modern newsroom. (GigaOM)

Reader Sarah tipped this next article to us. A while back, we linked to an article about former CNBC, now ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell getting duped by a fake tip. It turns out that this sort of thing goes beyond one guy. In fact, there’s a website called HelpAReporterOut which is full of people doing the same thing. (Forbes)

You’d think that being a member of the press during a political campaign would be pretty easy. Everything a candidate or his team says would be on the record. Except that campaign press offices for the two US Presidential candidates get to approve the final wording of quotes under penalty of being cut off from the campaign. (New York Times)

After the jump, the lessons the 2012 US basketball team can learn from the Mighty Ducks, Rush Limbaugh and rational thought are two things that don’t go together and call me Obi. Continue reading

The London 2012 Olympics Commemorative Coins

Gallery

This gallery contains 29 photos.

The Royal Mint has released a serious of special collector coins to commemorate the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. As part of these collector coins, the Royal Mint had the public submit designs for the coins. Some were amazing like the football … Continue reading

The History of Olympic Logos

On New Year’s Eve, the organizers of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, unveiled their official logo. After the debacle that was the unveiling of the one-eyed monsters of London Olympic mascots, I thought I saw the height of Olympic symbol ridiculousness. Some interpretations of this include a thong, two jockstraps, an ink blot test and three hostages tied together.

So just how ridiculous have past Olympic logos been? Let’s take a walk back through time as I examine the history of Olympic logos. Continue reading

The History of Olympic Mascots

Yesterday, the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games Organizing Committee unveiled the official mascots for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. On the left of the photo is Wenlock, the Olympic mascot. On the right is Mandeville, the Paralympic mascot. The obvious dick jokes aside, I’m not sure that there’s been a dumber set of mascots ever devised. Really, they look like a pair of one-eyed monsters that were rejects from a Doctor Who story. So how ridiculous have past mascots been? Let’s take a walk back through time as I look at the history of the mascots of the Olympic Games. Continue reading

Wednesday Link-Off: Owned The Podium

The Olympics are over and we can officially say that Canada owned the podium. It’s sorta like how Jennifer Love Hewitt owns Friday nights. Can’t figure out how she does that?

Hoserism trumped jingoism on Sunday as Canada beat the USA in the Game of the Century. It also meant winning the head of governmental wager. (Globe & Mail)

Canada: The greatest drinking country in the world. (Time) It’s only two weeks until St. Patty’s Day so if the Irish drinking team wants to swing by Canada, we’ll make it 15 gold medals this winter.

In my high school, any and all cell phones seen outside of a locker were confiscated. Probably so we wouldn’t film what happened at a pep rally in Winnipeg. (Total Pro Sports)

After the jump, gold medal hockey stories, politician fail, and a marketing success. Continue reading

Hindsight Booking The Closing Ceremonies Concert

Alanis Morrisette, Avril Lavigne and Nickelback? The thought provoking “Whoa Vancouver” by Inward Eye? That’s the best we could muster for the whole world to see? While both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver were wonderful through my gold coloured glasses, some of the talent booking decisions were beyond horrible. It’s not a matter of why would the producer hire these guys. More a matter of “Was everyone else booked and not willing to clear their schedules?” Bryan Adams singing something other than Summer of ’69 was a mistake and they just kept piling up from there. I’ve been saying since the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing that a Canadian ceremony has to be a giant rock concert. Why not? After all, we have loads of rock and roll talent right here in our backyard. I’m glad that someone followed my advice, it’s just too bad that they did it in the worst way possible.

So let’s fix VANOC’s mistakes and put together a real concert for the ages just to show the world that we aren’t as musically hopeless as we came off during the closing ceremony. Continue reading

Sunday Link-Off: Closing It Up

The Winter Olympics wrap up today with the closing ceremonies at 7:30 PM EST. Not scheduled to appear is Minka Kelly. For some reason, Nickelback is supposed to be there. Does that make sense to anyone?

It’s mostly Olympic links in here but I have to lead with this link: Ole Miss is looking for a new school mascot and Admiral Ackbar is the early favourite. It’s not a trap! (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The most random thing to go viral during these Olympics: The argyle pants that the Norwegian curling team wore. Hell, even I want a pair of those. (Mashable) As Sean Connery would say “You’re sitting on a gold mine, Trebek.”

We mentioned a while back that the Olympic Village has a supply of 100,000 condoms for the games, or about 14 per athlete and coach. Apparently your Olympians are putting forward Olympian effort in more than one venue. (CBC/National Post)

After the jump, scads more Olympic links, a couple token non-Olympic links that still deal with sports and/or Canada, and more Rock Sugar. Continue reading