Olympics

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Sunday Link-Off: Taking It To The Track (And Field)

We’ve reached the second Sunday of the Olympics. The track and field events have started at the Olympic Stadium. Therefore, it’s only fitting that we continue our women of the Olympics series with British heptathlete and Olympic women’s heptathlon gold medalist Jessica Ennis.

WADA and the IOC say that Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen isn’t on drugs. After seeing this article of a Chinese athlete training factory, I can kind of see how that might happen. People will object to cheap labour making their $100 designer t-shirts but not this? (The Daily Mail)

Everyone thinks Penn State’s football program was hit with rather harsh, nearly permanently crippling, penalties for the Sandusky scandal but it could have been worse. Penn State had to either accept the sanctions handed down or risk the death penalty. (Outside the Lines)

GQ put together a very well-written feature about the Anders Breivik massacre in Norway. (GQ)

After the jump, Olympic media coverage issues, Mitt Romney’s Twitter nemesis, and a two-minute summary of life in America. Continue reading →

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Caption This: July 28 – August 3, 2012

Inspired by the Globe and Mail’s caption writing person, we waste our time writing funny picture captions for some of the more interesting photos we come across when blogging. So here are some of the best pictures from the past week with a funny (-ish) caption. Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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The London 2012 Olympics Commemorative Coins

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 (AKA soccer) coin which explains the offside rule while others like tennis are very underwhelming. And each can be yours for only £2.99 which is only six times more than the 50p face value. Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →