The Jester's Quart: We're No. 3!

[Greg_Wyshynski]

What does the bronze medal mean to you?

Top three? Runner-up to the runner-up? Close, but no cigar?

How about…LOSER?

Not only a loser, but a bigger loser than the loser the winner defeated to become the winner.

The bronze medal is a trinket whose only purpose is to remind athletes...
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[Ishkur]

What are you talking about man, the bronze medal RULES. The athlete that gets third is ecstatic that they get ANYTHING at all (third place turns out to be, more often than not, an upset or a personal best). It's usually the silver medal winner that's miffed, because he was that close to winning it all and either let it slip out of his grasp, or in the case of team sports, lost the last game of the tournament. Silver is FIRST loser. Third is better than "I'm just happy to be here". Fourth is the WORST POSITION EVER. Athletes would rather commit suppuku than come in fourth.

And what are you talking about, the United States is the land where everybody's a winner? America is the only country where ties are not permitted in any of it's professional sports leagues. If anything, Europe is the land of collective victory, where everyone can win something, and is far away different from the dog-eat-dog, social darwinistic, individualistic western frontier cowboy mentality that lets you crush anyone you want of American right-wing hegemony. Hot damn!

[jtg33]

Originally Posted by Ishkur

And what are you talking about, the United States is the land where everybody's a winner? America is the only country where ties are not permitted in any of it's professional sports leagues.

Ties are not permitted in baseball or basketball, but they are possible in football, soccer, and hockey. You may be thinking of collegiate sports in the US, where there are never ties.

Except in hockey.

[Greg_Wyshynski]

Originally Posted by Ishkur

And what are you talking about, the United States is the land where everybody's a winner? America is the only country where ties are not permitted in any of it's professional sports leagues. If anything, Europe is the land of collective victory, where everyone can win something, and is far away different from the dog-eat-dog, social darwinistic, individualistic western frontier cowboy mentality that lets you crush anyone you want of American right-wing hegemony. Hot damn!

As was pointed out, we do have our sports that feature ties. But let me ask you this: Aren't we the nation that keeps expanding our playoffs to make sure fans aren't cryin' in their beers while everyone else is in the postseason? Aren't we the nation that has 87 different bowl games (and no mechanism for a true national champion) so everyone except Rutgers makes a playoff game in December or January? And aren't we the nation of the WBC, IBF, WBF, WBO and every other boxing "organization" that crowns its own "world champion" until every fighter has his own belt?

GDub

[Ishkur]

I'll give you the playoff tip: the notion of having "playoffs" is purely an American concept, but that only reflects the American willingness to find an undisputed winner, ONCE AND FOR ALL. After all, it's much more definitive to have the two best teams face off in a best-of-7 series, rather than have one team win the championship because the other team had a tougher schedule and lost more games.

The bowl games thing is irrelevent, since nowhere else in the world plays American football and doesn't care to.

And the boxing thing is not American. Those are world-governing bodies and organizations. Because they are run and controlled by Americans and feature predominantly American fighters just means that that's where the money is. But it has very little to do with the psyche of American culture.

Trust me, you guys are not sliding down the slope of evil social conformity and liberalism. You are far from the collective victory, positive reinforcement, "what's best for all" mindset of post-modern, liberal thinking. That's the last thing you should worry about.

[Shane]

Originally Posted by Ishkur

I'll give you the playoff tip: the notion of having "playoffs" is purely an American concept, but that only reflects the American willingness to find an undisputed winner, ONCE AND FOR ALL. After all, it's much more definitive to have the two best teams face off in a best-of-7 series, rather than have one team win the championship because the other team had a tougher schedule and lost more games.

The Olympics have playoffs, they just call them by a different name...."tournament".

Is America to blame for that too?

[Ishkur]

No one is "blaming" anyone for anything. Because there's nothing wrong with it. The Olympics is different, because one of the biggest enemies of the Games is time. Hence why a lot of the sports, events and disciplines (like boxing, volleyball, etc.) have rules and stipulations that speed up play and bring about a victor faster. A tournament format is conducive to that.

[Shane]

Originally Posted by Ishkur

And what are you talking about, the United States is the land where everybody's a winner? America is the only country where ties are not permitted in any of it's professional sports leagues. If anything, Europe is the land of collective victory, where everyone can win something, and is far away different from the dog-eat-dog, social darwinistic, individualistic western frontier cowboy mentality that lets you crush anyone you want of American right-wing hegemony. Hot damn!

Wrong. The MLB All-Star game ended in a tie a few years back.

[Shane]

Originally Posted by Ishkur

What are you talking about man, the bronze medal RULES. The athlete that gets third is ecstatic that they get ANYTHING at all (third place turns out to be, more often than not, an upset or a personal best). It's usually the silver medal winner that's miffed, because he was that close to winning it all and either let it slip out of his grasp, or in the case of team sports, lost the last game of the tournament. Silver is FIRST loser. Third is better than "I'm just happy to be here". Fourth is the WORST POSITION EVER. Athletes would rather commit suppuku than come in fourth.

Agree and disagree.

The fact that they made the Olympic team should be one HELL of an honor, no matter what country they are from. Winning a medal should be icing on the cake.

I'd shit a pink twinkie just to be at the games, seated in the 135th row, competing should be an incredible honor.

Note the repeated usage of the word "should".

[Ishkur]

Originally Posted by Point_Man

Wrong. The MLB All-Star game ended in a tie a few years back.

exception doesn't prove the rule.