The Random Thought Thread

[Fungi]

too bad it wasn't between amateur hockey players either

Too true. The moment they went with pro players, I immediately lost interest. Lake Placid will never happen again.

 

[Bowflex]

too bad it wasn't between amateur hockey players either

Very true although ussr fielded a team of individuals that were paid to train year round for dominance. I wish we still had amateurs in most of the sports but other countries basically had pros that weren't in a major league

 

[netizen]

Very true although ussr fielded a team of individuals that were paid to train year round for dominance. I wish we still had amateurs in most of the sports but other countries basically had pros that weren't in a major league

Ah, so instead of increased support for amateur sports the solution is to send professionals and to further limit the chances for amateurs. Totally makes sense, Check!

 

[Bowflex]

Ah, so instead of increased support for amateur sports the solution is to send professionals and to further limit the chances for amateurs. Totally makes sense, Check!

That's the Olympics. It's odd that pro sports actually have better rules in place to support amateur athletics than the Olympics committee. I would have loved a mandate that restricted it to people that were amateur status and limit income derived from sports to zip.

 

[shutyertrap]

While I like in theory the idea of amateur competitors in the Olympics, I also think it should be bring your best of the best. Obviously in some sports, there really is no 'pro' level. Is there a professional curlers league? And I don't think someone should be bumped because they scored an endorsement deal. The network is making mad money off the Olympics and the athletes that are competing, so why shouldn't the athletes get a slice of their own pie?

I also think that particularly for the winter games, if you eliminated pro athletes, you'd lose all those people that compete in the X Games. Be a pretty thin field for the snowboard and slopestyle, eh?

Most importantly, we don't have to cry foul over each country's definition of 'pro'. I remember back in the early 80's, when you still had the big bad Eastern Block nations, that they trained their athletes year round specifically for the Olympics, but they were not professional. Why? Because even though they were being housed, trained, fed, and taken care of, they technically weren't being paid. How embarrassing was it for the USA to lose in basketball all those years because we wouldn't field the team with pros?

Best of the best. I prefer that.

 

[Heretic]

a team is not a team unless they give a damn about eachother

 

[brakel]

The ban on professional athletes started to erode as the difference between the pro and the amateur athlete started to get fuzzy. After the communist nations created the year round training model it wasn't too long for the capitalists to catch on. Instead of the State providing the training facilities, dormatories and no show jobs it became the big consumer driven companies that wanted to have a sporting image. The Coca-Cola and Kodaks of the free world provided top notch training and jobs and everything else that the amateur athlete needed to succeed not just at the Olympics but at world championships every year.

Once you have big corporations propping up the finances of the athletes its not such a stretch to then remove the exclusion to make money directly from sports. To some degree its also just. Billions of dollars are being made over the performance of these athletes. Why shouldn't they be able to make some money as well. They're not being paid directly by the Olympics. They're still competing for medals and just the privilege of being there. There's no reason why the Olympic corporation, NBC and other media and every other person and corporation should make billions of dollars while the celebrated athletes have to go home to work in the local warehouse in order to pay for their training.

These are the same arguments being made about NCAA athletes as well. College sports is another billion dollar industry. Money is every where. Oh, but don't even think about taking $10 for an autograph kid! I think in the not too distant future NCAA athletes will be compensated with more than tuition, room and board.

 

[pin pin]

The romance behind amateurism is a farce. Be compensated for your skill.

 

[brakel]

My thoughts for how to handle NCAA sports would be to continue the scholarships that are currently provided. In addition any sport that brings in revenue from ticket sales, TV/radio, apparel, etc would pay a flat percentage of those revenues to an NCAA player annuity fund. In order to remove any monetary incentive to cheat (performance enhancing drugs) or to play when injured, all players across the NCAA would share the money equally every year. If a player appears on the school's roster then they get a share for that year.

This money would then be put into an annuity for each player for each year that they played. Maybe a half share for a red shirt year. The annuity would start paying out immediately after the player graduates or ten years after their class graduates if the player does not graduate. This would have the feel good effect of rewarding good students. The annuity could, as a player option, be deferred until later in life (retirement maybe).

 

[Biff]

I don't care if world championship or the olympics, but there should be at least one event with national teams where we can see the best of the best in Hockey.

 

[Kolchak357]

This Alfa is one sexy car.

 

[netizen]

do you really need a 4K smartphone screen?

 

[brakel]

This Alfa is one sexy car.

I like this one better.

 

[netizen]

The Original GTA probably may come as a surprise to some of you

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

 

[MontanaFrank]

Jimmy Kimmel and Kate Hansen thank you for pulling off one of the top 3 pranks in my lifetime. BooYah! Best laugh in a long time.

 

[Kolchak357]

Somebody clogged the toilet at work again.
No, it wasn't me.

 

[night]

 

[Heretic]

i had a thought thrn i missed it, damn

 

[Kolchak357]

Sadly, Harold Ramis has passed away. He was 69 yrs old.