evilmindatwork

Was there a way to watch the tablet videos either live or as a replay on a tv? I quite liked the tablet coverage.

Hm. Not really, I grew up in San Francisco, now live Chicago, have lived in other large cities. Basically spent my entire life in cities except for a few years in a college town. Not necessarily annoyed about the peeing as much as about the lying, the disrespect to their host country, and the entitlement.

A bunch of foreign athletes vandalizing a gas station or a convenience in the US would lead to extensive media coverage and national outrage. In fact, whole sections of the media would be calling them thugs. ETA: I don't even think this hypo should be limited to foreign athletes, I can readily imagine the national reaction to this if the basketball team or some in track were involved in this incident.

I spent the this Olympics avoiding the news until I get home and then watched everything on the app (replays of the live stream). I really enjoyed Jonathan Horton on the stream, and the Brits/ Aussies commenting on track and field. I only caught the prime time coverage if I was out/ at a friend's house, the little I've seen of it is truly horrifying. I don't understand why a sports channel like ESPN doesn't do it instead of NBC. This is actually one of the few times I've watched the Olympics in the USA. Growing up, we were sent abroad to spend summers with my grandparents and I'd watch them on ESPN international. They basically broadcast everything, with very little color (except what the commentators could muster), and actually explain fundamentals of each sport. Comparable to the streaming function on the app but SO MUCH better than what little I've seen of the prime time coverage.

Thank you for explaining! I don't normally follow track but have loved watching Usain Bolt and Mo Farah this Olympics.

It definitely cast a heavy shadow. The general public has been much more focused on this story than the achievements of those medaling and competing over the last few days. I actually do have sympathy for everyone involved, especially the younger swimmers, but I hope they are appropriately disciplined. I don't want anyone to lose their career but I worked late night shifts at a 7/11 , and I don't think I can articulate how terrifying it often was to deal with belligerent drunk people, some of whom were much larger than me. I think if Lochte was close to tears, it was probably because he knows that he's going to do penance heavily to get back into the public's good graces. I hope he treats this as a learning experience. I think this is probably the first time he's had to deal with consequences for acting like an entitled douchebag. ETA: I just realized my old job probably contributed to my (over?)reaction to this episode. Sorry all!

Can someone explain to me why the longer distance runners all run in the same lane jostling each other?

Sorry, I think I'm misunderstanding you but this is not true. I am muslim, single, and live alone in a big city on the other side of the country from most of my family. Most of my female family members, whether married or unmarried, also live lives without male supervision. I think my experience is probably far more common than the above. Nadiya's family was quite adorable. She and her husband seem very in love-- probably didn't hurt in the falling -in- love stage that they're both so damn cute. I come from a culture that has arranged marriages but my parents didn't have one and didn't push them on us. One of my brother did though, he and SIL (who lived in a different state before the marriage) spoke on the phone, I guess it was their form of dating. They're quite happy together now.

Grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. I am really shaking my head at the schools in West Virginia.

Haha. I think Sophia is cute but spoiled, undisciplined, and for the most part neglected. I actually think she looks a bit like a little Laurie Hernandez: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/g5997/adorable-childhood-photos-olympians/? Obviously, Farrah will never raise her child to be anywhere near as accomplished as Laurie. Like I doubt Sophia will do well in life either academically or athletically because no one in her family values true accomplishment. I am sad for her.

Do most athletes normally leave before closing ceremonies? I've been seeing a lot of twitter/instagram photos of a few just wandering around and having fun.

For real. Why is being taken as absolute truth? We know they were drunk, and they were also probably high/stoned/ tripping. Despite my tone during this conversation, I don't think the swimmers are the most evil people ever, but while I am sure there are elements of truth in Conger and Bentz's statements, I also don't take them for absolute truth. It's THEIR story, the gas station employees have their side too I am sure.

I am more inclined to believe the accounts of people who weren't drunkenly urinating in public. At least Conger and Bentz's account sound more truthful (from their pov), apologetic, and realistic than Lochte's. A few friends have been tweeting about this and being highly critical of Lochte. Apparently Jack Conger liked their tweets. He must be searching for reactions to this under the hashtag to throw shade at Lochte.

Did Tyler just criticize the size of Cate's quesadilla while munching on chicken fingers and chips?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/sports/olympics/ryan-lochte-apology-rio-olympics.html?ref=sports

If you look up the NY Times story, it outlines who admitted to what. Right? Every official ever in Brazil is a corrupt ogre, looking to make an international spectacle out of their country in order to screw up the lives of innocent and honorable US swimmers.

Urine from Olympic Gold medal swimmers is liquid gold. The gas station people just didn't understand because of the language barrier.

Do you consider speeding tickets extortion? Fines are common ways to make people pay restitution for breaking the law. Courts also commonly hold passports so that defendants can't flee. I don't really think anything in this case has involved the state using disproportionate force.

I compete agree NUguy. This post is going to be a bit off topic but the tone of the coverage on Brazil and Rio has come off both condescending, and quite frankly, racist. Look, I am the last person to argue that Brazil doesn't have problems with crime, inequality, and poverty, but Rio is a modern and cosmopolitan city. Heck, I live in Chicago in a great neighborhood but read on the daily about institutional corruption and shootings in my own city. I was also born and raised in the Bay Area which is in the midst of a massive housing crisis. I know these are not quite comparable situations but as the child of first generation immigrants (S. Asia not Latin America), I find the efforts to reduce Brazil down to its worst stereotypes quite disturbing.

The most rational response to this mess: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/ryan-lochte-a-champion-swimmer-caught-in-a-riptide-of-self-absorption/2016/08/18/673d9bdc-6540-11e6-96c0-37533479f3f5_story.html?postshare=8221471564238645&tid=ss_fb

I disagree. They allegedly drunkenly terrorized people with less power and less money, and then smugly lied about it. IF that part of the story is true, that's not okay at all. The third world has problems and so does Rio but that doesn't mean Ryan Lochte and buds should use that narrative to make themselves look better while behaving badly. Look I don't think they deserve to be thrown into a dungeon for 10 years or anything like that but if the allegations against them are true they, at the very least, should apologize, maybe pay a fine, and be disciplined by USA Swimming. People make mistakes but they're adults and should take responsibility. ETA: I don't blame the Rio/ or the government of Brazil for feeling defensive about the media coverage. Rio has a lot of crime but so do large American cities like Chicago (where I've been mugged), Baltimore, and Los Angeles. Brazil has poverty, corruption and crime, but that's not ALL Brazil is.

With the grand total of all the crime being committed in Rio, is this a big deal? No. But to that gas station owner whose business they vandalized it was a big deal. To whoever was working the register at that place, it was probably a big deal. They were of tall, strong, young athletes probably yelling and screaming and scaring the crap out of people. Then they went and lied about it because they thought they could get away with it. I'm totally ok with the Brazilians, within reason, holding them accountable for it. The sad part about this is is that there were Olympians who were mugged and had their property stolen, and this story distracts from that. This is a story about bunch of privileged dicks thinking they can do whatever they want to a funny foreigners in a funny foreign country and they should absolutely held accountable for it.

I think Jon was definitely better off being raised by Ned than with Viserys and Dany. BUT, even if Rhaegar had lived I am not sure he would've been better off with the man who raped his mother. I say this, not because it's the Stark story about Lyanna, but because Ned had to fight his way into see Lyanna when she clearly wanted to see him. If Lyanna had run away with Rhaegar, wouldn't she have just told his men, "hey, I want to see my brother before I die. Please let him come in?"

But Jon would have still been a bastard even if he were a Targaryen bastard? I've never gotten a sense from the books that Rhaegar married Lyanna. Not that Jon would know this, but I think he had a much better life in Winterfell than either Dany or her brother. I think all in all Jon will be understanding of Ned's decision to raise him as his own son.

I think part of why people are so hard on Ned is because we want so badly for people like Ned to stay in the world. In my opinion, Ned's compassion screwed him over maybe even more than his honor (warning Cersei). Because a person can do the technically honorable thing like Jaime (not break his oath) but ultimately still make the right decision (by saving the lives of those in Kings Landing). Ned is probably one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, but I still felt deeply annoyed at him for getting himself killed.