1132: Pledge Your Allegiance

[canadiangirl]

To the girl who wrote in about lesbian porn...

I feel the same as you do about this, and what I've come to realize is basically somewhere along the lines of what Keith and Chemda were saying. The problem with a LOT of porn is that it is just freaky or rough or too crazy. Lesbian porn tends to be a lot softer and slower, and more along the lines of what women are actually looking for in sex. In the real world, this can easily happen with a guy. But in porn, it's very hard to find.

Also I totally respect you saving your virginity for love, that's the best way about it. Saving for marriage is insane. But for love, it's worth it.

[thirteen]

Curling can get really intense once you know what's going on. I hated it before I tried to understand it. A lot of strategy is involved, which is probably how China won gold last time. Canada is doing quite well this time around. Plus, there are some really attractive women playing.

As for hockey, "that guy" is one of the greatest goalies of all time. Brodeur was probably not the best choice for these Olympics as the number one goalie (Luongo is better), but using the same stick as before is not weird at all. Hockey players (and most athletes) have weird rituals and superstitions they carry on.

NHL: major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 24 are located in the United States and 6 in Canada. There is a lot of politics that go into why the USA gets more clubs than Canada does. It has to do with the amount of money the USA has, and how many fans each city can attract. Since the USA has more money and a greater population (plus the guy who runs the NHL seems to hate the idea of putting more teams in Canada), it only makes sense that they would have more clubs. You guys acted like it was completely the choice of everyone involved to have that many clubs in the USA and for players to play in the USA. If the player likes the city, is getting paid well, and likes their teammates, they will stay somewhere. But there are a lot of other factors like how much the team actually wants the player to stay, etc. that help determine where the athlete plays. There are lots of Americans and Europeans playing for Canadian teams too. USA hockey would evaporate if Canadians weren't involved.

This is the first time that the USA is "far and away" at the Olympics. Last time Canada was only one medal behind the USA (amazing if you consider the population and funding difference). Germany is usually at the top. In terms of World Cups (events that occur each year), Germany and Canada always have the best athletes. I know most people don't care about those events, but if they had any respect for the athletes, they would know some of this information. At the Olympics, you make one mistake and it's over, which is why there are always upsets, and why Canadians have consistently come in 4th place or just miss the podium. We've got more funding and focus on going for gold now, so I think the country will only get better. With all the money that the USA pours into athletics each year, it's more embarrassing if they don't come out on top.

[Waltside]

I still love you guys but i'm starting to hate libsyn.

Of all the podcasts i listen to it's only the ones hosted on libsyn that fuck up.

[spooky]

The bobsleigh races were the thing to watch, the Australians maybe didn't score so well, but they had the ballsiest race/finishes. One race had them upside down for the last 2/3 of the race.

I only got the 48 minute episode, so maybe KATG covered it, maybe not.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by thirteen

Curling can get really intense once you know what's going on. And other things.

Don't be sad we're the best.

U!S!A! U!S!A!

[smcn]

It's possible Anna just has ophidiophobia.

[Smitho]

The National Hockey league is the best hockey league in the world; it has 30 teams and is based out of Toronto, Canada. 24 of the teams are in the United States. (The CEO of the NHL isn’t even Canadian and won’t let us have more teams)
Now about 450 of the 900 players in the NHL are Canadian with the rest of the players coming from Russia, Sweden, Finland, and other Eastern European counties. They’re not coming to the USA by choice but they’re looking for the best hockey and the chance to win the Stanley cup, something that only exists in the NHL. The players in the NHL don’t live in a single city during the 82 game seasons they only play half of the games in the city that drafts them, and they often return home in the summer to train.
NHL players have only been allowed in the Olympics since 1998 in Nagano, Japan (Gold Medal Winners: Czech Republic – 1998, Canada – 2002, Sweden – 2004)
The players don’t give up citizenship to play in the NHL nor do they in the MLS, NFL, NBA, or MLB.
The USA’s goalie stole the show for sure and his name is Ryan Miller, he plays for the Buffalo Sabers. The Canadians goalie was Martin Brodeur who holds the records for: Wins, Shutouts, Games played, and Minutes played.
PZ

[matt B]

Originally Posted by Smitho

The National Hockey league is the best hockey league in the world; it has 30 teams and is based out of Toronto, Canada. 24 of the teams are in the United States. (The CEO of the NHL isn’t even Canadian and won’t let us have more teams)
Now about 450 of the 900 players in the NHL are Canadian with the rest of the players coming from Russia, Sweden, Finland, and other Eastern European counties. They’re not coming to the USA by choice but they’re looking for the best hockey and the chance to win the Stanley cup, something that only exists in the NHL. The players in the NHL don’t live in a single city during the 82 game seasons they only play half of the games in the city that drafts them, and they often return home in the summer to train.
NHL players have only been allowed in the Olympics since 1998 in Nagano, Japan (Gold Medal Winners: Czech Republic – 1998, Canada – 2002, Sweden – 2004)
The players don’t give up citizenship to play in the NHL nor do they in the MLS, NFL, NBA, or MLB.
The USA’s goalie stole the show for sure and his name is Ryan Miller, he plays for the Buffalo Sabers. The Canadians goalie was Martin Brodeur who holds the records for: Wins, Shutouts, Games played, and Minutes played.
PZ

Keith and I have been back and forth talking hockey the last few days and i did mention the fact that many US born players play for the few canadian teams.
Sure the NHL needs Canada's inclusion, but lets not pretend Canada would have the level of play or funding that they do having a league without the US, they need each other in terms of hockey.
The reason that Canada doesnt have more teams is money plain and simple, its not because the NHL CEO doesnt like Canada.
Also about half the players in the NHL are Canadian, the rest area patchwork of other countries -- sounds kinda like a country that I know and love
During the USA CANADA game they mentioned that about a half million people play hockey in Canada and just under that amount play hockey in the USA, so as far as support in terms of people picking up a stick its about the same. The illusion is that Canadians love hockey more because thats really mostly all they have, (Hockey Night in Canada is a religion with the craziest preacher ever Don Cherry), aside from the toronto Raptors and Toronto FC- which had a huge following instantly cause Canada loves pro sports and is very proud, yet has very few of them. Don't forget - more Teams in the US means more direct support for the NHL in the US. Don't get me wrong I personally think that if there is now snow or ice your city shouldnt get an NHL team, however I wouldnt say that to a die hard Caps fan or especially a San Jose fan -- its all they have, hence all the support.

Also Canadians conveniently site funding for US athletes - most of this is due to the copratization of the Olympics in the 60's but is really less important than the diverse talent pool in the US. Don't be pissed at us cause Rogers can't fund your team as well as Stephen Colbert can fund ours.

I'm aware of the opening of the NHL to the Olympics which makes sense - it should be a celebration of the highest level of competition. Also I agree with Keith and the rules are much more complicated citizenship wise. In fact in the world cup and many other international tournaments depending on your choice of citizenship you can choose what country you play for.
But I feel if you make your money in the US and you pay taxes in the US and are esentially living most of your life within the US regardless of country of origin, you are essentially a US citizen so get the papers correct.

If Freddy Adu can be a US citizen and play in the MLS and on the USA national soccer team, then Ovechkin should really just suit up for the USA as well.

It seems that people love the advantages and prosperity of being in the US but still somehow abhor wanting to be a US citizen. It's silly posturing due to residue from Bush era and before mistakes, I think like any other immigrant when you come to the US you arent being dragged kicking and screaming cause its the "only place to play" at the highest level.
I just think the cultural identity of the US isnt defined only by people born from generations of people born in the US but also by those who come to make their life in the US. Sorta the most beautiful thing about Our great nation.

That and watching Crosby's cockiness undoing Canada's team.

I do think its funny that Canadian pride is so polite and yet they can't let us enjoy this victory.

This is our time.
Do you believe in miracles?

[Omni]

I only ever saw curling once in my life, and it was several years ago. It was women's curling, and here's basically how it went: The Canadian team was HARDCORE serious and angry about it, and I swear one of the women literally growled at the other team. The other team? America. And they were smiling and excited the entire time, and looked like they were just happy to be there. I'll watch any sport where angry Canadians growl at people though, A++ this sport.

[thirteen]

As I mentioned before, the USA has more money and more people, and those are the primary reasons why there are more teams there. You seem to think majority of the athletes are in the USA and grew up there. Many of them are also from junior leagues in Canada, and we all know athletes can't be that old.

Team USA played really well and deserved the win. That's not the point of my previous argument. The point is that people should be educated in the actual athletes and what goes on behind the scenes, or it just make them sound ignorant.

I doubt most of the NHL players think of a win as being "for the USA" or "for Canada". It's more for the city, and they always come back to their hometown (where they grew up, have family, first learned to play hockey) to show everyone the Cup. So I completely understand the logic behind having a person growing up in a country playing for that country. Crosby is only one of the greatest hockey players of all time by the way. I hated him before too, but he's grown up since his crybaby days and I've grown up too.

If you believe that they should play for where they trained or spent the majority of their life, there would be a huge difference in the number of athletes playing for the USA and Canada (for example). I've heard about so many athletes (in skating, snowboarding, etc.) growing up and training in one place and playing for another country because they recently moved there or found a a partner there. The ice dancing couple who won gold for Canada last night train in the USA with the Americans who came in second place. They have spend most of their lives in Canada (nearly all athletes start at a young age, so you have to count those years), but their coach is a European who trains everyone in the USA.

It's more complicated than just saying that they should play for wherever they spent the most time in their lives.