Olympics: Univ. of Texas > Canada >> Mexico

[AdamVR4]

Discuss

[AdamVR4]

And yes, USC > *

Would be cool if someone could dig up a top 10 list for universities.

[UTRacerX9]

Nothing to discuss, UT kicks ass, end of story.

[j2k4]

Cruel of you to note that, Adam.

Can't wait to read AO's response...or rather, I can't wait to see how long AO's response is - I probably won't have time to actually read it.

[AdamVR4]

Cruel of you to note that, Adam.

Can't wait to read AO's response...or rather, I can't wait to see how long AO's response is - I probably won't have time to actually read it.

I'm sure it will be something like, "we're more of a winter olympics country; my vag aches"

[IPD]

even with a comparison list of universities...it's incredibly misleading. where do all the swimmers come from? where do the archers come from? rowers? until you can do a breakdown of universities and put more weight upon sports with fewer (or one) medal/s...then it's pointless to compare.

one of the discussions i was listening to today was a debate on phelps being the greatest olympian of all time. phelps is great, no doubt...but i wouldn't call him greatest of all time. just because a good swimmer can clear 8 medals in 1 olympics (an impressive feat) doesn't mean that he's automatically superior to a biathlete who can only claim 1.

i have much more respect for athletes who are competing in their 40's--and winning. retiring at 27? congrats. what do you do with the next 40 years of your life?

[j2k4]

I'm sure it will be something like, "we're more of a winter olympics country; my vag aches"

Probably not - too easy to read that, unless he expands on the aching vag part.

That could get lengthy.

[J-Groove]

Damn, go UT! Baylor only has 10 Golds to their Olympians, but they would still have made the list.

-John

[j2k4]

even with a comparison list of universities...it's incredibly misleading. where do all the swimmers come from? where do the archers come from? rowers? until you can do a breakdown of universities and put more weight upon sports with fewer (or one) medal/s...then it's pointless to compare.

one of the discussions i was listening to today was a debate on phelps being the greatest olympian of all time. phelps is great, no doubt...but i wouldn't call him greatest of all time. just because a good swimmer can clear 8 medals in 1 olympics (an impressive feat) doesn't mean that he's automatically superior to a biathlete who can only claim 1.

Well, to refine it further, your decathlete has arguably the greatest edge or claim in any argument about the greatest athlete, period, but then what does it actually mean to be an "Olympian", great or less-than-great?

If an Olympian is defined as one who participates in the Olympic games, what measure have we to argue about but medal count when we are discussing who is the greatest?

The only other applicable parameters, really, are physical skill requirements or span of participation.

[IPD]

medal count is an arbitrary factor ascribed to various sports on a random basis. it would be like saying we're now going to give out NBA championship rings for the persons in the league with:

the most points overall
the most assists
the most rebounds
the most free-throws
etc

the titles don't mean as much when you hand them out like candy. you can't possibly expect someone to believe that winning a gold medal in swimming is equally as difficult as winning a gold medal in soccer or water polo. for that matter, if gold medals are all that counts, let's throw all the other BS sports into the olympics, and see if people feel that 5 gold medals in cup-stacking is better than 2 in greco-roman wrestling.

p.s.

i said biathlon, not decathlon. cycling is another event that doesn't hand out medals like they're going out of style. how unbalanced is it that in some sports, the top athletes go an entire career just for a shot at 1 gold---while in swimming, we wag our finger at people who come home with less than 2 per olympics. it's not just swimming (gymnastics, track & field, and a few other sports are pretty liberal with medals too), but the skill/training required to medal multiple times in swimming is so much of an overlap that it dwarfs everything else; you master one stroke, you can probably master them all.

you hear TONS about michael phelps...and yet kim rhode's amazingly spectacular gold-medal performance barely made a blip on the radar.