Synchronized diving.

I must confess though that watching the furious brooming in curling event had me totally engrossed during last winter Olympics.

Come on, I liked this. But for most rediculous I would have to nominate Speed Walking

I have no proof other than my roomate's girlfriend telling us that its a real event... but I'm hearing rumors that backgammon is actually something you can win a medal in... also, I'm fairly certain that ballroom dancing is also a medal sport.

Re-god-damn-diculous.

I don't think Backgammon is in but I know a lot of people are trying to push Chess into the China Olympics.

I hate to be the grammar police, but how do you spell a word incorrectly when it's part of the thread title? 'Rediculous' isn't a word, people. I had to make an example out of this one, as that bastardization of an everyday word is all over this site.

Someone bring back spellcheck, PLEASE!
[/rant]

Now, my vote goes to Speed Walking, with synchronized swimming as a close second.

Equestrian. The horse should medal, not the rider.

Basketball. Especially when the US is playing.

delete. apparently not fit to read or type.

Race Walking is, BY FAR, the most ridiculous Olympic Sport

ANd Fencing, although it should be in there, sucks too. I mean just what are the rules?? Ok, you hit him, but you did not have "full agression," so no point? WTF?

Table tennis.

Any sport where you can subtract one of the pieces of equipment (paddle), replace it with cups of beer in pyramid form, and have a better time, can't be in the Olympics.

Something that I didn't know existed until yesterday - men's field hockey. What?! Do they wear skirts? I don't understand. Couldn't you men let us women have one sport to ourselves? Is this reverse feminism?

(Side Note: I can't stand field hockey. It sucks. Hurts like hell to get hit with that little ball. But I felt the need to comment on this.)

Another one I just saw...Trampoline. Trampoline? You can get a gold medal on something your parents bought you to get you out of their hair for a day or two? What the hell are the Olympics coming to? I want to organize an Olympic team for Hide & Seek. Anyone want to join me?

Hide and seek would be great. As would capture the flag. Much better than speed walking. WTF???

dodge ball would rule as an olympic event

All of them?

i'd like to see them bring back tug-of-war.....the rare and ridiculous sport win you going backwards

In pretty much the rest of the world field hockey is a mens sport. America turned it into a womens sport.

I'm agreeing with wix. As inane as some of these sports are (Olympic Badmition?), at least they all rely on some basic level of competence in the skills required for the event. The idea that someone can win a gold medal by taking credit for the prancing of a godforsaken HORSE is beyond me.

If equestrian is an Olympic sport, why don't we just throw Smarty Jones and Imperialism onto the track and field oval and let them compete in the sprints?

The horses need to go.

On a lighter note, anyone catch the coverage of Handball? That's a goofy sport - looks like something you'd play in Elementary school gym class.

Ironically, it something I DID play in gym class and loved it. Then again, I don't think we played quite the same way as they do in the Olympics...

Olympic trampoline? Haven't heard of that one... What's next? Olympic Pogo Stick?

What's the feeling on Sailing in the Olympics??

I find these the most ridiculous:

Synchronized Yard Sale Shopping -- It's really more of an individually judged event.

The 100 yard Filenes Basement Bridal Event Dash -- Over the years, they've bastardized it.

Actually, I hate the Olympics. I'm just glad they are on during the summer so as to not interrupt my regular season (winter) television viewing.

Actually, equestrian events really do symbolize the Olympic spirit, as many of the original events had to do with things that would get one ready for war. Archery, shooting, running, javelin, and control of a horse epitomize these. And I dated an equine vet, so I tend to really appreciate it.

However, I'd have to go with speed walking and synchro swimming. Speed walkers tend to look like they're trying to get someone's attention on Fire Island. And synchro swimmers look like Stepford wives.

Well played it in High School and even had intermural tournaments after school. Great game, I just never wanted to be the goalie.

Funny enough, there was a guy field hockey player at my school this year, he could only play in one game because of the rules and he had to wear a skirt.

Of the ones I've seen on TV, I would say the synchronized diving.

Heck, why not have four divers diving together?

That would make for an interesting splash.

I can recall in my juvenile years fighting the crowds to get into Filene's
Basement for a 9:30AM sale.
I can also recall seeing women stripped to their underwear trying on
stuff in the aisles. You have to see it to believe it.

The biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. What the?
So you ski down this trail and then you pull out your rifle and shoot stuff? Does that make any sense at all?

Maybe it's just me, but those two activities seem to be completely disjointed. Each activity on its own makes a fine Olympic event. But combining them is just crazy.

What if we took other perfectly legitimate events (for the sake of discussion I will use both the Winter and Summer Olympics) and combined them? Say, the bobsled and the javelin throw. Now there's an event. Or weightlifting and synchronized swimming? I'd hop on a plane to Athens to see that.

Apparently the biathlon was a originally training exercise for Norwegian soldiers (I thought all of those Nordic countries didn't have armies. Except for the Swiss, of course, whose Army makes precision-timed attacks with their cute little knives, but that's neither here nor there.)

So who decided to make the biathlon an Olympic event? What the hell were they thinking?

I agree with your logic. I always used to joke that the biathlon should consist of swimming 500 meters, jumping out of the pool, then bowling 10 frames.

They're completely inconsistent, and laughable.

Until you consider that sports like the biathlon were modeled after activities that prepared you for war. In that context, cross-country skiing to a spot, then shooting doesn't seem so crazy.

I gotta go with the Trampoline. I watched the "finals" tonight with the wife and our 5-year old. The 5-year old really got into it, but for me to get that into it, the competitors would have have had to lose the leotards. But then, NBC would have had to show the event well after 8PM PDT!

The first two women I watched in trampoline qualifying event, an American and a Russian, could not stay on it.

Speed walking. I feel like anyone can do it just as well as anyone else. Frankly, how can someone "walk" faster than anyone else? Once you reach a certain speed don't you just max out? Does it have something to do with leg length?

It just befuddles the piss out of me.

Actually, there are a lot of kooky Olympic events.

Summer: The trampoline event and anything that has the word "synchronized" in it gets my vote.

Winter: Curling and ice dancing.

Now that I think about it, curling really has them all beat. It's like it was designed as a skit for Will Ferrell on SNL. Heavy tea pots and brooms on ice. WTF?

Here's another one I was just watching:

Girl's beach volleyball--or should I say beach bum volleyball.
I don't know if there's a men's counterpart--
after all, what this sport seems to be about is watching a bunch
of foxy-looking girls in bikinis hitting a ball over the net with their
pretty tushies half hanging out.

This is understandably a successful TV sport,
and these girls are professional and I'm sure doing very well financially.

But there is already Olympic volleyball for men and women--has been
for a long time. Without the sand. And a much higher calibre of play.
Without the bikinis (though those short-shorts on the girls are nice.)

Why the sand?

David Stern take notice. When will he learn to put the WNBA in bikinis?
Forget the sand, David.

How dare you speak ill of women's beach volleyball! Forget baseball. This is my new favorite sport. Hot girls in bikini's jumping around. Now that's my idea of heaven. It was on the tv at the gym the other afternoon and there were like 5 guys clustered around the tv and nobody working out.




The thing about field hockey as it has been explained to me is that while here it a female sport, in other countries (i.e. Australia and just about the rest of the field hockey world) it is played primarily by men. I don't think they wear skirts - unless the team is from Scotland.




Biathlon=Norwegian drive by


I think the stupidest Olympic sports would have to be anything synchonized (diving, swimming, etc.) followed by speed walking. But if chess made it into the Olympics that would take it. Trampoline I think is legit just because of how freaking high they go and the crazy flips and twists and junk they do up there. Not all that intense to watch, but doing that would scare the shit out of me.

While the synchronized swimming seems silly, no one ever mentions regular (single) diving. One of my friends is a highly competitive diver, who competes in the normal events, but practices synchro for a challenge.

The way I see it, it's twice as hard as the regular diving events, because both divers have to be skilled enough to perform the dives (difficult enough in my view), but also have to time them and execute them in sync with another person.

I think that this makes it a little less stupid, and maybe will open some eyes.

I would have said trampoline but after watching how high up those jumpers go, I have a little more respect. Maybe archery.

Archery! Have you seen those shots where the women broke the tiny camera they placed behind the hole in bulls eye? I believe it was the final and determing shot, no less. Talk about clutch!

This reminds me of the guy who shot the next guy's target in shooting and got 0. I think he got silver.

I can't believe anyone hasn't said rhythmic gymnasics yet - they were talking about it the other day. It's like interpretive dance or something - ridiculous.

And biathalon actually makes sense - it's basically what hunting would be in Nordic regions in the winter, or preparation for battle. That, and XC skiing is one of the toughest workouts to do.

I'm sure that many will disagree on this one, but hear me out: Gymnastics is the most ridiculous sport in the Olympics.

Why? Because 90% of the audience has absolutely no idea how it is scored. Without the commentary, I would never have a clue about who was doing well and who was doing poorly. Yeah, if someone falls I know that isn't good, and there are some spectacular flips and whatnot that are very impressive, but for the most part I really don't understand the sport. I don't think I'm alone in this.

We can watch a baseball game without any commentary and we'll know what's going on. Same thing for football, basketball, hockey, etc. Without the commentators explaining EVERYTHING to us, we would be clueless as to what's going on with gymnastics. Is there any other Olympic sport that is so popular, yet so incomprehensible at the same time?

We could begin the debate about what's sport and what's exhibition...specifically, sports that rely on judges to determine the winner aren't really sports at all...they're exhibitions. Think figure skating, diving, synchro swimming, etc.

and yet, surprisingly, one of the most watched events of the winter Olymics... I loved watching that..can't tell you why

How 'bout any of these!

http://home.datacomm.ch/marco.fernando/fla...to/olympics.swf

(Needs sound)

That video is HILARIOUS. Fencing cracked me up and joust and highdive weren't far behind.


I agree with you Blackjack. It is amazing and sad the way these gymnasts are pushed. They leave there home, practice 8+ hours a day, get homeschooled, and have their growth stunted. It is ridiculous.

Windsurfing and speed walking are the 2 most ridiculous events in the summer olympics. The worst winter games event is curling.

I can see how short height is an advantage in gymnastics and therefore short ones tend to get selected but what’s up with their squealing voices? This year even the guys sound like little girls.

I saw an equestrian event where the rider makes the horse "dance" to music.

That has to be the most ridiculous.

It's the pommel horse, sillly!

Have you seen Team Rhythmic Gymnastics? It's like the floor bit of the proper gymnatics, except with eight girls at once, no tumbling, and they get four hula hoops and three balls (about the size of large softballs) to throw around.

I'm sure it's difficult and skillful and all, but there is no way that anyone should get an Olympic medal for that!

i LOVE curling

i hate gymnastics, just like i hate cheerleading (which is certainly not a sport) because all it is is a bunch of skinny people jumping around on shit

one word: Curling and its coming back in 2 years

Partial quote taken out of context.... But I want to defend synchronized swimming. Perhaps it should not be an Olympic event per se, but did anyone see the finals-Japan, US, and Russia?? I was flabbergasted....

I am staunchly sticking by speed walking. Dumbest. event. ever.

...and because apparently, 90% of the judges don't know how it is scored either.