Ryan Lochte Told a 'Whopper'?

[Golfingdad]

25 minutes ago, Shindig said:

Football is pretty cerebral, but it's been a while since that was in the Olympics.

The only Olympics it has not been a part of were in 1896 and 1932. 

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/17/sport/brazil-beats-honduras-to-set-up-rematch-with-germany-in-olympic-final/

I'd also disagree with you immensely on the lack of strategy in most of the Olympic games.

[newtogolf]

14 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

The only Olympics it has not been a part of were in 1896 and 1932. 

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/17/sport/brazil-beats-honduras-to-set-up-rematch-with-germany-in-olympic-final/

I'd also disagree with you immensely on the lack of strategy in most of the Olympic games.

There's a lot of strategy in the Olympic games, it's just not all obvious.  In the track and field and swimming events where you have to qualify to make it into the medals round there is a lot of strategy where the athletes want to achieve a fast enough time to qualify while not going 100% to minimize wear on their body and reduce recovery time.  

Even in the swim medley, they know roughly how fast each swimmer has to swim their leg in order to win and what their margin of error is.  

[No Mulligans]

Indoor volleyball has a lot of strategy.  Most people I talk to don't even know the basic strategy (hint: the setter is trying to fake out the blockers by getting the ball to the hitter with no more than one blocker).

There is a ton of stats maintained in volleyball and the coaches/staff/players use that as part of their strategy.  Imo, it is much more strategic than golf.

Learning and practicing any sport at the elite level involves a lot of strategy, experimentation, testing etc.

[Golfingdad]

1 minute ago, newtogolf said:

There's a lot of strategy in the Olympic games, it's just not all obvious.  In the track and field and swimming events where you have to qualify to make it into the medals round there is a lot of strategy where the athletes want to achieve a fast enough time to qualify while not going 100% to minimize wear on their body and reduce recovery time.  

Even in the swim medley, they know roughly how fast each swimmer has to swim their leg in order to win and what their margin of error is.  

Not to mention the fact that prior to this year nobody had ever won the mens 400 from the outside lane.  That would be a really oddball fluke stat (technically it still could be I guess) if strategy didn't matter.

I'm not really sure what I'd choose if I were to try and choose a sport that involved no strategy.  Diving maybe?  Although there is probably some strategy in determining which dives you'll choose to do and in which order.

I'll disgress, I guess, since I'm OT now. ;)

[nevets88]

Ahhh, the NY Post, you gotta admit, the paper of the famed "headless body found in topless bar" headline does have  a knack for these things.

 

[natureboy]

3 hours ago, Slice of Life said:

Not to be the Devil's advocate...but does the security footage of one incident prove that another incident didn't happen? 

I mean, it seems likely that it was fabricated, but not certain.

Here's my take. You run a business in a tough town with lots of armed robbers. You have a gun or armed security to protect your business. Some #%@*head messes up your place acting like a pushy ass and you put a citizen's arrest on him until the police come or he makes good on the damages.

Lochte's hyper-competitive mentality and inability to face his screw-up turns what is probably a 'reasonable' scenario for Rio into 'extortion' or an 'armed robbery'. God knows why if the business owner and the police were satisfied he felt the need to open his trap on national TV and make up a self-serving dramatic story. During the incident, I expect there was a lot of miscommunication / misunderstanding due to the language difference.

I don't think the Rio police are going to find any fault with the business owner / security unless they shook Lochte down for 'hush money' way in excess of the damage to the business.

 

Given what I have been reading, I think Lochte's lawyer should get some advice from someone with experience in criminal justice and/or international relations. He only seems to be throwing gasoline on the fire when the the Rio folks appear to be giving Lochte an 'out' in return for a simple admission/apology.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/18/sport/us-swimmers-olympics-robbery-questions/

 

2 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

I'd also disagree with you immensely on the lack of strategy in most of the Olympic games.

 

1 hour ago, newtogolf said:

There's a lot of strategy in the Olympic games, it's just not all obvious.  In the track and field and swimming events where you have to qualify to make it into the medals round there is a lot of strategy where the athletes want to achieve a fast enough time to qualify while not going 100% to minimize wear on their body and reduce recovery time. 

Agree with both of these. All races have strategy in going out fast, hanging with the pack, and when to attack or sprint. Perhaps IMO not as intricate as setting up your approach to the hole in golf, or working yourself into a winning position on a point in tennis or badminton, and volleyball.

Edited August 18, 2016 by natureboy

[Shindig]

It appears I'm corrected on the strategy aspect.  Had no idea that the leg racing events were anything other than "run there as quickly as possible."

[David in FL]

16 hours ago, nevets88 said:

Ahhh, the NY Post, you gotta admit, the paper of the famed "headless body found in topless bar" headline does have  a knack for these things.

 

In this case, the shoe fits.  Idiot.

[bm85]

They should send him back to Rio with a bucket, and a mop.

[Lihu]

On 8/18/2016 at 3:48 PM, natureboy said:

Agree with both of these. All races have strategy in going out fast, hanging with the pack, and when to attack or sprint. Perhaps IMO not as intricate as setting up your approach to the hole in golf, or working yourself into a winning position on a point in tennis or badminton, and volleyball.

Track does have pretty intricate strategies at that level, unless you happen to be Usain Bolt.

Setting up a golf shot at my level is not all that intricate. I'm barely focusing on the game to shoot something like a 90, it's more social. When I fully focus and have a lot of luck on my side, I have shaved off many more strokes. However, even fully focused, my game is not all that strategic. It's more about "I hope this works".

 

On topic, I think some members of our swim team need to learn a little bit more humility. It's really disgusting, and brings back memories from the 80s of the ugly American tourist.

[natureboy]

6 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Track does have pretty intricate strategies at that level, unless you happen to be Usain Bolt.

Setting up a golf shot at my level is not all that intricate. I'm barely focusing on the game to shoot something like a 90, it's more social. When I fully focus, and have a lot of luck on my side I have shaved off many more strokes. Even fully focused, my game is nothing all that strategic. It's more about "I hope it works".

Even pros plan their approach to a hole based on a 'normal' swing. Bad shots happen, but you don't 'plan' for them except as far as giving hazards a wide berth. That is part of the strategy. With more control pros will be more strategic about intended fairway and green placement. Hitting a bad shot and being faced with a recovery involves strategy too. It's just that the course is the 'opponent' that the golfer is strategizing about not another golfer (mostly).

Edited August 20, 2016 by natureboy

[pganapathy]

Yes, Olympic athletes are extremely smart when it comes to their sport, though admittedly some of them are over-reliant on their coaches.  But, being smart in one area is no guarantee of being smart in another area.  Kinda like some geniuses have zero common sense and are not street smart.  Sounds like the case here.  Brilliant athletes with zero street smarts or common sense.  Why even tell his mom about the incident.  It is not like she would have even known about the couple of hundred dollars they paid for the damages.  MORONS

[gregsandiego]

On 8/18/2016 at 9:17 AM, kpaulhus said:

He is not the brightest. 

I heard a local radio talk show guy comment that this was a "$10 Million Dollar drinking night", when you consider the possible loss in endorsement deals.

[Rainmaker]

On 8/20/2016 at 0:52 PM, gregsandiego said:

I heard a local radio talk show guy comment that this was a "$10 Million Dollar drinking night", when you consider the possible loss in endorsement deals.

Possible is confirmed - Speedo and all his other sponsors (at least major ones) have dropped him.  That's rough! 

Everybody is so quick to jump on Lochte and make him out to be the worst person/biggest idiot in the world.  It seems kind of disproportionate, though, to me.  

So he's hammered and knocks a mirror or something off a gas station wall and is obnoxious about it and apparently publicly urinates.  Then security guards pull guns on him and demand $50 to let him leave.  I assume that happened, it hasn't really been disputed.  Anyways. . . so in the US that would be robbery.  Demanding the money is fine - but not at gunpoint.  Ok - we are in Brazil, though . . and it's not robbery. 

Then Lochte tells his mom he got robbed . .I'm sure he'll be asking himself why on Earth did he do that for the rest of his life, lol.  But anyway - he did and that was bad . .and then you know the rest, of course. 

Then Brazil gets all upset about being cast in a bad light - so they nab the 2 remaining Americans and demand 11,000 *donation* from one of them to let him leave.  Where's this 11,000 come from?  It was apparently $50 dollars in damage that was already paid for.  If it's the "National Honor of Brazil" - surely 11,000 isn't enough.  It's almost like they said "what do you have in your pocket"?

Anyway - I hope Brazil loses their sponsors, too. 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2016 by Rainmaker

[gregsandiego]

22 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

Possible is confirmed - Speedo and all his other sponsors (at least major ones) have dropped him.  That's rough! 

Everybody is so quick to jump on Lochte and make him out to be the worst person/biggest idiot in the world.  It seems kind of disproportionate, though, to me.  

So he's hammered and knocks a mirror or something off a gas station wall and is obnoxious about it and apparently publicly urinates.  Then security guards pull guns on him and demand $50 to let him leave.  I assume that happened, it hasn't really been disputed.  Anyways. . . so in the US that would be robbery.  Demanding the money is fine - but not at gunpoint.  Ok - we are in Brazil, though . . and it's not robbery. 

Then Lochte tells his mom he got robbed . .I'm sure he'll be asking himself why on Earth did he do that for the rest of his life, lol.  But anyway - he did and that was bad . .and then you know the rest, of course. 

Then Brazil gets all upset about being cast in a bad light - so they nab the 2 remaining Americans and demand 11,000 *donation* from one of them to let him leave.  Where's this 11,000 come from?  It was apparently $50 dollars in damage that was already paid for.  If it's the "National Honor of Brazil" - surely 11,000 isn't enough.  It's almost like they said "what do you have in your pocket"?

Anyway - I hope Brazil loses their sponsors, too. 

 

 

He didn't just tell his Mom. He went on to tell the story to NBC. He wasn't smart enough to think it through.

He didn't get any jail time. The only loss is sponsors. He wasn't smart enough to think in those terms - major loss of sponsor opportunity.

So yeah - he is a pretty big idiot. 

[Rainmaker]

1 minute ago, gregsandiego said:

He didn't just tell his Mom. He went on to tell the story to NBC. He wasn't smart enough to think it through.

He didn't get any jail time. The only loss is sponsors. He wasn't smart enough to think in those terms - major loss of sponsor opportunity.

So yeah - he is a pretty big idiot. 

Oh yeah - he's an idiot - but he's always been one.  Have you seen the shoes?  I still can't help but feel badly for him - anyway - I'm not going to wear Speedos anymore. 

[newtogolf]

7 hours ago, gregsandiego said:

He didn't just tell his Mom. He went on to tell the story to NBC. He wasn't smart enough to think it through.

He didn't get any jail time. The only loss is sponsors. He wasn't smart enough to think in those terms - major loss of sponsor opportunity.

So yeah - he is a pretty big idiot. 

The way I heard it, his mom was the first to report the incident to the media and Lochte was then put in the spot of confirming it and he foolishly did.  

Now that the entire story is out, I think the media completely over reacted along with his sponsors.  Was he wrong, yes, but the fabrication was slight and not worthy of losing sponsors over.  He was stupid and damaged a gas station door.  A security guard with a gun did hold him at gun point until he made acceptable reparations for the door.  

The fabrication was they were pulled over by a person with a badge and robbed, the reality is he was held at gunpoint by a security guard who demanded money to repair the door.  

I don't know about you guys but when someone is holding a gun on me, preventing me from leaving and demanding money from me, we're not negotiating, I am getting robbed.  

Lochte is a dumb ass for getting drunk and rowdy in public, lying to his mother and not ensuring she kept her mouth shut.  If stupid were a crime, half the country would be in jail.  For the IOC to sanction him and his sponsors to drop him given what we know seems like overkill to me.  

[billchao]

12 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

So he's hammered and knocks a mirror or something off a gas station wall and is obnoxious about it and apparently publicly urinates.  Then security guards pull guns on him and demand $50 to let him leave.  I assume that happened, it hasn't really been disputed.  Anyways. . . so in the US that would be robbery.  Demanding the money is fine - but not at gunpoint.  Ok - we are in Brazil, though . . and it's not robbery.

I don't know the law in Rio but I know that in the US, you can lawfully "detain" someone at gunpoint 

The man did damage to their property afterall, they are entitled to reparations.

12 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

Then Brazil gets all upset about being cast in a bad light - so they nab the 2 remaining Americans and demand 11,000 *donation* from one of them to let him leave.  Where's this 11,000 come from?  It was apparently $50 dollars in damage that was already paid for.  If it's the "National Honor of Brazil" - surely 11,000 isn't enough.  It's almost like they said "what do you have in your pocket"?

They fabricated a story that caused the authorities to get involved to investigate it, knowing fully that it didn't happen and had ample opportunities to recant. It's not so much about the honor of Brazil as much as fines forsending the authorities on a wild goose chase IMO.

4 hours ago, newtogolf said:

For the IOC to sanction him and his sponsors to drop him given what we know seems like overkill to me.  

I disagree. If neither the IOC nor his sponsors condone that kind of childish behavior, they are perfectly within their rights to do so. In fact I'd argue by not punishing him, you're sending the wrong message by saying it is ok to be an idiot outside of the sport.

Kids look up to these athletes; whether they want to be or not, they are role models and need to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner.