Olympics

[Malcolm]

This just keeps getting better.

[Malcolm]

Mascot shot.

The Brazilian army says it shot dead an escaped jaguar shortly after the animal was displayed at a ceremony celebrating the Olympic torch in the Amazonian city of Manaus.
...
This is just the latest scandal connected to the games and adds to a long list of woes facing Brazil. Last week, Rio de Janeiro's governor declared a "state of calamity," saying that the state hosting the Olympics is bankrupt. As we have reported, Brazil is confronting the Zika virus, a historic economic recession and myriad corruption scandals. Its president is facing impeachment proceedings.

And the para-athletes getting rolled last week.

[GORDON]

I can't wait for the crime highlights on youtube, and the zika baby outbreak 9 months later.

[Malcolm]

It's no secret the Olympic village is usually a fucking orgy.

[Leisher]

Body parts found near volleyball venue.

All these golfers are opting out of the Olympics and an IOC official suggested that maybe they'll remove golf as an event.

Brazil is rife with crime, the police/firefighters aren't being paid, there's a deadly virus being spread there, they don't have the infrastructure to host the Olympics, etc., but yeah, it's the athletes' fault for not wanting to go. It's certainly not the fault of the IOC who were bribed picked Brazil to host the Olympics.

The IOC is the most corrupt organization on the planet.

[GORDON]

I understand that cops are holding the sign.

[Leisher]

Yes, those are cops.

I guess Rio really is hell on Earth right now. My friend, the Ford big wig, has gone there recently and he says you're very, very limited on where you can go and what you can do. Even the "nice" parts of Rio aren't safe.

The whole country is in political turmoil, the economy sucks, and to top it all off they HATE foreigners.

But I'm sure those IOC guys got paid and got their dicks wet enough to justify giving Rio the games. Who gives a shit if a few athletes die or a disease gets spread throughout the world because of it?

[Malcolm]

Back when I was a kid, I had a buddy from Brazil that lived next door. Family down there was rich as shit. Silver mines for certain ... and other things, I assume. Bodyguards were required for everyday activities.

[Malcolm]

Keeps getting better.

[Leisher]

A timeline breakdown of the dumpster fire.

This is going to be bad. I hope people don't die.

[GORDON]

The important thing is that the IOC got PAID, yo.

[Malcolm]

A timeline breakdown of the dumpster fire.

This is going to be bad. I hope people don't die.

Have a majority of athletes ever just up and left the games halfway through?

"Yeah, I've been training my whole life and I want the gold medal and all, but FUCK this shit."

[Leisher]

I'm seriously concerned that we might watch a tragedy live on TV at the Olympics this year.

If I were, say a religious fanatic, and I see this slum of a country with no security who will have the eyes of the world on it and tons of potential hostages...

I mean, does our government have the right to send our own additional security?

[Malcolm]

I'm seriously concerned that we might watch a tragedy live on TV at the Olympics this year.

Really? That's the only thing that might get me to watch.

I mean, does our government have the right to send our own additional security?

Imperial fascist.

[Leisher]

I mean, does our government have the right to send our own additional security?

Imperial fascist.

I mean strictly for our team.

[GORDON]

Don't the Israelis send in the Mossad for their athletes, now? If not allowed I bet they do anyway, secretly.

[Malcolm]

Remember how it was just Russian track athletes?

How bad is the cheating in Russia? It’s everywhere. It’s weightlifting. It’s the Paralympic sports. It’s wrestling. It’s canoeing. It’s cycling and swimming and soccer and rowing and judo and volleyball and boxing and handball and ...

That’s what McLaren found in his devastating investigation. His report confirms what the international sports world has surmised for months: that Russian government and sports officials, working in concert, diabolically altered and switched urine samples to allow cheating athletes to not test positive for doping but instead win medals, many medals, for the glory of Russia.

McLaren gave this a wonderful name: “The Disappearing Positive Methodology.” It was “the state’s failsafe strategy,” he said. Athletes’ urine was taken and tested well before a competition, confirmed to be clean and stored in a freezer. Then, at the event, when the time came, the dirty urine sample provided by the cheating athlete at the competition was switched out for the clean one from the freezer.

To make sure that it appeared to be a fresh sample, the Russians even added table salt and distilled water. These are world-class cheaters who do their homework.

This should be a minimum of a 20-year ban on all world athletic competitions.

[TPRJones]

So what is the fundamental ethical difference between doping and having ultra-aerodynamic headgear or high-tech body suits? Aren't both just using artificial means to boost an athlete's performance? Why is one cheating and the other is legit?

[Malcolm]

So what is the fundamental ethical difference between doping and having ultra-aerodynamic headgear or high-tech body suits? Aren't both just using artificial means to boost an athlete's performance? Why is one cheating and the other is legit?

Because wearing certain types of helmets doesn't lead to serious medical problems later on in life. Moreover, "helmet rage" isn't a term yet.

[TPRJones]

So? That has nothing to do with fairness or the integrity of the games. It's just the cost of using, and athletes should be allowed to make that sort of decision for themselves, shouldn't they? Regardless that's about practicality and doesn't deal with the ethics involved so it doesn't address my question: ethically what is the difference?