gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Default)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2004-08-17 09:39 am

The Olympic Test.

I've been sort of half-watching the Olympics. The problem is there are too many weird sports that don't belong there.

So at work yesterday, I devised the true test of an Olympic sport - would the Spartans do it? If you can picture the toughest Greeks of them all participating in an event, it stays.. if not, it goes.



Aquatics: The Swimming and Water polo events are in, Diving and Synchronised Swimming are out.

Archery: In, all events.

Athletics:These events are the core of the Olympics, and are all in. Except for road walk, which is silly.

Badminton: Very silly, and out.

Baseball: As much as I love the game, I can't piucture a Spartan taking a 3-1 pitch. Gone.

Basketball: On the other hand, Spartans would love jamming the lane. In

Boxing: Duh. Spartans practically invented the sport. In.

Canoeing: I can see Spartans doing this. These events stay.

Cycling: It takes guts to race cycles, so it stays.

Equestrian: The horsey events originate with the training of horses for war, so the Spartans like these events. They stay.

Fencing: Another no-brainer. Spartans love sword play.

Football: I'd love to see the Sparta - Athens match. It's in.

Gymnastics: Gone. It may have been a sport once, but real Spartans don't bounce on trampolines. Get rid of the rythmic stuff, and the bloody trampoline, and we'll talk.

Handball: Having watched Olympic handball, I can say the Spartans would have appreciated the violence. It's in.

Hockey: Or, in this case, Field Hockey. Rough, violent, and often involves blood. It stays.

Judo: Very in. Martial Arts are what the Spartans are all about.

Modern Pentathlon: Absolutely. This is by far the most martial of the modern Olympic sports.

Rowing: In

Sailing: Not really. Gone.

Shooting: To quote the Aussies.. "aw, yeah!"

Softball: Gone.

Table Tennis: Gone!

Taekwondo: More hiting. So it is in.

Tennis: Any sport that uses the word "love" is non-Spartan, and gone.

Triathlon: This is the kind of athletic masochism that the old Spartans loved. It stays.

Volleyball: Regular Volleyball stays, beach vollyball goes.

Weightlifting: Stays.

Wrestling: Originial Greek sport, so it stays.

There, if people would listen to me, the Olympics would rock.

I have a similar test for the Winter olympics.. The Viking Test.

[identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com 2004-08-17 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Look for the complete test in two years. :)

Short form, would a Viking do it? Would a Viking *watxch* it?

Luge? Damn right!

Ice Dancing? Gods no!

[identity profile] bunyip.livejournal.com 2004-08-17 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
True. :)

But I was hoping for now. :)