A Proposal for Calculating Medal Standings

[BlueRidge]

Hey someone else from MARYLAND won a gold. I gotta go to the mts, someone update the State rankings for me. Someone? Anyone?

[skatingfan5]

Yep. Then we can manipulate the medal weights to put the US in first place. That's where we belong.

That's the proper and SCIENTIFIC method, innit? Gather all the data, then fudge analyze, then skew interpret, then publish the results! Of course, I suppose there really should be a hypothesis stated at the outset as to what the correct weighting should be in order to test it.

[Prancer]

I'm sure there have been Olympic athletes from the District of Columbia! And besides we're not some funny named out of the way place.

There are athletes from Azerbaijan, too. I've seen them in the Winter Olympics.

the bronze the size of an antacid tablet.

With a bottle of Tums, to help the loser swallow the bile of utter defeat.

[BlueRidge]

There are athletes from Azerbaijan, too. I've seen them in the Winter Olympics.

That wasn't my point!

[Prancer]

That wasn't my point!

Oh.

Well, "District of Columbia" does have a nice, Anglo-Saxon ring to it, unlike, say, Wapakoneta. So I guess you do have a point about the name. And DC is easy enough to find on the map if you aren't geographically challenged (but we're AMERICAN, you know, so that's not a given), so I guess you have a point about it not being out of the way.

[poths]

Oh stop being so polite and Canadian But

I can't believe this is 6 pages long. People actually give two shits about the medal tables?

It really doesn't matter if China gets 50 more medals than the Bahamas you know It doesn't make them a better/more powerful nation?

[skatingfan5]

With a bottle of Tums, to help the loser swallow the bile of utter defeat.

I was actually thinking that the bronze medal could actually hold a Tums inside. Might as well make it useful, if it is so worthless.

[Prancer]

I can't believe this is 3 pages long. People actually give two shits about the medal tables?

Hey, now, this is a VERY SERIOUS DISCUSSION.

And clearly people DO give two shits about things like PROPER medal tables, eys?

I was actually thinking that the bronze medal could actually hold a Tums inside. Might as well make it useful, if it is so worthless.

Some enterprising soul should start a business for turning those lesser medals into useful things, like doorknobs and coasters.

[BlueRidge]

Oh.

Well, "District of Columbia" does have a nice, Anglo-Saxon ring to it, unlike, say, Wapakoneta. So I guess you do have a point about the name. And DC is easy enough to find on the map if you aren't geographically challenged (but we're AMERICAN, you know, so that's not a given), so I guess you have a point about it not being out of the way.

It is Washington, D.C. Its named after the First President, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. We even have a pointy tribute to him in the middle of the city to make sure you don't forget. We are very serious and important.

[poths]

Ah, but you get bragging rights--or not. Very important.

:

This attitude is embarrassing!

[Prancer]

It is Washington, D.C. Its named after the First President, one of the Founding Fathers on the United States of America. We even have a pointy tribute to him in the middle of the city to make sure you don't forget. We are very serious and important.

Indeed. Otherwise, we would have put the national phallic symbol somewhere else.

[Prancer]

This attitude is embarrassing!

[BlueRidge]

Indeed. Otherwise, we would have put the national phallic symbol somewhere else.

Its got to be worth a medal of some sort.

[skatingfan5]

Hey, now, this is a VERY SERIOUS DISCUSSION.

And clearly people DO give two shits about things like PROPER medal tables, eys?

And PROPER podium heights to show the proper respect for the relative worth of each medal!

Some enterprising soul should start a business for turning those lesser medals into useful things, like doorknobs and coasters.

They might make nice door knockers, if the owner wasn't too ashamed for visitors to know that they had only achieved lesser Olympic medals.

[poths]

The discussion came up when you started the medal thread with that great big chip on your shoulder.

Miow.

Followed by

I figured Really started this thread in response to several days of posts on the subject in several threads.

Would you like to me to go back and find where it all began? Because I'm pretty sure that I could go back in, say, the swimming thread and find a discussion that started when the US didn't have the most medals. Or some others. Well, I'm not just pretty sure, I'm positive.

Double miow.

Two top class condescending posts that are sadly indicative of the general tone infecting the board this last year.


You two used to be top class snarkers, WTF happened?

I don't like change

[milanessa]

I don't like change

We know.

[Prancer]

You two used to be top class snarkers, WTF happened?

Damn, another bronze.

Two top class condescending posts that are sadly indicative of the general tone infecting the board this last year.

That I can agree with, at least in some respects.

[skatingfan5]

Damn, another bronze.

Knew you could do it, bless your heart!

And IRL, there is another bronze added to the USA's total, thereby making USA = China, even by Really's calculation method. There's seems to be no escaping it -- at least until Phelps has had his final swim.

[Theatregirl1122]

Hands off NY's medal winners, Theatregirl! (well at least according to BR's method, although my method would only count some of Cullen's medals for NY )

Nonsense! BR prefers the method where every state gets everyone who was born there, lived there or trained there.

You could also weight Gold significantly more than silver, and silver more than bronze, so as to give Gold more importance. I tried 50 for gold, 25 for silver, 10 for bronze and at the present moment got China ahead despite their being behind absolutely in gold. I don't have a problem with fred's idea of weighting gold much more heavily, I just think silver and bronze should count for something as well. Otherwise, why even award those?

I'm mathematically challenged so I can't really figure out good numbers to use. Maybe Gold 100, Silver 25, Bronze 5? Help me numbers people!

I don't know, I'm kind of inclined to dis pewter.

I'm totally for the Olympic spirit, its participating that matters, all these athletes are awesome etc. And I think Country medal standings are just a sidelight. Everyone likes to see their compatriots win, but its not about US beating China in the medal count, at least it shouldn't be. I was totally excited about Gabby Douglas being from Virginia, for no particular reason! But it gave me something to hang onto.

All the Olympic athletes are huge winners as far as I'm concerned. But I do think that the one who does the best should get recognition. I'm not going to dis gold, anymore than bronze or silver.

I still think we should weight them by the value of the medal in pounds.


Poths, I'd be more worried that you've lost your ability to regonize a joke. Yes, there were some snippy posts earlier in this thread but it has totally given way to fooling around. No one is that serious about the bragging rights, don't worry.

[allezfred]

I will say I'll have to remember gold, silver and bronze medals being equal whenever somebody gets about the fact the Kwan doesn't have an Olympic title.