The Official NBA Season Thread: I’m like Jayson Tatum in the Olympics I'm not playing

[akajae]

Ain’t Deion in some hot water at the moment?

 

[shogun]

On a side note, must be like a buffet there for the nba players. Forgot which olympics it was but there were pics of kobe hanging out with 2 white girl olympians.

 

[pmatic]

On a side note, must be like a buffet there for the nba players. Forgot which olympics it was but there were pics of kobe hanging out with 2 white girl olympians.

Kobe's uh adventures were in 2012 in London.

From Friday.

Spoiler

The Olympic Games and sex – is it a myth or a ‘free for all’?

“What happens in the (athletes) village, stays in the village,” former Team USA Olympic swimmer Summer Sanders once said.

With the Paris Olympics in full swing, that sentiment might apply more than ever, because this is the first Games in eight years where mingling and meet-ups can take place after the “intimacy ban” and social distancing rules at the Covid-19-disrupted Tokyo Games in 2021.

With that in mind, 200,000 male condoms, 20,000 female condoms and 10,000 dental dams — which work by acting as a barrier during oral sex — have been made available in the Olympic Village, where 14,500 athletes and staff are staying during the Games.

That is enough for almost two each for every day of the Games.

“It is very important that the conviviality (in the Olympic Village) is something big,” Laurent Michaud, director of the village, said before the Games. “Working with the athletes’ commission, we wanted to create places where the athletes would feel very enthusiastic and comfortable.”

The supply of free condoms has become an Olympic tradition that began at the Barcelona Games in 1992.

In 2016, Rio de Janeiro broke records, supplying 450,000 condoms, including 100,000 female ones for the first time. Athletes were even given condoms at the no-sex Tokyo Games three years ago, but as souvenirs to keep, rather than to use.

In Paris, there are sexual health testing centres, as well as an educational campaign that raises awareness around consent and safety. The condom wrappers carry messages that emphasise seeking consent and reminding athletes of the dangers of sexually transmitted infections.

In the village, the athletes sleep on beds with a cardboard base — the same type as those used in Tokyo — designed with sustainability in mind. When the competitors arrived, their size and weight were measured in a ‘mattress fitting zone’ for what is supposed to provide the ideal mattress density.

The beds, constructed using recycled cardboard, led to some athletes describing them as “anti-sex” beds because it was suggested they might collapse.

Videos shared last week of Team GB’s Tom Daley and Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan jumping on the beds debunked that myth.

“I was a marathon runner, so I appreciate how important it is to have a good sleep before an event,” says the bed’s Japanese inventor Motokuni Takaoka. “They would take two or three people with no worries. They are very robust. The cardboard base is very tough. They will cope with anything the athletes want to do with themselves or their friends.”

The antics of athletes in the Olympic Village have long been documented.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Usain Bolt celebrated his 100m victory late into the night in his room with three members of the Swedish women’s handball team.

Following that, he won two more gold medals in the 200m and the 4x100m for Jamaica. Bolt was photographed with a 20-year-old Brazilian student in his bed in the Olympic Village after winning three more gold medals at Rio in 2016.

The athletes arrived in the Olympic Village — spread across the three Parisian suburbs of Saint-Denis, Saint Ouen and L’ile Saint-Denis in the north of the city — a few days before the rain-soaked opening ceremony down the River Seine.

“It’s like the first day of college,” Tony Azevedo, who appeared at five Olympic Games for the United States’ water polo team, told ESPN. “You’re nervous, super excited. Everyone’s meeting people and trying to hook up with someone.”

The dining hall area is typically the central hub of the Olympic Village — and where there have been complaints about the food quality.

Away from the canteen, there is the ‘village club’, a place to socialise and enjoy the ‘disconnection bubble’, which has a screenless area and massaging seat. It has an outdoor bar — serving alcohol-free drinks — and lounge chairs. If Olympians want to drink alcohol, they must bring it in themselves.

The camaraderie means the village becomes a “pretty wild scene, the biggest melting pot you’ve been in,” says Eric Shanteau, an American swimmer who appeared at the 2008 and 2012 Games.

“There’s a lot of sex going on,” former U.S. soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo once said. “I’ve seen people having sex right out in the open.”

Andrew Pink, Great Britain’s volleyball captain in 2012, told The Athletic: “We had 10 days competing and after that, it was a free-for-all. Our coaches left the village the next day and it was then up to you to do whatever you wanted. I didn’t see people for days, including my room-mate, they were all over the place. One guy from our team legitimately woke up in Wales after a night out in his Team GB kit.

“When we were still competing, you were leaving the village through the security checkpoint to get onto the coach to get to the training venue or competition, which for us was in Earl’s Court, so right across the city. And at all hours of the day, people were coming back worse for wear.

“The sex thing isn’t a myth. People are looking at everybody else all the time, everyone is in the prime of their fitness and their athletic lives, a lot of people will have foregone everything they possibly can to get to that point — it’s a massive release when it’s over. By all accounts, when the swimming finishes is when it gets really crazy.”

Footballer Micah Richards represented Team GB in 2012 when they lost to South Korea in the quarter-final.

Regaling tales of life in the Olympic Village on podcast The Rest Is Football, he said: “We went to training, came back to the village, then three nights we were up to 4am. You have different campuses, Team GB in one block, Brazil, France, all these countries, and there’s a massive big room full of condoms! It was like: ‘What?’ Obviously promoting safe sex and, honest to god, I was on fire. One of the best times of my life, it was incredible.”

In his autobiography, Greg Rutherford, who won gold for Team GB in the long jump in 2012, said: “I was staggered by how many people got absolutely smashed and the bedroom-hopping that took place.”

In Paris, Team GB divers Jack Laugher and Noah Williams are using adult-only platform ******** to top up their income.

However, others suggest the idea of the Olympic Village as a hotbed of sex is overblown.

“I went to four Olympics and I don’t feel like: ‘Oh, there’s just tons of sex going on,’” Bonnie Blair, a gold medal-winning speed skater for the U.S., told NBC. “I’m sure there are… things that happen. But it’s not like it’s all that happens.”

“If you are in the shape of your life and you’ve trained hard, the only thing that’s going to be detrimental to your performance is if you’ve had no sleep,” added Kelly Sotherton, who won three bronze medals for Team GB across the 2004 and 2008 Olympics

And this week, American rower Emily Delleman said she was disappointed by the lack of activity from fellow Olympians on dating app Tinder.

The party can start early for some athletes. The men’s and women’s rugby sevens tournaments, for example, have ended.

“People finish at different times in the Games,” Team GB weightlifter Emily Campbell explained on the Stirring It Up podcast. “It’s on for two weeks but the swimmers, the rowers, they’ll start in the first week. I’m not until the final day. There are bowls of condoms around because they know it happens.”

This all typically culminates in a big party after the closing ceremony, which is on August 11.

This year, some teams, including Australia and Great Britain, have told athletes they must leave within 48 hours of their last event to avoid disrupting those still competing. That rule was brought in at Tokyo during the pandemic-hit Games.

This led to frustration from some athletes. “After you’ve worked so hard to go to the Olympics, to be removed from that entire environment as soon as you finish,” Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus said before winning gold in the 400m freestyle. “It’s a bit of a rip-off.” She later complained about the poor conditions in the Olympic Village.

“It does make me mad,” said her team-mate Kaylee McKeown, who won gold in the 100m backstroke on Tuesday night.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said the decision was taken because there were not enough beds in the village for the entire team if they all stayed. AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said athletes would be allowed to return for the closing ceremony, but they would have to find their own accommodation in between.

Team GB said all athletes could return for the closing ceremony, with accommodation and transport provided that day/night.

Even after the Covid-hit Games in Tokyo, the city of love still has a lot to live up to if it wants to recreate the wild stories of Olympics gone by.

 

[moe200069]

These are hella saucy

 

[moe200069]

Swap meet shaqnosis *** shoe

 

[shogun]

Reminds me of air more uptempos.

 

[Moheezy]

Embiids passport is approved

r/nba is imploding as we speak.

 

[dontsteponmyshoes]

More like pippens to me. I wouldn't wear that particular colorway but I'm just happy they are trying something different

 

[Moheezy]

Wait…Serbia won!?!? They were down 27 when I left to the airport

 

[Arthur Shelby]

 

[lovehateself]

These are hella saucy

best sig out

 

[DCAllAfrican]

The Gobert hate is insane.

Still a conspiracy right?

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Offensive limitations, bro. We're talking DEFense.



And one of the reasons is because of the above...that perception bleeds into peoples sentiments and somehow convince themselves - for reasons other than what he actually does defensively - that he's poo. Gotta watch the games, folks.

Have those perceptions bled into the minds of the French national team too? Or do they also not watch the games?

 

[Kierris]

Still a conspiracy right?

How does this correlate to the post you quoted?

 

[DCAllAfrican]

How does this correlate to the post you quoted?

You and your Gobert DEFense Committee like to pretend the alleged "hate" for dude is somehow illogical/irrational.

The same things people (and players (who were quoted in the link) have used as reasoning as to why we think dude is often times a liability (which yall call hate) seems to be shared by his own mob.

Hopefully that explanation was good enough for you. If not, cool.

 

[ill steelo]

Legendary game, wonder why they stopped this

Oh, that’s back when they did tryouts

 

[Kierris]

You and your Gobert DEFense Committee like to pretend the alleged "hate" for dude is somehow illogical/irrational.

The same things people (and players (who were quoted in the link) have used as reasoning why we think dude is often times a liability (which yall call hate) seems to be shared by his own mob.

Hopefully that explanation was good enough for you. If not, cool.

Um Gobert is a multiple time dpoy and future hall of famer... The hate y'all give this dude has nothing to do with basketball, y'all have some weird personal vendetta against him that I don't understand. Even now you tagged me randomly to knock this guy but I guarantee you won't tag me or quote me during the season when he's beasting like he does 90% of the time. You seem insanely fixated on his bad performances. Imagine if every hall of famer was judged strictly on their lows. Come on fam, you better than this.

 

[Arthur Shelby]

 

[rolaholic]

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Um Gobert is a multiple time dpoy and future hall of famer... The hate y'all give this dude has nothing to do with basketball, y'all have some weird personal vendetta against him that I don't understand. Even now you tagged me randomly to knock this guy but I guarantee you won't tag me or quote me during the season when he's beasting like he does 90% of the time. You seem insanely fixated on his bad performances. Imagine if every hall of famer was judged strictly on their lows. Come on fam, you better than this.

Anyone that "hate" Goberts acknowledges when he is impacting the game in a positive manner.

The issue has ALWAYS been his conditional effectiveness once the playoffs come around.

This has been stated numerous times by many folks but for some reason some of your crew takes it personally and as if we are making things up.

Every single year, there comes a point in time where he is unplayable. And I'm strictly speaking on unplayable from a defensive scheme approach.

People pointing that out don't HATE him for some "weird personal vendetta."

Yall trivializing it into something personal is why the back and forth will never end.

 

[MVP]

Legendary game, wonder why they stopped this

Oh, that’s back when they did tryouts

I've still never heard a swish as clean at that last Bean shot.

 

[MVP]

Um Gobert is a multiple time dpoy and future hall of famer... The hate y'all give this dude has nothing to do with basketball, y'all have some weird personal vendetta against him that I don't understand. Even now you tagged me randomly to knock this guy but I guarantee you won't tag me or quote me during the season when he's beasting like he does 90% of the time. You seem insanely fixated on his bad performances. Imagine if every hall of famer was judged strictly on their lows. Come on fam, you better than this.

Define "beasting".

 

[rolaholic]

 

[sohi 23]

Um Gobert is a multiple time dpoy and future hall of famer... The hate y'all give this dude has nothing to do with basketball, y'all have some weird personal vendetta against him that I don't understand. Even now you tagged me randomly to knock this guy but I guarantee you won't tag me or quote me during the season when he's beasting like he does 90% of the time. You seem insanely fixated on his bad performances. Imagine if every hall of famer was judged strictly on their lows. Come on fam, you better than this.

Gobert’s “lows” always come during the most important game.

The 90% of the time you say he’s “beasting” doesn’t matter if he gets played off the court in the playoffs and he only plays 2 minutes during a pivotal knockout round game for his home country WHILE HE IS STILL IN HIS “PRIME”

I have never in my life seen a hall of famer play this badly when the chips matter.

How can he be a multiple DPOY winner when he gets played off the floor everytime it matters? He’s DPOY of the league but how many lobs did lively and Gafford get during the wcf?

The game couldn’t be more important for france and they benched him AND THEY LOOKED BETTER THAN THEY HAVE ALL TOURNEY. Idk how anyone defends this guy.

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Imagine if every hall of famer was judged strictly on their lows. Come on fam, you better than this.

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Give me the list of Hall of Famers (which wasn't even part of the discussion but since you wanted to introduce it, I'llacknowledge it) that routinely become unplayable year after year in the playoffs.