Sochi 2014

[Magnus]

I thought it was time to open up this topic, since we're so keen on talking about hockey 24/7/365 here anyway. Let's get it going! Who are our expected medal contenders this time around? Is the COC going to continue its 2010 podium success in 2014? And what about the call for boycotts due to the recent laws against LGBT relations passed by the Kremlin? Discuss!

[kevsim1]

I like Finland's chance at a hockey medal

[Kevin W.]

Screw the boycotts. Let's just have a gay or lesbian athlete win a medal and then be seen celebrating with their partner in public. Let's see Putin have them thrown out of the country.

[Hathaway Browne]

^lol that'd cause a right controversy. I don't know what the IOC would do if Russia were to 'evict' a gold medallist.

[NJTank]

Screw the boycotts. Let's just have a gay or lesbian athlete win a medal and then be seen celebrating with their partner in public. Let's see Putin have them thrown out of the country.

Putin is just another Mussolini, boycotts will only punnish the athletes and putin would not care.

[IceCap]

I thought it was time to open up this topic, since we're so keen on talking about hockey 24/7/365 here anyway. Let's get it going! Who are our expected medal contenders this time around? Is the COC going to continue its 2010 podium success in 2014? And what about the call for boycotts due to the recent laws against LGBT relations passed by the Kremlin? Discuss!

Boycotts won't mean a thing, honestly. Athletes train their entire lives to compete in the Olympics, and for many they'd lose their chance if their countries pulled out of the 2014 games.

As for expelling athletes from Russia? It won't happen. The Olympics are a chance for nations, even despicable nations, to try and put their best foot forward. Expelling a LGB athlete would pretty much be the worst thing Russia could do. Keep in mind that Nazi persecution of the Jews was at an all-time low (for Nazis) during the 1936 games.

[rams80]

Screw the boycotts. Let's just have a gay or lesbian athlete win a medal and then be seen celebrating with their partner in public. Let's see Putin have them thrown out of the country.

IOC: "Please sir, may I have another?"

[The_Admiral]

The entire You Can Play campaign is spearheaded by the NHL and the hockey community. To go to a country that just started criminalizing homosexuality would be an affront to everything they purport to stand for.

Athletes train their entire lives to compete in the Olympics, and for many they'd lose their chance if their countries pulled out of the 2014 games.

Well then let the luge people go. NHL players train for the NHL. They can stay home. I'd love to see some players do the right thing. One thing that's more Canadian than winning a hockey game is believing in basic human rights.

[Viper]

The weird thing is, Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham has already been calling for a boycott of Sochi, for an entirely different reason - namely, Russia's role in the ongoing Edward Snowden affair.

So, even if the gay-rights boycott picks up steam, it could well end up getting hijacked by someone who isn't exactly a champion of gay rights.

[TorinK92]

Well that's just odd when you think about it.

"There's a guy we want at their airport and their not giving him to us. let's not go there, that'll show them!"

Proving points that republicans should not be making desicions for large groups of people.

[ninersdd]

Besides the Olympics, in 2018 and 2022 World Cups are also in homophobic locales.(Russia again and Qatar, though who knows if Qatar will still stand as host)

[NJTank]

You think a boycott will hurt Russia?

I certainly don't and I think you need to continue on as normal and not let them win any satisfaction with a boycott,

[The_Admiral]

I think it will hurt their Olympics if Canadians and Americans drop out of hockey, yes.

[NJTank]

And than Russia laughs it way to a Gold Medal.

In 1936 Jesse Owens won four gold medals it Hitler's Germany and that was the best way to stick it to Hitler

[TheOldRoman]

Well that's just odd when you think about it.

"There's a guy we want at their airport and their not giving him to us. let's not go there, that'll show them!"

Proving points that republicans should not be making desicions for large groups of people.

Cool story, bro. And the irony of calling someone dumb amidst your own misspellings and incorrect grammar is not lost. Yes, it's dumb and pointless, just like boycotting the 1980 Olympics was. We really showed them.

The hockey players boycotting would ultimately have very little impact on Russia. It would bring a little more press to this issue, but in the US, Olympic hockey falls well behind figure skating, speed skating and several other sports in terms of importance. The NHL players boycotting would have a fraction of the impact that would the figure skaters. The same number of people are still going to travel to the games and spend just as much money, so the only way Russia is punished is that its hockey tournament is less memorable.

[DEAD!]

Forget boycott, just hope all the ice and snow melts at the outdoor venues, win more gold and overall medals than the Russians and have the LGBT athletes make out at the closing ceremonies and laugh on their way out of the $50-60 billion albatross of a sporting event.

[Cosmic]

If we didn't boycott China five years ago (not for LGBTQ stuff, just for lack of human rights in general), I don't see why we would boycott Russia now.

[Gothamite]

I don't recall China enacting a new series of draconian laws immediately before the Olympics, nor do I recall them threatening foreign athletes in particular.

My memory could be faulty, but Russia seems unique in its recent provocations.

[Cosmic]

I don't recall China enacting a new series of draconian laws immediately before the Olympics, nor do I recall them threatening foreign athletes in particular.

My memory could be faulty, but Russia seems unique in its recent provocations.

The idea that the athletes could be thrown in jail is unique and troubling, I agree, but there will probably be assurances given from the highest levels on that one... the rant of some random guy on Russia's Olympic committee or whatever doesn't carry much weight with me.

I feel like China was just always this bad, and people are only caring about it in Russia because it's "new". In China, you had no freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of movement, freedom of press, no fair legal system, the one child policy, jailing of political opponents, the Great Firewall of China, discrimination against non-Han, the status of Tibet and Taiwan, lack of workers' rights, poor environmental policy and probably more.

But, I do feel like China was very willing to play nice during the Olympics. Russia... ?

[NJTank]

Forget boycott, just hope all the ice and snow melts at the outdoor venues, win more gold and overall medals than the Russians and have the LGBT athletes make out at the closing ceremonies and laugh on their way out of the $50-60 billion albatross of a sporting event.

That sounds like the solution.