The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

- Beijing 2008 is drawing to a close. I really didn't care for it much at the beginning but as time went on, I found myself looking up results and tuning it in on the TV when I had some spare time. Canada doing poorly at the start may end up being the best thing that could happen to Canadian sports, as I'm pretty sure there will be more pressure put on the Feds to provide more funding for athletes, especially with Vancouver 2010 just around the corner. Over the long haul this might result in more medals for Canadian athletes for future Olympics.

- Wrestling has the stupidest rule to decide a tie: If the score is tied after the three rounds are finished, the individual who got the last point wins the match. What!? What about, how's this for an idea, having a TIEBREAKER, where the first person to get the point after the allotted time or whatever actually wins!?! Canada got screwed out of a bronze medal for that very reason.

- I read a very nice article in the Sun about how the organizers of table tennis will force all female competitors to wear short skirts to attract more viewers. I don't know, call me old-fashioned, but I think if you're broadcasting a sport, it should be about the sport. If you need scantily-clad athletes to draw any attention, you should just scrap it. I think these sort of sideshow regulations cheapens the sport in question and also discourages otherwise talented athletes to participate because they are self-conscience about their appearance.

- Those Chinese gymnasts are under 16 folks: Just look at them. Aside from that, at least two Chinese gymnasts were registered under Chinese sports lists as being born in 1993 and 1994 several years in a row, but all of a sudden their birth date is 1992 according to the Associated Press. Some don't quite understand the age rule but the reason is the human body isn't designed to take all the twists, flips, contortions and high impact manoeuvres at such a young age 24/7...it's going to affect their body development later on in life.

- I didn't think it was possible, but here it is: a North Korean shooter was caught using a banned substance and lost his two medals he won in the 10 and 50 meter air pistol competitions. What could he take to help him with shooting? Propranolol, which apparently reduces trembling. It doesn't matter what sport or hobby it is, people will just cheat until the day they die.