2012 Summer Olympics Thread

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Elephant said:
Yeah, Marco Rubio drafted or is a major sponsor of the bill.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-rubio-taxes-olympians-20120801,0,6061536.story
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"We can all agree that these Olympians who dedicate their lives to athletic excellence should not be punished when they achieve it," Rubio said in a press release.
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What an idiot.

In other news, I finally saw the women's team gymnastics event last night on DVR. How sad to see the Russian team so obviously disappointed, but how wonderful to see the sheer joy and happiness in the eyes of the US team.
 
MikeSr619 said:
What an idiot? Care to elaborate on the grenade you just lobbed?
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According to his logic no pro athlete should be "punished" with taxes either. And for that matter, I'd say no hard working American who has dedicated their life to achieving professional success should be "punished."

Edit: For what it's worth, I actually don't have as much of a problem with the bill itself, I just don't appreciate the logic behind that statement because it implies that Olympians should be held in a higher moral regard than other athletes and professionals.
 
MikeSr619 said:
Coming from someone who plans to serve this country I'm shocked to hear you say this.

They've dedicated their lives to going to the Olympics to represent this country. They don't get paid to train, they can't compete for money, all they have is that gold medal. It's the least they deserve.
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Well you make the argument better than he does ;)

Like I said, I don't have a problem necessarily with the bill, but his statement really bothers me.

The biggest issue I see is that the Olympics really are a place of haves and have-nots. You have super-rich people who are pros in their sport or get tons of money from endorsements, and you have those who get paid next to nothing while they train, and often have to work 2nd jobs to make ends meet.
 
renaissance said:
According to his logic no pro athlete should be "punished" with taxes either. And for that matter, I'd say no hard working American who has dedicated their life to achieving professional success should be "punished."
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This is my major problem with it as well. Its faulty logic. There are plenty of athletes who train all their lives for greatness. So NFL players don't deserve a tax break? They can't "represent their country," because no other country plays their sport. So we should penalize them? What about World Cup athletes? There is around $400M in prize money awarded at that event every year. What about NBA athletes in the Olympics? Are their salaries now tax exempt?

This legislation opens up a whole new can of worms.

Not to mention - saying these athletes train their entire lives just to represent their country and to compare them to the servicemen and women who DIE for this country is not only an insult to the armed forces, but simply not true either. I think the love of their sport and endorsement dollars drive them as well.

Speaking of endorsements, are you going to make those tax-exempt as well? They only obtained them because they represented their country!

Edit: For what it's worth, I actually don't have as much of a problem with the bill itself, I just don't appreciate the logic behind that statement because it implies that Olympians should be held in a higher moral regard than other athletes and professionals.
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I do - I worked hard to get and pay for my education, to earn my living. My entire life I've worked to be where I'm at. How come I'm paying taxes on my income?
 
Ren, if Rubio had said the sky was blue you'd have said he's an idiot.

This is ridiculous! It is just another example of taxation gone wild!
 
MikeSr619 said:
Is that why you care? Because you have to pay taxes?
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Mike, its clear that you and I don't see eye to eye on the subject, so I'm not really sure what your baiting is all about. I'm really not interested in engaging in the back-and-forth dance with you, so if you're truly interested shoot me a PM.
 
Elephant said:
Ren, if Rubio had said the sky was blue you'd have said he's an idiot.
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Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but I certainly wouldn't have called him an idiot if he said the sky was blue unless he said that during a thunderstorm.
 
renaissance said:
They definitely hammed up everything related to the "fab 5" including that stupid theme song they kept playing for them. It never seemed close to me, it was just so heartbreaking seeing the Russians have such an awful night.
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NBC's coverage in general has been awful.
 
Speaking of women's gymnastics, Gabby Douglas just won the women's all around. Gold for USA.

Apparently, it brought house down and it was a routine for the ages. Take a look tonight if you get the chance.
 
Goaldeje said:
Seriously? I love Costas. I grew up with him when watching the NBA. Always liked him.
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His ego got in his way. He was a good broadcaster back in the day, then he tried to become a poet. We are watching sports, not watching a book club discuss Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Al Michaels is the last of the greats and he is stuck dealing with Chris friggin Collinsworthless!
 
Phelps closes out his career with a gold. That is sixteen career golds and twenty medals overall.
 
I wonder if Lochte is wishing he hadn't been so critical of Phelps.
 
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