I must premise this...
with the fact that I'm totally addicted to the Olympics right now. That and trying to earn all the Olympic stickers on getglue.com.
I say that because what I want to talk about is Olympic women's badminton. Last night, when I went to bed I read an article that the badminton fans were booing players because they felt they weren't giving their all to the match. I'm not a big badminton player or watcher, mostly because how often is badminton on TV, but from what I understood they were losing on purpose to try to get a better position in the semi-final matches. They'd already assured themselves a place, so the matches didn't matter much to them. I'm not entirely sure how the rankings work, that losing would give you a better position, but that's what it said.
This morning I got up and found that 8 players (4 teams) have been disqualified for "It punished them for 'not using one's best efforts to win a match' and 'conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport' in matches Tuesday night." (Rob Harris AP) Which I'm torn about. The larger part of me goes good, if you're not going to play the game the way it's supposed to be played, you don't need to play anymore. Especially, because it becomes a great object lesson for my students about not trying your best all the time. However, part of me is going what kind of system is it that you get better positions for losing?
Of course all the teams have appealed, but what will happen tomorrow when the rounds resume is anybody's guess.
I say that because what I want to talk about is Olympic women's badminton. Last night, when I went to bed I read an article that the badminton fans were booing players because they felt they weren't giving their all to the match. I'm not a big badminton player or watcher, mostly because how often is badminton on TV, but from what I understood they were losing on purpose to try to get a better position in the semi-final matches. They'd already assured themselves a place, so the matches didn't matter much to them. I'm not entirely sure how the rankings work, that losing would give you a better position, but that's what it said.
This morning I got up and found that 8 players (4 teams) have been disqualified for "It punished them for 'not using one's best efforts to win a match' and 'conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport' in matches Tuesday night." (Rob Harris AP) Which I'm torn about. The larger part of me goes good, if you're not going to play the game the way it's supposed to be played, you don't need to play anymore. Especially, because it becomes a great object lesson for my students about not trying your best all the time. However, part of me is going what kind of system is it that you get better positions for losing?
Of course all the teams have appealed, but what will happen tomorrow when the rounds resume is anybody's guess.