Episode #13: Stop Pretending You're An Olympics Gymnastics Judge!

Ever found yourself suddenly critiquing a gymnastics routine or a diving performance like a seasoned expert during the Olympics? 

On this episode of Sound-off with Sinkoff, Brian hilariously dissects our collective transformation into Olympic 'specialists' every four years. 

From his early crush on Mary Lou Retton back in '84 to watching jaw-dropping routines with my wife, Francine, it’s a nostalgic and comical take on how we pretend to understand sports that most of us can barely spell.Tune in as Brian ponders the baffling complexities of gymnastics and diving, questioning how athletes manage to practice such dangerous moves without constant injury. He shares his bewilderment and amusement at social media 'experts' who confidently critique routines despite knowing zilch about the sports. 

Whether you're a casual fan or an armchair judge, this episode is your ticket to laughing at our shared ignorance and embracing the simple joy of watching these incredible athletes.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome everybody to Sound Off with Sync
Off.
I'm your host, brian Sync Off,glad you could join me here on
all of your podcast platforms.
Do me a favor, hit the likebutton, hit the subscribe button
as we get into it here.
It's been a hot minute sinceI've been with you.
Glad to be back Olympics infull swing.

(00:22):
I know many of you are watchingthe Olympic Games in Paris
Summer Olympics.
They're my absolute favorite,probably because America does
pretty well at these summergames, even though obviously
there Enjoyed watching theOlympics ever since I was a
little kid had a big crush onMary Lou Retton when I was 13

(00:52):
back in 1984.
Those were one of my firstmemories of the summer games.
But anyway, I love looking atsocial media and people have
opinions about gymnastics.
People have opinions aboutswimming and diving and I love

(01:13):
that.
But what I don't love is thatpeople think they're a
gymnastics expert.
You have no concept as to whatthe hell you're talking about.
Okay, we turn into theseOlympic experts every four years
.
Be honest with me.
Out there people, when is thelast time you watched gymnastics

(01:36):
?
The floor routine, the balancebeam, the uneven bars, the
pommel horse you haven't watchedthe Olympics since guess when
the last Olympics four years ago?
You're not an expert, stoptrying to be.
You're not a judge, like wehave no concept of what a triple

(01:59):
back handspring with a twistlooks like, how it's executed,
how do we judge this?
But we all sit at home on ourcouch and say that that was a
good landing or, you know, sayit wasn't a good landing, like
the other night my wife,francine, and I were watching

(02:21):
and the young lady from the USit was such a difficult–
actually, no, it was a guy itthe men's team he such a
difficult move.
He did like a triple twist, atriple flip, and he didn't stick
the landing.
But because the, the, the, theattempt was so difficult, he got
a great score.
And I looked at Francine.

(02:42):
I said, francine, I'm like asports nut, mean forever,
whatever it's worth.
I have this silly littlepodcast or whatever.
I'm this big sports nut and Ihave no idea how to judge that.
I have no idea what he just did.
I don't have any idea how theypractice these things.
Like how do you practice thatand not get hurt?

(03:05):
You know, because forgetsticking the landing?
Like how do you practice thatand not land on your head.
I mean, I know it's years andthese are rhetorical questions,
but it's like years and yearsand years of practice and
training at the highest level.
I get it, but reality is wehave no clue.

(03:28):
We act like we've been coachingthe sport for 25 years.
Reality we watched it four.
Here comes the Olympics.
Everybody turns into agymnastics expert on Facebook.

(03:49):
Everybody's an expert onTwitter.
You know it, it, it just itnever ceases to amaze me.
The same thing with diving.
I don't know anything aboutdiving.
Less than 1% of the populationhas a clue about diving or can
properly judge gymnasticsLiterally less than 1%.

(04:12):
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So I'm a little parched heretalking about the Olympic games.
I'm getting tired just talkingabout the Olympics, much less

(04:56):
doing it.
But it's.
You know, the pole vault, thejavelin we haven't really track,
is coming up, but we haven'treally gotten much into track
yet.
But the same thing with thepole vault, same thing with
javelin.
Um, it's just it.
The the whole thing cracks meup.
Uh, triple back gainer with aninverted flip, uh, twist, like

(05:20):
what does that even mean?
Could you do that?
Could you describe that to me?
If I said you got five minutesto describe what a triple,
triple gainer with an invertedtwist is?
No, so why are we trying tojudge the gymnastics in the
Olympic Games Like?

(05:43):
You're a, you're a gymnasticsexpert.
You haven't done a somersaultsince fifth grade.
You're a, you're a divingexpert.
You don't even dive into yourown pool, yet you get in your
pool and you float, but you'retelling, you're telling, you're
telling everyone on Facebook howgood the dive was.

(06:03):
Or you're, you haven't swam alap since the Clinton
administration and yet you'retalking about how the guy from
Australia wasn't better than theAmerican.
It's just funny.
You don't even go underwater inyour own backyard pool, but
you're an expert in the100-meter freestyle event.
Yeah, I love the Facebookcomments about these sports.

(06:26):
It's actually mind-boggling.
And we also don't realize thatthese Olympic athletes, this is
like another level.
This is not I'm a good swimmeron the local swim team or I did
good at the.
You know no knock to the statetournament or the section two
tournament in New York.
But these swimmers, they're notswimming at high school,

(06:50):
they're.
They're going to like the U Straining center when they're 15,
wherever the hell the swimmingone is.
I know most of them are inColorado, I'm sure it is, but
they're.
These swimmers are reallypicked at.
You know, such a young age andthey're, they're swimming.
You know, they're training forthese games.

(07:11):
It's, it's very, very difficultto just come from a high school
not impossible, but difficultto come from a high school and
just start swimming.
On that level it is justanother, another level and I
think that is like the one thingabout the Olympics I really
appreciate.
I really I really love and thatis just um the ability of these

(07:32):
athletes, cause I think onething that's really cool for me
about the summer Olympics isthat it's far different than the
winter Olympics.
The winter Olympics is it's,it's almost like the events were
created on a dare, you knowwhat I mean.
Like I dare you to jump off agiant ski.
Jump, uh, going 60 miles anhour and try to land on your

(07:54):
skis.
I dare you to do, you know, douh, moguls, you know I.
Dare you go down a luge uh, youknow, feet first, not looking
where you're going.
I dare you to get in a bobsled,you know, again, only have one
person steering and they're noteven really steering and go down
this ice fricking track.
Like the winter Olympics arecreated on a dare, the summer

(08:18):
Olympics are.
I don't want to say that the,the sports feel more natural.
Maybe they feel like we allcould sort of do them in our own
little goofy sort of way.
Uh, you know it's.
I can envision myself running.
I mean, granted, I would belike the eddie, the eagle of the
track, uh, team.
But you know, you can envisionyourself even swimming in a pool

(08:42):
.
Obviously you're not going atthe level of these olympic, but
I just feel like the winter, thesummer games, it's just a
little more maybe identifiable.
I think we can identify withthe games a little bit more than
we can.
The Winter Olympics, which Idon't ski, I don't do a lot of
winter sports, so it's hard forme to fathom any of these things

(09:04):
.
But most of the summer sports,maybe the you know.
There are some exceptions.
I did break dance.
So break dancing was somethingthat I did in seventh grade.
I was actually on a break danceteam.
Uh, believe it or not, we had,we had a sweet puma.
Uh, I think they were like grayor brown and red.
That was like our pumasweatsuit outfit.

(09:27):
We had a whole outfit andeverything but um, but yeah,
like most of the events, withmaybe like the exception of
javelin and hammer throw andshot put, I've done.
You know, you played basketballright, most of us have.
You played basketball.
You've run.
Maybe we haven't done the right, but you've run around a track
at one point in your life.

(09:47):
You've swam in a pool.
You've dove off a diving boardAgain, not the level, but so
that's why I think for methere's just great appeal in the
summer games, because I feellike we can identify with it.
We can envision how hard it iswhen we're swimming in a pool.
You go one or two laps, you'reexhausted.

(10:08):
These, some of these guys andgals, they're going eight laps,
ten laps for the longer eventsor full sprinting for two laps.
That's extremely difficult andthat's why I love the uh, that's
why I love the summer games,because america's pretty good at
it and it's kind of relatable.
You can, you can see and youcan understand just the, the

(10:31):
skill and something you've doneyourself, so we can relate.
We can picture ourselves maybein that situation.
Again, winter Olympics I have.
No, I don't think I've done anywhen I can't ice skate, I can't
snowboard, I can't figure skate, I can't ski, I can't bobsled,
I've never done luge.

(10:52):
So there's not one sport in theWinter Olympic Games I've ever
done.
Summer Olympics most of us havedone, not necessarily saying
we've run a 100-meter trackevent, but we have run around a
track.
We have swam in a pool, we doveoff a diving board.
You know I wrestled in highschool, so I can't even say I

(11:14):
wrestled.
Hell, I break danced.
Synchronized swimming no, mostof us haven't, but we have done
flips in the pool.
I remember me and my friendswhen we were teens we used to do
handstands and see how far wecould walk underwater.
I mean, yeah, it's notsynchronized swimming, but it's
in the family of synchronizedswimming.

(11:34):
So that's kind of my take onthe Olympics.
Just wanted to give you mythoughts on it.
Love, love everyone watchingthe Olympics.
I think it's hilarious that weall turn into gymnastics experts
and look me too, for thatmatter.
I caught myself the other nightwith Francine because we both
went oh, he didn't stick thelanding and then they gave him
some preposterously high score.

(11:55):
That's because the degree ofdifficulty was hard, and I don't
even know where the hell theycome up with the degree of
difficulty.
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(12:18):
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