Bad Badmintoners

Well, after I titled this post I googled "What do you call someone who plays badminton?"

And the answer is apparently  - badminton player.

That is incredibly lame. I am sticking with badmintoner. I think it will catch on.

Anywho, anyone who is paying any sort of attention right now has heard of the big, bad, badminton scandal. Two teams from South Korea, one from China, and one from Indonesia were disqualified from throwing matches during the round robin play, so as to secure an easier path to the medals for them.  I was shocked.  First, that people played badminton in the Olympics.  Second, that someone on that stage would blatantly throw matches. I was amused, watched the video of the Chinese whacking that little birdie into the net, and went on my with my day.

Then, I was watching my DVR'ed coverage of the games, and something happened that prompted me to write this blog. The NBC Badminton Analyst (yup, badminton analyst) was on, and said that when the BWF - that is the Badminton World Federation in case you weren't in the know - decided to institute the round robin format they were told that this would happen.

Oh. Em. Motha. Effeing. Gee.

Hold the phone. I have a whole lot of questions here.  There is a need for a BWF? Badmintoners on the whole are big fat cheaters? NBC needs a badminton analyst?  What kind of athlete at the OLYMPICS would throw a match?

Lets break this down.

There is a need for a BWF?

Apparently, yes. I visited their website (www.bwfbadminton.org) and it was really interesting...well, as interesting as badminton gets. The sport has been around since the 1860's, and the BWF was established in 1934.  They govern all international competition, including the Olympics, and have 173 member countries.  They also take a strong stance against betting, etc....and have a "whistle blower" policy. Touche badminton.

Badmintoners on the whole are big fat cheaters?

Yup. This article (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/london/badminton/story/2012-08-01/London-Olympics-badminton-scandal/56668034/1) states that players throwing matches has become a widespread problem. The BWF denies it, but it happens at almost all the international competitions since this round robin thing has come about. Hmmmmm.

NBC needs a badminton analyst?

I'm going to go ahead and say no, they don't need one. I'm still not even convinced this is an actual job. In fact, I have a list of made up jobs for another post and I just added badminton analyst on it. According to his bio on the NBC website - he is returning to the post from Beijing. I bet he was super excited for a scandal, he got to be on prime-time TV.  But he is apparently the bees-knees in the badminton world, so I guess they went to the source. Just call him whatever his actual title is - don't promote him to "badminton analyst" just to make it sound fancier.

What kind of athlete would throw a match at the OLYMPICS?

Lets look at China's Yu Yang. She blogged after his disqualification that she is resigning for the sport after the IOC  had "mercilessly shattered our dreams".  She also said gave some bogus excuse about being injured and then whined "Do you know the pain that athletes suffer?"

Did I mention that she is reining world champ?

Alright Yu, here's what I think:

Athlete? Thats giving yourself a bit too much credit sister. You don't deserve that title after you decided to purposefully lose. And injured? I looked it up - badminton rackets weigh less than 100 grams.  Did carrying that racket around hurt your wrist? Did tapping that little birdie throw out your shoulder? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they practice hours upon hours, but elementary kids play badminton.  I don't remember my playground littered with badminton casualties.

This is really one of the only times that badminton gets to be in the spotlight, and by extension you. You are going for the highest honor in your sport, and you are representing your country.  So instead of trying your hardest every second, acting with integrity, and wanting to show the world the talent which got you here, you decide to be a bitch and throw the match. The ref even called you out during the match, fans were booing you, and you continued to phone it in.

And then, when its all said and done, instead of apologizing, you have the gall to act like its the BWF or the Olympics fault for calling out your bitch ass. I'm glad you are retiring, they should have kicked your ass out. I hope your kids google your name one day, after you tell them you were some bad-ass, and they see what a whiny little be-yotch you actually are. Good luck explaining that to them.

You suck.