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Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

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Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#341

Post by viraptor »

echoangle wrote: post #302
shakna wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many sports have lost and struggled to get an audience again, before suddenly booming. Like cricket in Australia going downhill, and then Big Bash and women's leagues reigniting. What brings in viewers isn't a predictable measure of much. Like the weather forecast, you're not going to have much more than vague generalisations each season - and they can turn out very wrong.

If you seriously think that there is even a tiny chance of fencing ever continuously bringing in even half as much viewers as football, I don't know what to tell you. The uncertainty there is not weather report level, more like "the sun will rise tomorrow".

Not a fencing example specifically, but in Poland skijumping effectively didn't exist until 2001. Then because of Adam Małysz, a record viewership has been established for national TV - during skijumping championships. That record has not been replaced until at least 2022 (I don't have more recent data, maybe it still stands). The largest football matches had millions fewer people watching. For more context the 10 most viewed events were: 4x skijump, pl-vs-rus football, 3x skijump, JP2 funeral, pl-vs-cze football.

It could happen to fencing as well or any other random sport with enough luck.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#342

Post by AdrianB1 »

grecy wrote: post #181
zajio1am wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is still out-of-network healthcare (i.e. specific services or entire healthcare providers not covered by single payer) in many countries with universal healthcare. But it is usually clear which is which.

> There is still out-of-network healthcare in many countries with universal healthcare Can you provide links? I've personally used the healthcare systems in Australia and Canada for two decades each, and also for a short time in the UK. I've never heard of this.

Link: https://www.reginamaria.ro/ - one of the biggest networks in the country. I have to use it for most of the regular stuff and I pay a subscription plus out of pocket for some consultations. This is on top of paying 10% of my gross income to socialized healthcare money stealing scheme.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#343

Post by jalapenos »

edu wrote: post #243
jalapenos wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How it's done at the Olympics is dumb, and pales in comparison in entertainment value to say HEMA fencing, where they actually wield the original weapons, rather than running at each other with goofy floppy wand sticks.

I’m biased because I’ve practiced fencing for a long time, but you keep saying it’s dumb without explaining why. First of all, which weapon do you refer to? Foil, epee or saber? They look quite different. Saber is very fast and might look as you say, both fencers jumping quickly to each other to get their right of way and score. Epee looks quite different, there’s no right of way and the score target is the whole bod…

So a layman like me finds it instinctively dumb for the following reasons.

If I watch the hundred meter sprint, I kind of get it. They're aiming to run super fast. It's a relatable activity. See it in the movies. Would do it if a dog is chasing you. Swimming - crocodile chasing you.

Javelin, they're chucking a spear really far - not so useful now, but I get it. People used to do that to fight or hunt.

Others, like pole vault or weight lifting or gymnastics etc, have spectacle appeal.

Now we come to fencing. I see two guys with what look somewhat like swords. A bit floppier, but I get they're not going to a real sword. They face off apart from each other. They look poised.

All of this, so far, is not dumb. I get this. This is mimicking a sword fight. Like boxing is mimicking a fist fight. I feel suspense. I am ready to see this fight play out.

Then they rush into each other and stab and get stabbed as if the swords were pool noodles.

This is now clearly a dumb activity with no real world parallel, and there's also no spectacle since they're just poking or slapping each other with floppy little sticks. Not so entertaining.

Basically, unlike say boxing, there's a distinct lack of hurt. Fight sports must include hurt of some kind to not appear dumb.

My opinion is this could be rectified quite simply - raise the costs of getting hit, until the fight looks real. If a stab to the torso meant you're out of the competition, even if you stab them first, the whole thing would adjust immediately to stop looking dumb.

So they could restructure the point system until the behaviour of the contestants was clearly trying to avoid getting stabbed (as if that were actually painful or deadly) while trying to stab the other person.

More substantial swords that spectators can actually see would help too. Make the saber actually a saber.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#344

Post by AdrianB1 »

grecy wrote: post #8
PartiallyTyped wrote: post #2

Reminds me how GoFundMe is effectively a healthcare insurance that's based on donations. https://time.com/5516037/gofundme-medical-bills-one-third-ce...

One third of all donations on GoFundMe are for medical expenses. [1] the very vast majority of that must be Americans. I’m staggered how many Americans are steadfastly against socialized healthcare for all, but immediately turn to GoFundMe in desperation when their insurance tells them to take a hike. I can’t help thinking “just do that for everyone” [1] https://time.com/5516037/gofundme-medical-bills-one-third-ce...

The US healthcare system is insanely expensive. Socialized healthcare is not the solution to this particular problem. Spending the most $ amount in the world with not the best results raises the question about efficiency. Solve that first, otherwise it is just money pit and no realistic amount of socialized money can fill it.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#345

Post by PoignardAzur »

gorbypark wrote: post #303
jalapenos wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Olympic fencing is straight up dumb - they do the equivalent of immediately charging to their deaths with a goofy flexi-"sword". If you want some real entertainment in that area watch HEMA fencing.

Yea I always thought it was a bit silly that the method for winning was charging at your opponent and stabbing them a hundredth of a second before they stab you. As a person who knows nothing about fencing besides watching it on TV at the olympics once I think they should change the rules where it's not who stabs who first, but who stabs the other without getting stabbed themselves.

In some fencing disciplines if both opponents get a touch in a small time window, they both get the point.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#346

Post by lmm »

The_Colonel wrote: post #288
prmoustache wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly it is the first time I read volleyball mentioned as a top-tier sport. This must be a regional thing because in most countries volleyball is totally anonymous.

Pretty much all sports (soccer might be a singular exception) are "regional" in this sense.

I don't think it's quite that limited. Basketball is pretty much worldwide, so is tennis (and golf, up to a point at least). Cricket is played in a minority of countries, but those countries are scattered across the world so it's not exactly "regional".

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#347

Post by AdrianB1 »

JamesLeonis wrote: post #168

The comments here are depressing, especially coming from a forum that hypes unprofitable and niche companies competing against larger "profitable" and "popular" companies. By the logic here us programmers should never work for startups and work only for the Big Tech companies because, frankly, they pay far far better and much more stable. By the logic here you shouldn't found companies because it's too niche. You can…

Your logic is all a false dilemma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

For example, people willing to take high risks should can try working for startups, people that cannot take risks (ex: single income for a family with kids) should not. "Founding companies because it's too niche" makes no sense, we should do it as long as there is revenue to fund it. Because Finance in New York pays for than Tech means ... nothing, Tech is good enough for most people.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#348

Post by thoroughburro »

Tesl wrote: post #130
braza wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know where the argument comes from, but at an extreme watching football with 22 folks running behind a ball in a slow game where 97% of the time nothing happens in terms of scoring, and in terms of tactics, today sounds like a handball game; it's boring (and I say that as a Brazilian and having attended more than 100+ in the stadium and more than 600 on TV). The entertainment in the Olympic games is in the fact tha…

How do you pick a number as specific as 600? I have absolutely no idea how many football games I've ever watched.

https://youtu.be/C29OU8Zu-sg

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#349

Post by lmm »

raxxor wrote: post #104
potato3732842 wrote: post #88

20yr ago they were all stripping for all of the same reasons but that was easier to keep on the down low because some journalist couldn't see and contact a dozen of them from their desk and many employers didn't even know who these people were. It really is a no brainer when you consider the investment they have to make in their bodies.

I would assume that not everyone with a "great body" would want to do stripping and I don't think it is a "no brainer" at all. Problem with many sports is that they just don't earn enough money, which mostly is in advertising, and that doing it professionally is rather costly.

The only people who make it to Olympic level (other than for very small countries) are people with the willingness to do anything it takes. If your sport isn't your top priority in your life, your place will be taken by someone for whom it is.

Re: Olympians turn to OnlyFans to fund dreams due to 'broken' finance system (2024)

#350

Post by eterm »

qingcharles wrote: post #92

Even with their existing fan base (which might or might not be interested in seeing them less clothed), OnlyFans is not a sustainable income model for most creators: https://social-rise.com/blog/average-onlyfans-income

That's actually a lot higher than I was expecting. The average twitch streamer makes essentially nothing.
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