Actually, I think competitive ballroom dancing looks damn hard, but I just don’t think it should be an Olympic sport. I feel the same way about ice skating, but I’m sure I’m in the minority on that one.
I just prefer the sports that are determined by who is the fastest, who scores the most points, etc. rather than those determined by the judges opinions and scorings. Not that those sports aren’t difficult, I just don’t really care that much about them.
Oh so that’s what it was. I suppose if I had ever played it at some point in my life (or even seen it before) I might have a little more respect. Not having had such experience, my first impression was just that it looked a little silly.
Hey, soccer is great fun and I played it all through out high school- it just doesn’t do anything for me to sit on my sofa and watch a bunch of people I don’t know play it. This is the source of my general non-interest in most organized sports. For the same reason, when I’m hungry I don’t watch somebody eating a hamburger.
Here’s what I saw last night: Some guy running towards a pommel horse at high speed, then he did a flip and landed on the other side. Total elapsed time of action (if you want to call that action) ~ 3.5 seconds. Then he spent the next 10 minutes screaming & hugging his team mates & jumping up & down in celebration. You’d think they discovered a cure for cancer or something. I’m sure you have to be pretty well trained to do a flip like that and land on your feet, I just wonder why anybody would want to look at it.
I guess I just don’t get it.
I agree with most of what has been said about NBC’s coverage of the Olympics biting. Hard. I’m surprised that no one from Canada has weighed in on this. Apparently the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company?) is showing the real Olympics, real time. And hopefully, sans hideous cheesy commentary.
The BBC have it here and the coverage is similar to Canada (it seems). During the night (11.30 ish pm - UK time - ‘til it finishes for the day in Sydney) the BBC shows different sports live on two channels. And the beeb doesn’t have any advertising !!
During the daytime they show highlights packages and the sports they couldn’t cover during the night but only on one channel. All this ‘personal story’ stuff sounds like a nightmare. We get a very little of that but I think everyone realises it’s just soft focus type crap unless there really is a story. Can’t understand NBC at all on this.
Not trying to make ya’ll jealous, just letting you know what can be shown if the Network is committed to coverage rather than revenue.
If watching it in the States I’d definately e-mail the Network. And if I was involved in one of the lesser publiciced sports I’d be furious, the Olymics is also supposed to be a showcase. If the kids can’t see the sport, there is much less chance they will take it up.
Another idea for the folks who are planning to email NBC to protest their shoddy coverage. Watch the Olympics tonight, write down the names of the commercial sponsors, and include in your email the fact that you plan to boycott those sponsors. Send copies to the sponsors.
Well, they don’t show a LOT of Olympics, and there is some cheesy commentary, though not much.
CBC coverage is generally pretty good, but we ARE missing some stuff. Prime time coverage only runs about four hours a night. Canada is getting wiped out early in a lot of events, so CBC is having some early trouble getting some big draws on the air.
There’s not much you can do about the time difference, but CBC’s giving it an honest shot. The NBC coverage is truly dreadful, the worst sports broadcasting I have ever seen. Even the production values are nowhere near Canadian standards; it’s as if they not only didn’t care enough to broadcast live, but they sent the amateur cameramen and producers, too.
to see Fencing and Greco Roman Wrestling and Cycling and Judo!! Judo is the coolest to watch!
Course, I probably won’t so that we can see NBC version of important events. Diving, swimming, running, more swimming, a repeatr of the US swimming, close up on heartfelt US story, china or some ‘other country’ wins and we get a second to see the winner (I am surprised they hold it long enough to do the whole ceremony for the other team.)
Look I do not care if he or she is from China, Webleyville, or Hootertown Mars. I like to applaud the winner for giving it their all and see them bask in the glory that they have one for their country! I clapped big time for the China team in Gymnastics because they did a FANTASTIC job and deserved it. Yet the coverage was less than adequate with most of the time focused on why the US did not win.
Olympics is about the best IN THE WORLD, not about whose best on our side.
Ah yes.
Fans of gymnastics gasp in pleasure when the gymnast lands with his/her feet together, and yet they slag dressage. Try coordinating four feet that you can’t even see and over which you have no direct muscle control! That’s skill!
Really? When I looked at CBC’s web page at the beginning of the Olympics (to see if they were webcasting anything) their schedule looked exhaustive; coverage 20 hours a day, with only news breaking it up. Did they change the schedule because our athletes aren’t winning?
Clearly NBC must die. http://www.olympics.com has better and more interesting coverage. But I’ve done this rant before.
I was a little misleading; when I say prime time coverage, I mean in prime time. It leaves off at 10 until midnight.
I’d prefer a more solid block of coverage from about 5 to midnight or so; more people could watch it. I can’t watch at work. Damned boss. 
I’ve watched enough NBC to know we’re lucky. NBC’s coverage is appalling.
Coldfire – should have slapped a in there for you; it was in jest. I do not think you only care for “bash your teeth in sports”. It was a tease based on the make-up and music; I went to the opposite extreme. Bashed in teeth surely must be the extreme from make-up and music!
I have been on-line for the last two hours debating issues so I’m a bit spent. If you don’t “get” a sport don’t watch it. If you do “get” it feel free to defend it. In closing all I will say is that regardless of what anyone and everyone thinks or feels I’m damn proud of anyone and everyone who is there to represent their country. (There is a post of mine in the Pit about this…)
I envy them and respect them no matter what their sport. I am in AWE of these people who have gathered to find the best of the best. I wish them all well. Even though, yes, I want the U.S.A. to kick some serious butt I still want everyone to do their very best (I cheered my ASS off for the Torpedo from Australia tonight!).
I really do see the Olympics as the one time when we should set aside our often petty differences and just compete to the very best of our abilities. I love it when after a race I see the winners hug and acknowledge those they beat; that to me speaks so highly of their sportsmanship.
There is little shame in my mind in not getting a medal; but I was truly horrified by such bad sportsmanship examples like what Nancy Kerigan did before the medal ceremony in 1994 where in front of cameras and microphones she was bashing Oksana Baiul. It broke my heart she was such a cutting, vindictive bitch because she “only” won silver.
I hated the fact that she represented me as part of the U.S. I hung my head in SHAME! I do not want people like that to represent me. I think the U.S. is a great place but I do not want that kind of representation. She is the embodiment of everything that is wrong about an athlete. She was bitter, defensive, cutting, rude and more adjectives than this forum allows me to spew. She is EVERYTHING I do not want our athletes to be. I am damn glad I have not seen her likeness in these summer games…
I want those who represent the U.S. to win or lose with grace. I want them to just be there and understand the importance inherent in that. Just BE THERE. Just be the best you can be and be able to acknowledge when you aren’t the best. And be sure to be kind when you are the best.
I will never forget the look on Polk’s face, when she took that bronze in women’s swimming… she was thrilled to death… I wish our, the two U.S. athletes, would have acknowledged her more… they did not slight her but I just wish they could have included her in that winning hug… she deserved it. She rocks for her country and I was cheering her on!
I’m strong U.S.A. but I do want everyone to do their best!
Go U.S.A!!!
(And Go everyone else!!!)
I watched a few minutes of the Olympics last night. Sponsors I noticed were:
Budwiser Light
Coca Cola
Visa
There was a truck commercial, too. Dodge?
Having heard who the winners were beforehand, the coverage was too boring to watch. Maybe NBC will send us a list of their sponsors so that we can write to them? 