I was never exactly glued to the telly during Olympics past, but I did enjoy a casual interest in who was winning what, and I watched when convenient. For some reason all that has evaporated this go-round. The only coverage I have seen has been snippets on the news or background TV visuals while out in public places.
And I haven’t really watched any of that, I merely had an awareness that it was on.
Perhaps the pre-event hype, maybe the controversies and corruption, or possibly I’ve become a curmudgeon, but I just can’t muster a care. Zero interest, just like my credit card.
Anyone else?
mmm
(and before anyone accuses me of sneak-bragging along the lines of “I don’t own a TV”, rest assured that I watch plenty of crap. Just not the Olympics)
I used to enjoy catching whatever was on when I flipped through the channels but I was kind of hoping that by now they would have multiple channels going showing the whole of the Olympics and not just highlights and blurbs. If I felt like sitting down and watching 8 hours of table tennis it would be nice to actually be able to do so.
Not me, I have about .00001 interest in the Olympics. Maybe in four years I’ll hit 0.
Whatever value people believed the concept once was it has been eroded by politics and scandals, not to mention that there’s nothing special about watching sporting events from around the world or watching international championships anymore.
Let’s face it, the Olympics was only interesting when it was a series of proxy battles for the Cold War. There was a little drama when Nancy Kerrigan got whacked in the knee, but not enough to make up for Glasnost.
NBC sucks. I don’t pay for cable TV, NBC forbids anyone else from posting any video and other countries have their coverage geoblocked.
I have zero olympics coverage. Except written news. According to that, it’s Women’s Olympics except for Phelps and some gymnast snapped his leg and Rio is a crime and disease ridden hell hole.
Fuck the olympics. It belongs to NBC and you have to pay. It’s supposed to be a world event but it’s merely a private for-profit event.
I’m not much of a fan either. I’ll watch is there’s a highlight or someone else has it on, but I’m not really interested in it outside of glimpsing the occasional floor dance-type routine, tobogganing or figure skating. And that in very, very limited doses.
However, everyone describing it makes it sound so neat that I feel like I should have seen it. Plus, I miss never catching the opening ceremony. It’s always pretty cool. Right?
Joining the dogpile. I just really don’t care. It seemed much more exciting in the 1960s and 70s, but then the original “innocence” of it seemed to get lost to politics, advertising, product placement, increasingly slicker coverage to the point of eyerolling, oh, and more advertising.
I usually like watching it. This is the first Olympic games since we cut our cable, and we live out in the country now, in a place where TV antennae don’t really work all that well. I was actually hoping to watch some Olympics on the NBC Sports app on our Roku, but they require cable TV sign-ins. So at this point I figure if NBC doesn’t want my eyeballs, I’ve got no interest in going out of my way to watch it. So, nope, I have zero interest this year.
I figured since CBS Sports gave us the Super Bowl without needing a cable TV sign-in, NBC Sports would be just as smart about it. They weren’t, and frankly, it’s their loss, not mine. NBC apparently hasn’t come to the realization that more and more people these days (especially the coveted 18-35 year-old demographic) don’t watch TV the old fashioned way.
Damned if I know. The participants are for all practical purposes professionals. The equestrian coverage is non-existant. And figure skating was ruined years ago. Synchronized swimming – need I say more?
I care far more about the winter games. Summer games, not so much. But I did enjoy watching Ledecky and Phelps dominate. They are both just so unbelievably good. Was hoping to catch velodrome cycling events. I guess I missed them.
I’ll be the dissenting voice of the bourgeoisie. I’ve missed out on the last few Olympics for various reasons, so this is the first one I’ve seen in quite a while. We’ve been going with the BBC coverage, which probably helps. But I do think there’s something nice about people coming together from all over the world to compete like this. Corny, perhaps, but true. I also enjoy the fact that so many little-appreciated sports and activities get their moment in the sun. So many people who have been working so hard for so long on things that are so obscure - for just a minute or two, they get some recognition and exposure. I think the world is a better place with that in it than it would be without it.
I catch the finals of women’s gymnastics, and maybe a little of the swimming. That’s it in the best year. This year in Rio? Who gives a shit? The city is a septic dump and the country is a basket case. I see no reason to support them in any way, including by watching this sports disaster.
My interest in the Olympics has gone down every year. The only one I can remember seeing and caring about was 1986 and that was really the first time I was old enough to have paid much attention. I remember thinking even then how sad it was that people would devote so much of their early lives to something that benefits no one. They don’t even benefit themselves, really, since so many people age out of their sports by thirty.
This year is the first where it’s hit absolute zero.
(For the summer games anyway. I have always been more interested in the winter games, especially figure skating.)
Zero interest in sports, plus a case of hype aversion from having Olympic everything all over the place, and the cultural pressure to like that which our media lords say all are to like.
I feel that way about the Super Bowl and such, too.
