But to the Chinese, it is all about China. At least from what I’ve seen.
I got more of a fiasco vibe from the lead up to the Athens games than the Beijing games, and as far as I remember the Athens games went pretty well.
Can I get an AMEN BROTHER! Olympic coverage is unbearable. I’m getting dry heaves just thinking about it. Even so, I will probably watch some, very carefully selected, with heavy use of the DVR to skip through the stories of the athlete’s nephew whose iron lung was just destroyed in a fire.
I go your Olympic hatred further and Pit many of the so-called amateurs who make good livings at their given sports but qualify as amateur due to lawyer-tortured definitions of the word.
The swiftness with which some of these “amateurs” get on the endorsement trail virtually sceams of prior contingent financial scheming.
And all of the doping/not doping controversies! “They haven’t banned this yet, so I’m not doping.” “It’s in my system, but that’s from way back before it was banned.” “The IOC obviously mis-handled my sample.” Etc,Etc, ad nauseam.
I, too, think it’s obscene how cities whore themselves to the IOC, pro sports, the NCAA, what have you, to get transient events that never come close to paying for themselves. Instead of focusing efforts at bringing to/retention of good full-time well-paid employment, the politicians find some whore (yes, I’m talking about YOU, Prof. Ernie Goss of Creighton University!!!) from a local University who over-estimates the" tremendous economic impact" of a 10-day event whose temp employees make minimum wage.
The Olympics came down with LA Syndrome. Or is there some other reason than profit motive that made them move the Winter Games out of step with the Summer Games?
I knew this was a bad idea when Beijing was announced as the winner of this year’s games.
By all means, the athletes should still compete, but the media should turn off their cameras and show a two-week marathon of Heidi reruns.
Well, I’m about 11 hours away from Vancouver, so it might be a heck of a commute for you to get to any of the events. You’re more than welcome to stop by on your way to Vancouver, though.
I’m curious to see how the athletes act out on the politics. During the opening ceremonies, how many Tibetan or Burmese flags will we see? What would the reaction be of China, the broadcasters, and the IOC? What other types of protests/gestures/statements might we see or hear from the athletes?
Only, it’s not. It hasn’t been since '36.
Taking on the gargantuan work and stratospheric costs to host the Summer Games is always done for a reason, political many times, economical at times (hoping it will pay off in the long run), prestige or whatever. The athletic aspect comes way down the scale for those aspiring to host the games.
I Pit that true to form, NBC has decided that Olympic shooting is apparently too scaaaaaaaaary to show to the unwashed broadcast audience (that is, non-cable), and is only (seemingly grudgingly) showing two events - Women’s Air Rifle on USA, and Men’s Trap on MSNBC. Hey, at least it’s not a total ban… :rolleyes:
And there is only a single broadcast showing of women’s fencing - and it’s sabre.
My gf and I will not be watching. I do not have cable/etc. My gf has a dish, but neither of us watch TV during the spring/summer. During the summer we kayak, hike, bike, etc. When the snow flies, sure we will watch some TV.
Don’t you mean boooooooooring? As in NBC thinks that people will tune out? I can’t imagine that they will spend a lot of time on Archery, Badminton, Field Hockey or Handball either.
ETA: And I heard on NPR the other day that Badminton is one of the most popular sports in the world today, and also very popular in the USA.
Boring to you, maybe. We fence, therefore we want to see fencing. We shoot, therefore we want to see shooting. While fencing is much less common, I’ll hazard there are at least a few million shooters in the US, right? Maybe a few of them would like to see it.
And it doesn’t have to be non-stop coverage - it would be boring to see 3 hours of punching paper, or a 15-touch match turn into 40 minutes of parry. But then they summarize other events - they could fit a lot of shooting coverage in half an hour stuck in somewhere. Or they could just show highlighted foil or epee. Or - wow, here’s a radical concept - they could put the coverage on Youtube, along with adverts to get money? I know Big American Media still hasn’t “got” this whole “Internet” passing fad, but come on!
There are umpteen hours of programming available, and NBC can easily fit all of the items in - even if they only broadcast it at 3:30am, most folks with opposable digits have learned how to use VCRs, Tivo, et al by now.
Actually that’s not what I meant. It’s not necessarily boring to me. What did you mean by “NBC has decided that Olympic shooting is apparently too scaaaaaaaaary to show” ? Maybe I misunderstood what you were trying to say.
I am guessing that NBC doesn’t show shooting because they think that most of their target audience wouldn’t be interested in it (or badminton or archery or field hockey). Do you suspect a different motive?
I won’t be watching. I just can’t make myself do it. The Chinese government are collectively baaad, baaad, people, and I can’t in good concience support any of it. The media get their money from sponsors who advertise because they want those watching to buy their shit. Well, I won’t buy it, and I won’t passively be one of the people in the advertising numbers game. Some product has an olympic logo on it? Pass.
It’s possible that I’m misguided and my personal little boycott means nothing to anyone but me…in fact, it’s probable. But in my mind, money makes the world go round, and finding other avenues into which to inject my dollar is about the best way I have right now of giving the IOC, the Chinese government, the sponsors, and advertisers the finger.
Lots of people think the U.S. is bad, and on many levels, I don’t disagree. We are. But oppressive governments that throw their own people around like rag dolls (as a rule) are worse. If they can’t be bothered to straighten the fuck up, at least to our crappy standards, they will get no love from me, nor will anyone who supports the status quo there.
I’m not that righteous. Really. There’s just a few things in this world that feel wrong enough to me that I’d feel like an ass if I didn’t notice. This is one of them.
You’re more than welcome to stop by on your way to Vancouver, though.