# I pit Olympic commentators Couric & Costas for their pointless & oafish comments **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 14, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805 "2004-08-14T04:52:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/1 "2004-08-14T04:52:43Z")
On and on it went with mind numbing, pointles, aimless, non-infotaining blather, and then inserted at various points the audience apparently needed to continually reminded what intractable social & economic problems various countries had as they passed by. In addition every time Costas saw a national, ethnic heritage type costume, or a high style outfit that didn’t look as if it came from the GAP he deduced that the most appropriate comment was, “Wow! Would you look at that _get up!_”… over and over again. Them furriners shore do dress funny! Hee-Yuk! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/2 "2004-08-14T05:04:19Z")
We already have a thread for this: > **[The NBC Olympics Coverage Pit Thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=271101)** > > Television coverage of the Athens Olympics begins tomorrow. NBC plans to use all of its free-to-air and cable networks, boasting for the first time to show all the sports of the Games. The purpose of this thread is to record all the complaints... ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/3 "2004-08-14T05:17:23Z")
> [@astro](#): > > …Them furriners shore do dress funny! Hee-Yuk! But a lot [do.](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Greek/euzon4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Greek/euzon4.html&h=640&w=480&sz=35&tbnid=FdZPM3XPRCMJ:&tbnh=134&tbnw=101&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGreek%2Bguards%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN) Don’t get all wishy-washy PC on me now. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/4 "2004-08-14T06:07:51Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > But a lot [do.](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Greek/euzon4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Greek/euzon4.html&h=640&w=480&sz=35&tbnid=FdZPM3XPRCMJ:&tbnh=134&tbnw=101&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGreek%2Bguards%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN) Don’t get all wishy-washy PC on me now. Yeah, well I guess [Rerun](http://whatshappening.tvheaven.com/20sitcoms2.jpg) is smiling beatifically from his grave at [the US team’s “get up”](http://www.nbcolympics.com/slideshow/ceremony/5037140/detail.html). ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/5 "2004-08-14T06:17:45Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Yeah, well I guess [Rerun](http://whatshappening.tvheaven.com/20sitcoms2.jpg) is smiling beatifically from his grave at [the US team’s “get up”](http://www.nbcolympics.com/slideshow/ceremony/5037140/detail.html). That’s the spirit! ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/6 "2004-08-14T21:20:58Z")
No lie- did they think they were announcing the Thanksgiving parade in NYC? WTF Fuck? They sounded like complete idiots. The worst was during the pre-parade show. DUDE. STFU, for real! Can we not just enjoy the music and the show without you explaining it in graphic detail like we’re all 3 years old? Jesus Wept, Costas and Couric sounded like fucking idiots. I just kept thinking “These people spent about a bazillion dollars and all this time making this production, and these assholes are going to talk through the whole thing.” ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/7 "2004-08-14T22:18:53Z")
> [@Zette](#): > > I just kept thinking “These people spent about a bazillion dollars and all this time making this production, and these assholes are going to talk through the whole thing.” That’s why God put a mute button on the remote control. Granted, using it means you can’t hear the show’s music, but with the networ’sk Stupid Twosome yakking away, the music is a lost cause anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/8 "2004-08-15T02:30:50Z")
> [@artemis](#): > > That’s why God put a mute button on the remote control. Granted, using it means you can’t hear the show’s music, but with the networ’sk Stupid Twosome yakking away, the music is a lost cause anyway. mr. avabeth and I decided that next Olympics, we’re putting on our CDs of Dvorak’s New World Symphony and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, and turning down the volume on the television. Much better than listening to these two fucktards. Ava ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/9 "2004-08-15T05:10:44Z")
Costas called Belize, “an island nation.” Couldn’t your overpaid assistant bother to read a map? :wally ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/10 "2004-08-15T05:20:14Z")
:smack: Oops. I didn’t realize his comment had already been mentioned. He’s still a geography dunce. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2004, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/11 "2004-08-15T08:07:56Z")
> [@Zette](#): > > No lie- did they think they were announcing the Thanksgiving parade in NYC? WTF Fuck? They sounded like complete idiots. > > The worst was during the pre-parade show. DUDE. STFU, for real! Can we not just enjoy the music and the show without you explaining it in graphic detail like we’re all 3 years old? Jesus Wept, Costas and Couric sounded like fucking idiots. > > I just kept thinking “These people spent about a bazillion dollars and all this time making this production, and these assholes are going to talk through the whole thing.” The commentary is unbelievably contrived. I read that in 2000 Sydney games, Costas was writing up his script in his hotel days before, and when Olivia Newton John was shown he made a comment about how, like the Olympics, she owed her start to Grease. :rolleyes: (Get it? Grease? Greece? Funny, huh?) I know they have to figure things out ahead of time, but you’d think they could do a better job at keeping from making the lines sound so forced. These people are supposed to be professionals. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/12 "2004-08-19T07:59:34Z")
> [@Dignan](#): > > I know they have to figure things out ahead of time, but you’d think they could do a better job at keeping from making the lines sound so forced. These people are supposed to be professionals. Yeah, they couldn’t possibly figure out what they’re going to say on the spot, because the moment it happens, we see it. So there’s no time at all to ad-lib anything. This is broadcast _Live From Athens._ Oh wait… :rolleyes: 😉 Seriously though, I don’t know if the opening ceremonies were live. If they were, and that’s what you meant, then nevermind. But I know everything else is not live, and that’s pretty annoying IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/13 "2004-08-19T22:47:02Z")
While we’re at it, would it kill the commentators to tell us what the freaking athlete \*on the screen \* is doing, rather than blathering about some American who’s not even in the event? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/14 "2004-08-19T23:08:25Z")
I’ve been watching the Olympic coverage on Bravo, which dares to show events which (gasp) do not necessarily feature an American hero. This morning I watched Korea and Pakistan playing field hockey, which was fun. The commentators may not be Einsteins, but at least they’re inoffensive. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/15 "2004-08-20T20:25:37Z")
What bugs me about sports commentators, particularly at the Olympics, is the way they imply that an athlete should be ashamed of earning less than gold. I can’t imagine the effort required to even make it to the Olympics, much less performing competitively there; to suggest that only a first-place finish is acceptable is shallow, juvenile and insulting. Particularly when it comes from the mouths of these stupid overpaid yahoos who have no athletic ability themselves. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-olympic-commentators-couric-costas-for-their-pointless-oafish-comments/259805/16 "2004-08-20T21:24:59Z")
The only commentator in the Olympics in the NBS stations I like is Rusty Kanokogi in judo. Not just because she was my judo tacher either. Costas is doing a terrible job so far, which is very, very surprising.