First off, we all know sports announcers say a lot of stupid things. That’s not new. But the Olympics provide us with whole new levels of stupid, and as the days and weeks drag on, the announcers begin to dribble out some real gems that simply must be recorded for posterity’s sake.
I’ve heard two real standouts so far:
#1 was referring to a speed skater, I think
OK, even ignoring the highly questionable math, what does any of that MEAN? It’s one of the most pointless statements I’ve heard this week, outside of work.
#2 is what prompted this thread. The announcer was talking about a Chinese figure skater who fell and then got up and continued skating. As opposed to, I guess, lying there and picking her nose until the music stopped.
Note that this was not said during the actual competition, but during a prerecorded “here’s what happened today” type thing. So our intrepid genius had all day to work up that script and polish that little nugget of brilliance.
Not stupid so much as just an oddity to me: whenever it’s a black athlete from American, the phrase “African-American” is always mentioned. However, if it’s a black athlete from Germany or France, notice that they never refer to race.
Not sure who it was, but the CBC guy doing the 500m speed skating was driving me bananas. Apparently in this two turn race, the guy with the inside of the last turn had the advantage. In fact, he said “XXX is on the inside, that’s an advantage” EVERY SINGLE RACE! Dude, after the first four races we got the drift!
The snowboard announcer on NBC. Talking about some jump a guy will be doing: “And next he’ll try the difficult 1260. That’s four complete turns in the air!”
The curling announcer on USA (I forget the network, but I’ve decided I want to be a Curling Hooligan for the next Olympics. Anyway…). “Oh, no, I don’t like that shot, not at all. No, no, no! They’re taking the wrong shot. Oh, my, I can’t watch!”
If anybody is a “tiramisu”, it is that Italian-American confection Lindsey Jacobellis. Hannah’s family makes maple syrup, though!
I heard Brian Williams, not normally big on stupid, refer to “Dartmouth University” during the opening exercises. (Dartmouth is a college.)
Stupid runner-up: Just about anyt utterance including the name “Michelle Kwan” after the first news (groin pull, withdrawal, champ, no medals, Emily Hughes).
Not an Olympic announcer, but I was listening to NPR the other day when they were talking about the American pairs figure skating team that did the Throw Triple Axel for the first time in competition.
"A throw triple axel is where the male figure skater throws his female partner into the air . . . "
Um, have you looked at the average pair figure skating team lately? It’s pretty obvious that the MALE partner throws the FEMALE partner and not the other way around.
I suppose there are people less well informed than I, who wouldn’t know that, but I though the way that was phrased was just dumb. Get to the part which explains why landing a throw triple axel is harder than a throw triple lutz or whatever.
You were the lucky one to hear that! (I have been avoiding as much Olympics coverage as possible, unless my wife announces something special she has TiVoed. Then I’ll watch and her choices have been inspiring.)
But the ding-dong(s) calling the snowboarding crawl all over me with their jargon. They may have explained some of the terminology when I wasn’t watching, but I have yet to hear any other sport (and that includes oldies like Rugby, Cricket, and other European favorites that haven’t become big hits in the USA) where the geek talk is so prominent. I guess it is just too cool for school (or some other dweeb expression.) Pisses me off.
What we need is some normal Joe’s doing the work. Like for the downhill, the only thing I’ve really watched, say something like “Holy shit the guy is fucking flying.” I know for the last summer Olmpics I got bored of the people doing the swimming. Whenever I’m at a swim meet, which happens a lot, we sure are not talking about some guys stroke unless it’s really nice, but at the Olympics you have to be the best. I really should mute them.
During NBC’s coverage when the couple did this, Dick Button yelled out, “I’m so happy for them!”
This is one reason why I hate the Olympics. I know that journalism and televised Olympics coverage are pretty much mutually exclusive but can we please have some objectivity? Dick, you’re not there to be happy for them. You’re there to announce what happens. You can enthuse about how difficult the move is but can you stop making your rooting preferences so obvious?
There was some back-and-forth about Bode Miller using new skis that he wasn’t used to and the announcer said something along the lines of “Well sometimes it’s a little jarring to be to on new skis, but you know that Bode isn’t ever going to go out unless he’s completely confident in his safety. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”
Sounds like someone doesn’t have a newspaper subscription.
I agree about the poor announcing on the snowboarding, but I love the curling guys.
That would be good! Of course they’d need a clip from that “Wipeout” song for when they crash. Just that little bit of the guy laughing, and “Wipeout!”
