Watching the Olympics in America is more like watching a documentary than a sporting event.

[thirdkind]

I realize that because of the time difference, we have to watch the Olympics on tape. But do we really need all of the other crap thrown in there?

Just play the damn event from beginning to end. No stupid athlete bios after the event has started, no overly dramatic narration written to fit the event (which is a totally different animal from on-the-fly commentary), just the competition.

 

[DesignDawg]

Hehe....

Yeah. I have always hated that. They put SO MUCH into the little bio's...photo sessions to capture that dramatic "heartbreak leads to determination" shot....blah blah blah...

It's pretty funny.

Ricky
DesignDawg

 

[dennilfloss]

Yup. Like when they tried to explain why Ben Johnson could run so fast (still the fastest ever) before his steroid use was proven.

On Canadian television they nailed it in a politically incorrect sort of way. They simply said that if you had Carl Lewis breathing heavily in your back, you'd definitely make sure that he does not catch you.

Fright (B. Brock)

 

[Topher]

Be glad you're not watching it here in Australia. Network 7's coverage really sucks. It's a hell of a lot better to just watch it live. Some of the tickets were remarkably cheap. My most expensive ticket is the baseball gold medal game for just $19AU, which is currently less than $11US. Other tickets have been as low as $10AU ($5.40US). Can't complain. The Olympic Park itself is very impressive. It's just a shame that the souveniers and food and drink are so outrageaously priced. Oh well, I can bring in food and drink, and buy olympic souveniers elsewhere in the city.

 

[chess9]

ThirdKind:

Men prefer the direct approach: show the games. Women, however, much prefer the human interest stories behind the athletes. Thus, to keep women watching, we get human interest stories. This approach has worked really well for all the networks AND for the sports federations, because more women are involved in sports today than ever before. If you've ever wished your gf liked sports enough to watch, then don't moan about the soft stuff!

Since I'm a man, I agree with you, though. Sometimes the syrup gets a little thick. It seems everyone has overcome adversity to get to the Olympics.

"I overcame a 'C' in Algebra to become a world class volleyball player."

I'm waiting for someone like Franco Zeffirelli, Hitchcock, or Stanley Kubrick (!) to produce/direct the Olympics.

 

[sandorski]

Hehehe.

I've been staying up late watching it on CBC(Canadian Broadcasting Corp). They have human interest stories too, but nothing like you have in the US. Can't stand US TV sport events, the event usually just can't live up to the hype and the amount of commercials border on criminal.

If you have access to a sports channel you may be able to video tape it, but that will depend on TV contracts and whatnot.

 

[NicColt]

I agree with you sandorski, I just wished that we could have a choice between the countries broadcast and a neutral broadcast. Either canada or american it's so friggen one way it's sick.
Everytime I open nbc it's americans americans americans %80 american spam and %20 sport, we hardly see what anyone else is doing, I have to rely on sport updates. so much for being a competition event, I just feel I'm watching an american or canadian broadcast, cbc is a little better but only because our atheletes suck, the only Gold medal winner isn't even a govt sponsored event, they guy was training with the Australians how damm humiliating is that for canada.

 

[chess9]

NicColt:

Popov trains with an Ozzie coach. The Ozzies have some of the world's best coaches. No need to feel humiliated. Canada produces quite a few awesome athletes. Joanne Malar in swimming, and look at all the awesome hockey players.

The Olympics really are a throwback, in some ways, to the days of ultra-nationalism. We are becoming one world at an accelerating pace. This board is an example. Viva la difference!

 

[dennilfloss]

I just heard that Donovan Bailey caught a kinda bug and is running a very high fever. They don't even know if he'll be able to participate to the 100m heats. I bet it's the Aussie water. No wonder they all drink beer.





F*************************************CK!!!! :|


The Mystic's Dream (Loreena McKennitt)

 

[chess9]

Dennil:

Yes, one man's good bacteria is another man's diarrhea!

A few years ago I flew to Playa Blanca for a triathlon. I was there two days when I came down with Montezuma's Revenge. $2500 down the drain...so to speak!

Anyway, Canada is sports crazy, just like the Ozzies.

 

[dennilfloss]

In the late 1980s, I decided not to attend a major palaeontological conference in Beijing while many of my colleagues from around the world, including my Ph. D. supervisor, went there because there were numerous field trips and opportunities to collect many fossils and further develop nascent relations with Chinese palaeontologists in fields other than dinosaurs. Well, all but one of those who went in the humid south were terribly ill with diarrhea, fighting almost to get to the toilet that, on that train, consisted of a hole in the floor where you could see the tracks go by. As the train was shaking, many had missed their mark and so the place was filthy. The one palaeobotanist who didn't get sick never drank water, only tea and lots of beer. He even brushed his teeth in beer. My supervisor lost several pounds on that trip. The palaeontologists who went on the field trips in the northwestern deserts did not get sick.

On another field trip and conference, in the USSR this time, several people contracted microparasites from the water and some were still sick a couple of years later. I think the organism was a variety of Giardia.

Band On The Run & Jet (Paul McCartney & Wings)

 

[Batti]

Giardia is nasty stuff! In all my travels, I've made sure not to drink local water, even in ice. Never had a problem, but t is more work to avoid the water, for sure.

 

[RaDragon]

<< Men prefer the direct approach: show the games. Women, however, much prefer the human interest stories behind the athletes. Thus, to keep women watching, we get human interest stories. This approach has worked really well for all the networks AND for the sports federations, because more women are involved in sports today than ever before. If you've ever wished your gf liked sports enough to watch, then don't moan about the soft stuff! >>



erm, i hope you're not generalizing that all women like the sappy stuff. :disgust: i was tearing out my ears w/ all the dramatic commentary for the women's triathlon and swimming!

 

[chess9]

I was generalizing.

I think our women here are not the average femmes by a longshot.

This is NBC's rationalization, by the way, not mine. I'm sure they have plenty of experience to back it up though.