Olympics 2008, Beijing

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Then again this is the same network that apparently also failed to show the Usain Bolt World Record. If what Cloak and Dagger says is true then I'm once again grateful that I have CBC's coverage with the legendary Ron Maclean keeping tabs on the events. Still that's just sad.

I share many of the sentiments concerning NBCs coverage. They do not even properly show Basketball (let alone football) which is one of the biggest sports in America, and watching the Olympics "live" is a joke (though I do it each day...somehow) since the real competitions are shown at 4 AM to 4PM (on MSNBC (when they can crawl out of their asses and show non-MSNBC related shows) and USA (which prefers to show Law and Order re-runs instead of the Olympics) and don't even get me started on CNBC and Oxygen which change their schedules seemingly from day to day), with only big events shown at prime time.

That being said, seeing the Olympics live can be even harder. I went to the the Salt Lake Winter games (and have tickets to the Vancouver games), and the Atlanta Summer games (and am going to the London games), and after being to the actual games it is amazingly hard to actually see what you want to see while ther (here is some advice for any future travelers to the games, never buy preliminary or heat tickets, it is a waste of money; only go for quarterfinals and finals, and make sure to schedule everything correctly), so watching these events on TV should be a relatively painless if not fun experience. But, NBC does not make it a painless expereince. Instead they focus on meaningless drama, annoying self supporting commercials (Yes, I want to see the new season of Heroes, but damn if I do not need to know about it every half hour), and commentators who sometimes know what they are talking about and other times act like Fred Willard from Best in Show (or Jason Bateman from Dodgeball).

...sorry for venting a little there .

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Hari Michiru

Trust me: NBC isn't all that bad. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) has the worst broadcast of the Games, ever.

I woke up at 5am to watch the opening ceremony, and I get crappy commenting. They obviously did no research whatsoever, and started talking about political issues within China while the opening ceremony was going on. Talk about being disrespectful!

Also, in the Parade of Nations, they ignored all the little countries and made us listen to the many variations of Canadian athletes saying, "Hey mom! I'm in the Olympics!"

*sigh*

/end rant

Are you sure you're talking about the same CBC? That's honestly the first time I've heard anybody criticize the CBC coverage more than the NBC's. I mean I get to see events live on the CBC's coverage whereas NBC is hours behind and the commentators aren't nearly as obnoxious or as pedantic as I find NBC's. NBC's people seem like they are there to spoon feed you every little detail of the events and the background of their personal favourite people too. You know, like you can't see for yourself what is going on. To add further insult, they also appear to be tempering their vocabulary and delivery style for a high school audience with short attention spans whereas at least CBC is just covering the events straight up and treat the Olympics like the sporting events they are instead of trying to turn it into a reality TV event with that artificial commercialized and contrived feel that defines that genre.

I also think every major news outlet covering the opening ceremony talked a little bit about the political situation in China. Like it or not it, politics plays a major part in these particular games. I mean China itself wants the Olympic games to be politicized to show the world that they are capable of becoming a part of the larger global geopolitical sphere they've been withdrawn from for so long.

[Hari Michiru]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Are you sure you're talking about the same CBC? That's honestly the first time I've heard anybody criticize the CBC coverage more than the NBC's. I mean I get to see events live on the CBC's coverage whereas NBC is hours behind and the commentators aren't nearly as obnoxious or as pedantic as I find NBC's. NBC's people seem like they are there to spoon feed you every little detail of the events and the background of their personal favourite people too. You know, like you can't see for yourself what is going on. To add further insult, they also appear to be tempering their vocabulary and delivery style for a high school audience with short attention spans whereas at least CBC is just covering the events straight up and treat the Olympics like the sporting events they are instead of trying to turn it into a reality TV event with that artificial commercialized and contrived feel that defines that genre.

I also think every major news outlet covering the opening ceremony talked a little bit about the political situation in China. Like it or not it, politics plays a major part in these particular games. I mean China itself wants the Olympic games to be politicized to show the world that they are capable of becoming a part of the larger global geopolitical sphere they've been withdrawn from for so long.

Trust me, CBC is so bad. Their commenting on the sports are so...bad. They pause every 3 seconds in the middle of the sentence and never finish it.

[Delitesco]

Kaioshin Sama - Carl Lewis won gold in four sports. In three running-type sports (100m, 200m, relay race) and in long jump. They are still quite similar but jumping and running is still much more different then the types of swimming Phelps did.

[cloak_and_dagger]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin Sama

Are you sure you're talking about the same CBC? That's honestly the first time I've heard anybody criticize the CBC coverage more than the NBC's. I mean I get to see events live on the CBC's coverage whereas NBC is hours behind and the commentators aren't nearly as obnoxious or as pedantic as I find NBC's. NBC's people seem like they are there to spoon feed you every little detail of the events and the background of their personal favourite people too. You know, like you can't see for yourself what is going on.

I agree with you, though I don't think they are that bad, but the 100m finals was, or at least as long as I was alive(20 yrs) the MOST anticipated event of the whole Olympics. I imagine that would be the time when your viewership jumps a notch. There is no excuse for not broadcasting it live. I don't remember the 92 olympics because I was 4, but in 96, 2000, and 04, NBC boradcasted the finals live. And guess what? A FAMOUS american was always in the final. If you look at this Olympic final, 1 American was there and the rest were Caribbean. I'm from there so you know I'm gonna act like a beyotch about it. Dix didn't have a chance in hell to beat Bolt, but he's an american nonetheless, that should be reason enough to broadcast it. I'm just stating my opinion here though, not stating it as fact.

Oh yeah, and Kaioshin, I do not condone what they did in the least, but one of the NBC guys said that when Phepls was on TV, viewership jumped 25%. That's a hell of a lot so you are right on the money.

[Xellos]

Originally Posted by Delitesco

Kaioshin Sama - Carl Lewis won gold in four sports. In three running-type sports (100m, 200m, relay race) and in long jump. They are still quite similar but jumping and running is still much more different then the types of swimming Phelps did.

Having swam competitively for 5 years as well as running track in high school (distance rather than sprinting), I'd disagree with that. There is a large difference in technique between strokes and being good at one doesn't necessarily mean you'll be good at the others. Most swimmers end up specializing in one stroke. Phelps did the IM, incorporating all strokes, as well as the fly and freestyle. I will agree that long jump is a totally different animal and showcased Lewis' diverse talent.

[Seditary]

I hear Usain Bolt's name nearly every hour on my TV in Australia.

[cloak_and_dagger]

Originally Posted by Seditary

I hear Usain Bolt's name nearly every hour on my TV in Australia.

lol, after running 9.69 and shutting down at 90m, that's likely to happen

[monir]

Originally Posted by Thingle

Seems like some Team USA fans are getting bitter. Suddenly they forgot that a medal tally is based on gold medals, not overall medals won.

Perhaps, those US fans are unaware of the fact that the gold has lost nearly 21% of its value since its peak at $1000 per ounce. Why is that fact relevant? Well, if those bitter US fans paid some attention to the Stock Market, they wouldn't have been bitter to the fact that the Chinese are winning more gold medals than the US in this Olympic game. Gold is loosing its value fast and the US Olympians know enough about it to steer clear of it.



Congratulation to China for winning so many gold medals. That was some performance by Zou Kai on the horizontal bar!

Originally Posted by Hari Michiru

Trust me, CBC is so bad. Their commenting on the sports are so...bad. They pause every 3 seconds in the middle of the sentence and never finish it.

hehehe That bad, huh!?

Hey, good to see you post outside of the Bleach section.

[WanderingKnight]

Yes! 3 - 0 victory for Argentina over Brazil in football semifinals! We have a new chance for a gold medal. Whee! Brazil is our classic rival, and this victory has a special flavor since the gold medal is probably the only title Brazil's football team has yet to win.

And what the heck, we won our first gold medal, too! On men's Madison (cycling). This was Juan Curuchet's sixth and final Olympics, and it's a great way for him to retire.

[cloak_and_dagger]

Originally Posted by WanderingKnight

Yes! 3 - 0 victory for Argentina over Brazil in football semifinals!

I'm glad, no Ronnie in the finals. Strictly Messi and Aguero!!! yea! I love Nigeria's youth teams too, so i don't know who to root for

[Hari Michiru]

Originally Posted by monir

hehehe That bad, huh!?

Hey, good to see you post outside of the Bleach section.

LOL, I think I'm actually watching more of the Olympics than Bleach. xD

Well, as a Chinese person, it is my duty to watch the games being held in my home country. GO TEAM CHINA!

[cloak_and_dagger]

They got 43 golds to USA's 26...didn't see that coming.

I remember the glory days of Li Xioashung(spelling) in men's gymnastics. Dude was sick on the rings, I even had a poster of him

[Xellos]

Man, heartbreak for Lolo Jones. Looked like a surefire gold till she clipped that 9th hurdle

[-Mad Skillz-]

Originally Posted by Xellos

There is a large difference in technique between strokes and being good at one doesn't necessarily mean you'll be good at the others. Most swimmers end up specializing in one stroke. Phelps did the IM, incorporating all strokes, as well as the fly and freestyle.

Basically all of the elite swimmers in the world are above average in nearly every swimming stroke. Phelps' dominance has almost nothing to do with him being the best technical swimmer in any one stroke. Phelps is certainly above average in every stroke, but the fact is that his unique advantage over every swimmer in the world is his inherent swimming ability which is showcased in his turns which are by far the best in the world. Turning is present in every swimming event past 50m, no matter which stroke...if you watch Phelps you'll notice that the majority of his races are won on his turns. He is primarily a 200-400m swimmer and essentially avoids all of the 50-100m races which only have 0-1 turns in them. His best stroke is the butterfly and when he raced 100m he looked easily matched to the point where I can say he should have lost had Cavic not made a technical error on his final stroke. Even in the relay events where he only had to swim 100m he didn't blow anyone out of the water like he did in his 200-400m events where he can build up leads on every single turn.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Chasing The Bolt

How can anyone simply not love this man?

[Urzu 7]

Did they already do Wrestling? I didn't know NBC has the games on five channels.

Oh, did Michael Phelps get the 8 gold medals?

[Sokar]

Originally Posted by Urzu 7

Did they already do Wrestling? I didn't know NBC has the games on five channels.

Oh, did Michael Phelps get the 8 gold medals?

Wrestling ends on Thursday, they are showing it, just not in prime time. Go to a website like yahoo sports and look for it.

Phelps did win 8 gold medals. I hope you are kidding about this one.

[C.A.]

The women's Synchronised Swimming (duet) finals was amazing.

The Russian pair, did a feat of utmost perfection, I've never seen 2 people moving so in sync. And for absolute perfection they scored 10/10/10/10/10, a full 50 for the technical score, but maybe because they were too perfect they scored 9.9/10/10/10/9.9, 49.833 for artistic value. Its like something too perfect won't be perfect art lol

Their total score is 99.251, no doubt a gold. Silver went to Spain, Bronze to Japan who both did very beautiful duets as well. China came in fourth just losing a little to Japan.

[Kakashi]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

By the way, I'm surprised the tennis fans haven't mentioned it yet. Federer finally bags an Olympic gold, albeit in the doubles tournament. I was too tired after going to bed late last night to stay up for his match against Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson. I hope it's consolation enough for him to bounce back in the US Open.

On Federer and Wawrinka's momentous doubles victory, does anyone know what this Swiss ritual is supposed to be about?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXCsK-NFzXc