Olympic coverage makes you puke?

[Lanny_MacDonald]

I'm not sure many of you are getting the US Olympic coverage, but it is really enouygh to make one puke. Everything the Americans do is beyond the scope of anything imagined at the Olympics (hell, in the universe itself) and evertything anyone else does is complete sh*t. The women's gymnastics coverage is nausiating. There is no doubt why Americans are universally hated. The whole "U-S-A, U-S-A" thing is just too much to take. Is there any break from the American propaganda machine? And these are the same ***holes that hammered the Soviets for their promotion of superiority through atheletic compeition? The hypocrasy is enough to make one do something unspeakable, like convert to Islam.

:angry:

[calf]

The NBC coverage you're complaining about is nothing new, so I feel for ya Lanny - the Olympics are supposed to be so much more than "our country rules" - it's about the best athletes getting together and competing, not a nation's conquest.

The Olympic coverage on the CBC is outstanding IMO - they focus on Canadians, which is to be expected, but they show defeats, other countries defeating, and they keep the "rah-rahing" to a minimal level.

[Deelow]

Originally posted by calf@Aug 16 2004, 03:44 AM
they keep the "rah-rahing" to a minimal level.
Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that there is nothing to "Raw-Raw" about.

[calf]

Originally posted by Deelow+Aug 15 2004, 09:46 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Deelow @ Aug 15 2004, 09:46 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-calf@Aug 16 2004, 03:44 AM
they keep the "rah-rahing" to a minimal level.
Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that there is nothing to "Raw-Raw" about. [/b][/quote]
nothing to rah-rah about yet. Wait until we get that first bronze medal!

but while i'm thinking about it:

things to rah-rah about

-Rowing Events - Canada's most successful Olympic Sport - watch for a few medals coming out of here
-Boxing - definately not embarassing Canada here
-Gymnastics - that dude from Calgary has a shot, so does the mens team
-Baseball/Softball teams - doing well so far, medal contenders
-that female Hurdler (forget her name). She'll do alright as well.

[TheCommodoreAfro]

And the border cities gloat while guys like Lanny are trapped. From Slate magazine, someone from Seattle watching our Olympic coverage, taking some pot shots at our Olympic chances along the way. Makes me wish we could get our crap together for the Summer Games, like we have with the Winter.



No more Bob Costas (http://slate.msn.com/id/2105148/)

Or maybe the unruliness of some Chinese fans will cause the Olys to go to TO after all, and we'll have our sought after Summer Facilities to go with the Winter ones.

Things that won't likely happen (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20040814a1.htm)

[nfotiu]

I can take the commentary. Whatever. Canada focuses on their athletes too. Bob Costas lives to be dramatic. They are showing full events this year, and not just the ones Americans are winning. However, the complete lack of anything close to live is completely infuriating. You can't help stumble across results if you watch any espn or casually surf the web! On a positive though, the coverage on CNBC/MSNBC/USA/Bravo has been decent. A little less propaganda, and a lot more live events. Too bad they don't show any of the premiere events.

[La Flames Fan]

THANK GO SOMEBODY STARTED THIS THREAD!!!!!!!!

I watched the opening ceremonies on NBC here in the US, and I wanted to put a steel toed boot through not only the TV, but Bob Costas' noggin. As all the countries were coming out, instead of showcasing the athletes and the events they are competing in, Bobby went straight for the controversy. He mentioned "flaggate" with the canadian flag bearer, any country that had a history of genocide or atrocities, Bobbo mentioned it. Aren't the Olympics supposed to be free of politics, religion blah blah blah.....Well, that's a perfect world.....

And the daily coverage kind of goes like this.....

Intro!
Phelps!
Ian Thorpe!
Phelps!
USAUSA
Phelps!
WE BEAT YOU!
Phelps!
Phelps!
Phelps!

Ughghg....I just want to smack my head. :blink:

[calgaryred]

Man the USA coverage sux!!! My wife and I starte watching CBC then when they went to national news we switched over. The games are so pro USA it's pretty sad. I can't watch their coverage! I feel for the americians that have family in othercountries CAUSE YOU"LL NEVER SEE THEM! It's so focused on America! Getting that off my chest. Has anybody seen any soccer matches on either CBC or NBC? I'm not a huge into soccer, but international competition is very interesting. Yet I hear scores but see no actual coverage. :(

[Cube Inmate]

My take on NBC and CBC:

NBC -- If an American athlete is competing in an event, we don't even find out the names and countries of the other competitors. Bloody annoying!

CBC -- More balanced coverage, but only (as someone said) because there aren't many events they can cover where Canadians are likely to win. I really hate the way they show the tape-delayed stuff, with a bunch of dramatic post-production (anybody watch the women's cycling road race yesterday PM?)...I understand the time difference, but why can't they show the tape delayed stuff as it happened, rather than making it into some BS cut-down version of the event?

[nfotiu]

Originally posted by calgaryred@Aug 16 2004, 04:11 PM
Man the USA coverage sux!!! My wife and I starte watching CBC then when they went to national news we switched over. The games are so pro USA it's pretty sad. I can't watch their coverage! I feel for the americians that have family in othercountries CAUSE YOU"LL NEVER SEE THEM! It's so focused on America! Getting that off my chest. Has anybody seen any soccer matches on either CBC or NBC? I'm not a huge into soccer, but international competition is very interesting. Yet I hear scores but see no actual coverage. :(
CNBC,MSNBC,USA, Telemundo and Bravo have been showing full live events. They have shown at least 4 or 5 full live soccer games and the entire women's road race live. The cable network coverage is making the american coverage somewhat tolerable.

[nfotiu]

Originally posted by La Flames Fan@Aug 16 2004, 03:29 PM
THANK GO SOMEBODY STARTED THIS THREAD!!!!!!!!

I watched the opening ceremonies on NBC here in the US, and I wanted to put a steel toed boot through not only the TV, but Bob Costas' noggin. As all the countries were coming out, instead of showcasing the athletes and the events they are competing in, Bobby went straight for the controversy. He mentioned "flaggate" with the canadian flag bearer, any country that had a history of genocide or atrocities, Bobbo mentioned it. Aren't the Olympics supposed to be free of politics, religion blah blah blah.....Well, that's a perfect world.....

And the daily coverage kind of goes like this.....

Intro!
Phelps!
Ian Thorpe!
Phelps!
USAUSA
Phelps!
WE BEAT YOU!
Phelps!
Phelps!
Phelps!

Ughghg....I just want to smack my head. :blink:
I agree, they were way too negative in the Opening ceremonies. I couldn't understand this. It is supposed to be a happy time.

[kermitology]

Jon Stewart at Just For Laughs a while ago

"So.. I was watching teh Canadian coverage of the Olympics you know. Being an American, I had never seen it before, and honestly, I had no idea the other countries even showed up!"

[monty_]

I don't follow swimming so I didn't really know anything about the Phelps guy until the games started but it sounds like NBC is making him into the prodigy of the 2004 olympics. During every swim the only focus is on Phelps and the guy that has the closest chance of beating him.

Did anyone happen to catch the 400m relay? South Africa upset the USA and Australia by finishing first and setting a new World Record. US got bronze. So I assume Phelps can't beat Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals right? I'm glad the states didn't win. I remember in the 2000 Sidney Olympics the US swim team said they would "beat Australia like a rented guitar" (whatever that means) and when the Aussies took gold they came out of the pool and played air guitar. One of the funniest things I've ever seen at an Olympics. The faces on the US swimmers was priceless. and the announcers sounded stunned.

[TheCommodoreAfro]

The biggest misnomer, though, is that folks are upset at not showing "live" coverage. What can you expect, there seems to be almost 100 events going on in a day at the Summer Olys, and a big reason why I prefer the winter games.

[nieuwy-89]

I'm always impressed with CBC's coverage. Sure, they are using my tax dollars to subsidize the huge cost of broadcasting the games, but at least they do a good job. I haven't watched much of NBC's coverage yet because it seems like it's rarely on the main network, which is all I get.

[kipperfan]

Its almost like the American commentators are embarrassed when ANY American expected in any way to do something, doesnt. Its pretty bad when your mostly just broadcasting to your own citizens, and EVERY time you fail, your makin excuses(remind you of any other big name yanks.......from texas??.

I was watching beach volleyball alot this weekend, for some reason it just kept comin on when I was watching. I dont know if you guys follow, but one of the BIG teams, with reigning gold medal champ from Sydney, is Blanton/Nygaard for USA. These dudes came out for the first game, looked pretty good, but nowhere near good enough for gold, and faded bad at the end of the match, and lost to the Aussies. As soon as the tide started to turn, the American broadcasters started to talk about Nygaards back(never said a WORD about it for 45mins) but now its everything. Nygaard didnt look hurt hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Game 2, the next day, I was watching the Canadians Child and Heese play the same two yanks blanton and nygaard. I watched it live on the CBC first, and they described EXACTLY what happened, Canadians outplayed and outwitted Yanks, didnt need power. Then watching NBC late at night they were doing a recap of that game, and it was sick. they didnt even mention the Canadians who just happen to be 10 year vets, very respected in the sport. I dont care if his back did hurt(which it PROBABLY didnt) why would you recap a game, and barely say two words about the winners? Despite the fact Nygaards performance doenst change from beginning to end of game, apparently the NBC annoucers have some SPECIAL way of telling his back hurts! I ve had a friggen bad back for a few years, when my back starts to really get to me, you can VISIBLE notice it, and im not competing at an olympic level(until road hockey becomes a sport!). These announcers were going on about how the Canadians didnt even hit the ball hard, should have been easy. I could be wrong in saying this, but it SEEMS like alot of the American broadcasters, couldnt care about the event, or the beauty of the competition, they just want more medals, and to beat everyone else in the world, and if they cant then something must be wrong becasue Americans are the strongest, toughest, fastest group of citizens this earth has ever seen...right?

This is just one small example of the iggnorance, what I really like is watching certain sports(gymnastics or swimming) and not only do you get the typical excuses when they dont win, also it seems the announcers are SO pro american they can hardly keep themselves together. That gym nerd, and that swimming nerd sh** they call us CP'ers HOMERS?


*********OH by the way.............if you have "real bad back"it seems to me one thing you aren't going to do is leaping conitinusly into the air 3-4 feet, and then come slammmming down into the ground.

[Mango]

Originally posted by nieuwy-89@Aug 17 2004, 12:00 AM
I'm always impressed with CBC's coverage. Sure, they are using my tax dollars to subsidize the huge cost of broadcasting the games, but at least they do a good job. I haven't watched much of NBC's coverage yet because it seems like it's rarely on the main network, which is all I get.
I agree.

So far, the CBC coverage in English and French is outstanding. A lot of the "filler" segments that CBC put together have been interesting too (IMO): how the Olympics began, in-depth analysis of the different venues around Athens, and even just simple things about Greek life.

[kipperfan]

Originally posted by fotze@Aug 17 2004, 02:49 AM
I was about to start a thread about the same thing but Canadian coverage. I am more curious about the canadian performances but I would also like to see the best of the sport.

In gymnastics they only show the canadian's which are usually way far down the standings. I would also like to know what the best performers look like. A single somersault with a zero twist is fine and all but hey let's see the best too.

Following a canadian biker for 20 minutes to find out they come in 25th is great and all but let's also show the winners other than them crossing the line.
I acctually feel the exact opposite. I have found this year the CBC is showing a lot of events, and races that dont involve any Canadians at all. I dont know if this is because we dont have us many strong competitors this year, or if the CBC has just found a perfect balance.


CBC=perfect balance .....................never thought id see the day!!

[Crazy Flamer]

Americans are being told to ease up on the flag waiving and to be more sublte showing off the red, white and blue. Apparentl there is an anti - American sentiment in Greece? Now who would that happen? Its not like theyre arrogant or anything is it? :blink:

[Fuzzy McGillicuddy]

Anyone who is surprised by the blantant American homerism on NBC hasn't seen (or doesn't recall) much Olympic coverage from the past. It's not just NBC. ABC has been just as bad when they've been the Olympic broadcaster. American networks are cheerleaders. It's not just sports. Look at recent war coverage from Iraq. Major US networks slant their coverage in favor of Americans.

I don't really mind the CBC coverage, but I find most of the hosts they use are unqualified. I agree it's difficult to find broadcasters who know a lot about many Olympic sports.

I have to tell you my favorite Olympic gaffe of all-time. CBC broadcaster Steve Armitage was calling the speed-skating in Nagano in 1998. The final heat just happened to come down to Catriona Lemay-Doan and Susan Auch. Lemay-Doan won the gold, and Auch won the silver. But Armitage botched the call at the finish and called Auch the winner. Well, Olympic replays are played over and over especially when Canadians win not just one medal but two. CBC had to re-dub the race, with Armitage getting the right call. When Lemay-Doan and Auch were in the CBC studio later showing off their medals, the replay was shown and it had the right call.

[kipperfan]

Now I know we should be used to by now, but I cant get over it!!! So I gotta rant and rave a little more.

I was watching the swimming later last night on NBC. No surprise that they focused on Phelps and other yanks but I never expected this. they were showing the mens 200m freestyle final. They hyped the race in the studio with good ol' Bob for about 10mins, then went out to the pool, the announcers didnt even MENTION any other competitor. They all walked out, got set, went to blocks, had there names announced, and jumped into the water after a loud "bang" but not once was anyone else in the race mentioned, but phelps. Then the whole race the Camera stayed on Phelps, though he not once was the race leader, or even very close. Is it just me, or when you have the defending world and oylmpic champ (van den hoogenband) and probably the greastest swimmer of our era(Thorpe) racing together, is that not at least worth mention. I cant believe that. Its one thing focusing on your athletes but to not even show, mention and talk about other world class competiotors is a joke, but like Fuzzy said above its been like this for a long time, so obvioisly the majority of the American population has no interst in any athletes other than americans.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally posted by kipperfan@Aug 17 2004, 09:00 PM
Now I know we should be used to by now, but I cant get over it!!! So I gotta rant and rave a little more.

I was watching the swimming later last night on NBC. No surprise that they focused on Phelps and other yanks but I never expected this. they were showing the mens 200m freestyle final. They hyped the race in the studio with good ol' Bob for about 10mins, then went out to the pool, the announcers didnt even MENTION any other competitor. They all walked out, got set, went to blocks, had there names announced, and jumped into the water after a loud "bang" but not once was anyone else in the race mentioned, but phelps. Then the whole race the Camera stayed on Phelps, though he not once was the race leader, or even very close. Is it just me, or when you have the defending world and oylmpic champ (van den hoogenband) and probably the greastest swimmer of our era(Thorpe) racing together, is that not at least worth mention. I cant believe that. Its one thing focusing on your athletes but to not even show, mention and talk about other world class competiotors is a joke, but like Fuzzy said above its been like this for a long time, so obvioisly the majority of the American population has no interst in any athletes other than americans.
wow, that's really bad

did they even show the handshake and embrase of Van Den Hoogenband, and Thorpe after it was over?

That was an awesome race, and seeing Van Den Hoogenband swim over to the divider, tap Thorpe on the shoulder (who was looking the other way) is what the Olympics is really about. THAT made me proud to be a sports fan.

[kipperfan]

Originally posted by Maritime Q-Scout+Aug 18 2004, 12:51 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Maritime Q-Scout @ Aug 18 2004, 12:51 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-kipperfan@Aug 17 2004, 09:00 PM
Now I know we should be used to by now, but I cant get over it!!!# So I gotta rant and rave a little more.

I was watching the swimming later last night on NBC.# No surprise that they focused on Phelps and other yanks but I never expected this.# they were showing the mens 200m freestyle final.# They hyped the race in the studio with good ol' Bob for about 10mins, then went out to the pool, the announcers didnt even MENTION any other competitor.# They all walked out, got set, went to blocks, had there names announced, and jumped into the water after a loud "bang" but not once was anyone else in the race mentioned, but phelps. Then the whole race the Camera stayed on Phelps, though he not once was the race leader, or even very close. Is it just me, or when you have the defending world and oylmpic champ (van den hoogenband) and probably the greastest swimmer of our era(Thorpe) racing together, is that not at least worth mention.# I cant believe that.# Its one thing focusing on your athletes but to not even show, mention and talk about other world class competiotors is a joke, but like Fuzzy said above its been like this for a long time, so obvioisly the majority of the American population has no interst in any athletes other than americans.
wow, that's really bad

did they even show the handshake and embrase of Van Den Hoogenband, and Thorpe after it was over?

That was an awesome race, and seeing Van Den Hoogenband swim over to the divider, tap Thorpe on the shoulder (who was looking the other way) is what the Olympics is really about. THAT made me proud to be a sports fan.[/b][/quote]
Exactly my friend thats it!!!

I felt the same way seeing the two amazing swimmers embrace and share a smile after one of the mosy intense swimming heats ive seen in my life!

I Felt the same thing after the Japs had clinched the gold in Mens Gym, these big powerful guys running around crying, smiles all around, hugging each other in joy after waiting so long, and working so hard to win gold again after 25years, AN AMAZING SIGHT TO SEE.

These moments(like said above) are what makes sport, and what makes international competition great. I just really wish that the Americans could share this view. For them it seems to be all about being the best, winning the most, losing the least, and embassing everyone else.