How much Olympics for you?

[Whiterook]

So, how many hours are you logging on the Summer Olympics?

I've been watching pretty much the whole evening broadcasts.

[McCoy]

Zero zipp niente nada nuthin'....

[vitara]

one might say krieg has clocked up menny an hour in frunt of the box
cheers krieg

[Geek44]

I've seen plenty because my partner is a sports nut and I'm really not. I like my Aussie Rules over winter but that's about it for me.
The channel that has the broadcast down here is (in my opinion) the second worst channel we have for being patronizing to its viewers and generally dumbing everything down. Consequently, the commentary is awful. If there are no Aussies competing in a certain sport, they won't show it and they're obsessed with their 'super slow motion' cameras. I'm sure they've showed Michael Phelps (congrats to him...what a performance) breaking wind in super slow motion ten thousand times. But the worst thing is the inability of certain commentators to even pronounce the name of their own country correctly. If I hear 'Gold fer eshtraya' once more I'm going to have to consider cutting my ears off and putting my eyes out.
Mercy.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Geek44

I've seen plenty because my partner is a sports nut and I'm really not. I like my Aussie Rules over winter but that's about it for me.
The channel that has the broadcast down here is (in my opinion) the second worst channel we have for being patronizing to its viewers and generally dumbing everything down. Consequently, the commentary is awful. If there are no Aussies competing in a certain sport, they won't show it and they're obsessed with their 'super slow motion' cameras. I'm sure they've showed Michael Phelps (congrats to him...what a performance) breaking wind in super slow motion ten thousand times. But the worst thing is the inability of certain commentators to even pronounce the name of their own country correctly. If I hear 'Gold fer eshtraya' once more I'm going to have to consider cutting my ears off and putting my eyes out.
Mercy.

Tell us how you really feel.


NBC has the rights here and they've done a decent job considering there is a 12 hour time difference between Beijing and the US east coast. Of course the Beijing organizers have been accommodating by holding some key events in the morning so as to correspond with "prime time" here (note that Michael Phelps often swam his finals around 10-11 AM local time in Beijing). Of course NBC will have paid $5.7 billion for the US rights to the 2000-2012 games (over $600 million on these games alone plus additional fees for GE, its parent company, to be a global sponsor) and that builds a few venues, so that was perhaps included in the negotiations. Apparently NBC's money pays 40% of the IOC's total budget. And a senior executive from NBC Sports sits on the governing board of the International Olympic Committee.

That all said, I've watched a bit of it. My gripe is similar to Nick's. If the US is not in an event, it receives little coverage. I understand that Americans want to see Americans compete, but I want to see the Bulgarian weightlifters drop that heavy weights on the mat...

[Airchallenged]

Originally Posted by Jim O

NBC has the rights here and they've done a decent job considering there is a 12 hour time difference between Beijing and the US east coast. Of course the Beijing organizers have been accommodating by holding some key events in the morning so as to correspond with "prime time" here (note that Michael Phelps often swam his finals around 10-11 AM local time in Beijing). Of course NBC will have paid $5.7 billion for the US rights to the 2000-2012 games (over $600 million on these games alone plus additional fees for GE, its parent company, to be a global sponsor) and that builds a few venues, so that was perhaps included in the negotiations. Apparently NBC's money pays 40% of the IOC's total budget. And a senior executive from NBC Sports sits on the governing board of the International Olympic Committee.

That all said, I've watched a bit of it. My gripe is similar to Nick's. If the US is not in an event, it receives little coverage. I understand that Americans want to see Americans compete, but I want to see the Bulgarian weightlifters drop that heavy weights on the mat...

Jim,

If you have Satelite (which I have), cable, or FIOS you can see more Olympics events on USA (from about 6:30AMish until 1:30 PM) and on CNBC usually later in the day. I taped most of the events and then picked and chose what I wanted to watch...BB yes, Equstrian no, Soccer yes, boxing no, and so forth down the list.

Jim I have to agree with you on the lack of coverage. I think I have seen two non US mens BB games and 2 non US soccer game (Men Aussie-Argentina, and womens Canada-China) plus some of the volleyball. But once it gets down to a few rounds or the US isn't in it they drop it out of their coverage lineup. That kinda annoyed me cause I wanted to see some more Soccer, which I have seen three, and more BB, I have seen four.

anyway thats my 2 cents
AC

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Airchallenged

Jim,

If you have Satelite (which I have), cable, or FIOS you can see more Olympics events on USA (from about 6:30AMish until 1:30 PM) and on CNBC usually later in the day. I taped most of the events and then picked and chose what I wanted to watch...BB yes, Equstrian no, Soccer yes, boxing no, and so forth down the list.

Jim I have to agree with you on the lack of coverage. I think I have seen two non US mens BB games and 2 non US soccer game (Men Aussie-Argentina, and womens Canada-China) plus some of the volleyball. But once it gets down to a few rounds or the US isn't in it they drop it out of their coverage lineup. That kinda annoyed me cause I wanted to see some more Soccer, which I have seen three, and more BB, I have seen four.

anyway thats my 2 cents
AC

I do have satellite (DirecTV) and a DVR so it is easy to pick and choose what and when to watch. I would change to FIOS television (my telephone and Internet provider) but for the NFL package which is a DirecTV exclusive. I watch the Patriots every week and am very spoiled by it.

[McCoy]

You do know that N in NFL, NBL n' NHL stands for Nandrolon...

[Whiterook]

Interesting points of view mates.

There seems to be something different to the coverage these days...not sure yet whether for the positve or negative; but I've really enjoyed the games this go 'round, and I'm not traditionally a Summer Olympics devotee...I like the Winter Olympics much more. I do miss the fact that you don't see more of the weight lifting, boxing, etc. sports...though some of the "other" channels feature these. I just don't see myself taking time off from work to catch the other coverage.

[Geek44]

I've learned to enjoy sport on TV from my partner and as trite as this might sound, I'm actually less interested in seeing Australians win medals than I am in seeing people of any nationality achieve great things for themselves or their countries...whatever their motivations are. I also have mixed 'loyalties'. I will root for the Aussie but also the Finn. There are literally millions of Australians with mixed heritage who aren't getting a chance to see the events that Aussies aren't competing in. I like the Olympics but I struggle a little with the nationalism that the TV always injects into the coverage. There is another coverage on the foreign language channel that's a little better in terms of not being so jingoistic. We've been watching that a little too. Their hook is showing the event from start to finish without a break. All very well unless you're watching the 10km swimming (today) or the marathon. They're also showing tons of soccer which leaves me cold.