Worst Olympic Coverage Ever

[spidernut]

After a day of working the Spider replacing the oil pan gasket, I tried to indulge in some Winter Olympic games. Is it me, or is this about the worst Olympic coverage ever? I could care less about all the human interest stories and commentary. I haven't seen even one event yet. Come on guys - just show the events!

I lived in Japan during the Nagano Olympic games. The U.S. television coverage showed a few events and only the U.S. star atheletes. We opted for watching the Japanese coverage which showed almost non-stop events with participants from all countries. Sure, I couldn't understand what they were saying...but you could hear the English in the background.

I think I'll go back to working on the Spider.

[So Cal Mark]

I quit watching the Olympics long ago for that very reason; no live events, all human interest and biased editing. I sure miss the days when events were on live all day long and you got to see the best athletes, no matter what country they were from. The whole broadcast is pretty much setting up NBC (nothing but commercials) to pimp their network shows

[Jimb]

I expect the live coverage will improve once they get farther along. Some events are delayed because of the weather.
A lot of problems with protestors. There's is a lot of opposition from locals to BC hosting the games because of the extreme cost.
Jim

[pope]

The Olympics jumped the shark in 1992 by allowing paid US pros to compete (basketball dream team). I dont watch olympic hockey, because my Detroit Red Wings players are on the US team, the Russian team, the Sweden team, the Canadian team. Go back to letting the college players fill the teams, at least there was some suspense, and a better effort to boot.

[sptcoupe]

In my mind they jumped the shark way before 1992, when they began to allow events that are "judged" - such as gymnastics, figure skating, mogul runs where 50% of the score is form and athletes can perform different moves on the same course, and team sports where a referee can easily blow a call, and any other event where the winner isn't the athlete with the best time, over the same course, measured by the same clock. There is no objectivity in these types of events, and the "best athlete" is whoever those imperfect, mere mortal human judges pick as a winner. All of those subjectively judged sports have their own national and world organizations and events where they somehow select a winners and world champions, so lets keep them out of the Olympics where we are looking for world's best, determined in the most objective way possible. Imagine a road race where your ET is adjusted upward or downward based on how nice your car looked, or how big your smile was as you clipped the apex in turn three. Were that the case, I suspect many of on this forum would not be into motor sport today.

[Jimb]

What I strongly object is this business of rebuilding the venues every time.
Why not leave the summer olympics in Greece..and the winter olympics in Switzerland?

Plus, the IOC has far too much power and authority. When the ladies took their battle to be able compete in skijump to the supreme court and lost that shows what the IOC can do.

Think about it, the host city builds the venues at their expense, takes all the security risks, the nations supply and train the athletes at their expense, and the IOC tells them what they can and can't do...and all of their expenses are paid for, plys walks away with the profit.

Jim

[ROOK1]

The coverage hast been great but it is only day one. You will get more human interest on the main station but there are other chanels to watch.
The winter games were the best thing to happen to SLC. They boosted the economy, put us on the world map of winter tourism and we actually made a profit beyond all the expense.

[FatherG]

I live in Vancouver and the mild winter weather is throwing a wrench in the Olympic schedule. There has been a lot of rain and the temperature has been above average. There has also been a significant lack of snow on the local mountains. In fact, today they had to postpone many of the snow events…this has to have an effect on the TV coverage.

[ga.spyder]

I was flipping back and forth from the Olympic coverage and the NHRA Winternationals on tv.Odd...the weather in Pomona and Vancouver is about the same .It does suck that they are having this unusual warm winter,but I always look forward to the Olympics.
Craig

[spidernut]

The coverage was slightly better today. I spent most of the day watching Daytona, refinishing an end table, mowing lawns, and repairing my convertible top boot. They really are jumping around from sport to sport. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people with an antenna for TV reception...and, yes, some people are too cheap to pay for cable or satellite!

[Gunsmith]

I absolutely love the Olympic games, but I can't stand the commentators. I personally don't care if the skater did not point her toe enough and may get points off or how perfect she wasn't. I am just amazed at what the worst Olympic athlete can do. That's why I love the Biathlon because it is just your skiing time and your shooting score, that's it. I might as well watch the Japanese channel because I mute the sound most of the time. I am not that upset about pros being in the Olympics because other countries have been doing it for years but I think they should be native to the country or at least have lived there for many years, I am not a fan of hired guns that go anywhere. Traveling around the world for the games is great but I too believe there is so much corruption involved that it hurts the games quite a bit. The idea of the Olympics being at the same place each time sounds pretty good to me. Then everyone can practice at the same place. I see a lot of good things from that idea.

Man we could solve all of the worlds problems right here on the Fiat Spider forum.

[pope]

Oh, did the Olympics start yet?

[narfire]

High pressure ridge settling in for a few days. After the negative press,some warrented, hope there will be a few more smiles. The athletes,no matter their ranking,are doing a wonderfull job I think doing their best. I'll reseve my judgement on the press/media though whoops did I just let it out?
Good luck to all athletes from all countries.

[ga.spyder]

The two best events I have seen is the short track skating and snowboard-cross.No judges,no time factor,just a race! I love the Olympics but am with Gunsmith on the coverage.Just shut up and let us watch.From a guy who can barely stay upright on skis...the talent is awesome!

[tonyfromjersey]

I was trying to get my kids interested in watching some olympics, as we were on our ski trip to Park City and thought we could watch together in the evening. Couldn't hold their interest for 5 minutes. My 12 year old asked me why they don't show events and just have people talking?

In my world travels I have watched overseas coverage of Wimbledon, the US and British Open golf tournaments, etc. Much different experience. The commentators are secondary to the action.

I am a military guy and a news junkie, sports are my escape and it's getting impossible to watch. As it is, I generally watch football with the sound off.