Your Impressions on day 1 of the Olympic coverage

[Airhog]

So far I've been very impressed. Not very many Cheezy Interest Stories, although Saturday Primetime is pretty light. So Far this has been some of the best coverage I have ever seen in recent memory.

[FBPro]

I think I walked through the room when something was on, volleyball maybe and have seen about 5 seconds of the coverage so I probably shouldn't draw many conclusions from that.

[sabotai]

I like it so far. Watched 3 hours of boxing on MSNBC earlier (and will continue to as they show boxing on MSNBC from 5pm to 8pm every day). I also stayed up and watched a couple of hours of coverage last night. Very good so far.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've also been very happy with the coverage today except for the arguments that it seems to start

[Radii]

There was a noticible lack of terrible "human interest stories" that have made recent olympics unwatchable. The synchronized diving thing was quite entertaining. I'll definitely watch more if it continues like this.

[kcchief19]

On the other hand, I turned on the TV, saw synchronized diving on and went out in the garage to watch some paint dry. I'm also adding the inventor of synchronized diving to the list of people I want to punch in the face.

[MrBug708]

NBC = Nothing But Costas

[duckman]

What's the Olympics?

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

I want some Field Hockey.

[Swaggs]

The most memorable event of the day for me was while I was at the computer and my wife was watching TV (common spots in the Swaggs' household) and she was watching synchronized diving. She kept commenting on stuff about the diving and I gave her the "uh huhs" and "reallys?," but then they showed that cool comparison camera shots they do, where they superimpose one set of dives onto another, so you can really compare. She apparently had already seen and commented on it, so I got a dirty look when it took me a few seconds to figure out what they were doing out loud.

[sterlingice]

We're getting gypped here. Not NBC, they're doing a pretty good job. But our CNBC and Bravo aren't showing Olympic coverage and I'm not sure why. Tomorrow I'm calling the cable company. For instance, they have beach volleyball on now which is ok, but I don't even think of as an Olympic sport. But on Bravo, there's supposed to be the Judo medal matches. Also not exactly Olympic sports, but sounds more fun than volleyball.

I will complain about the talking during the opening ceremonies, tho. Costas was doing ok, with only an occasional comment that was just ignorant or stupid about the particular countries, but on the whole was pretty good in that he was basically "exposition boy". But that woman they had on there was talking like each of these athletes was a float at the Thanksgiving Macy's Day parade ("Uh, and there are the Russians with their big red noses. Santa from Sri Lanka must be coming soon!" *insert stupid giggle*)

SI

[SunDancer]

Whats with the 1,000 olympic sports? I think some of these "sports" do not belong in the Olympics. I always like the "team sports" alittle more then the individual sports.

[Lathum]

I think it has been great. I can't wait for the Phelps-Thorpe matchup and it was intereting to see the American gymnit bitch about the judge.

[NoMyths]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I will complain about the talking during the opening ceremonies, tho. Costas was doing ok, with only an occasional comment that was just ignorant or stupid about the particular countries, but on the whole was pretty good in that he was basically "exposition boy". But that woman they had on there was talking like each of these athletes was a float at the Thanksgiving Macy's Day parade ("Uh, and there are the Russians with their big red noses. Santa from Sri Lanka must be coming soon!" *insert stupid giggle*)

SI

Costas and Couric talking over Bjork's song (which, though I am a fan, didn't sound like her best work...but still) had me murderous. Let the friggin' singer sing, and comment afterwards. Making fun of an outfit she wore several years ago makes you sound like a jackass.

[SuburbanPimp]

1:39 AM, rowing.

WTF?!?!?!?!?!

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by SuburbanPimp

1:39 AM, rowing.

WTF?!?!?!?!?!

I don't think it's one of the more high profile sports so it's probably a good time for it because better they show it than not at all. For the next two weeks, I'll watch as much as I can so hopefully they keep some interesting sports on late at night.

SI

[sabotai]

Heh, I actually like watching rowing.

[TargetPractice6]

Originally Posted by CHEMICAL SOLDIER

I want some Field Hockey.

It was on Bravo earlier today.

So far I've enjoyed the coverage. It's weird how the Olympics have me interested in sports that I would otherwise never dream of watching. Synchronized diving? Fencing?

So far I've enjoyed the soccer, boxing (these guys really go at it!), and swimming. I kind of wish they had shown a bit more of the cycling, though. I was kind of annoyed that they had an infomercial on CNBC right in the middle of the day. Surely there was something they could have shown.

[yabanci]

Originally Posted by NoMyths

Costas and Couric talking over Bjork's song (which, though I am a fan, didn't sound like her best work...but still) had me murderous. Let the friggin' singer sing, and comment afterwards......

Yeah, that really annoyed me too.

[Simms]

Originally Posted by NoMyths

Costas and Couric talking over Bjork's song (which, though I am a fan, didn't sound like her best work...but still) had me murderous. Let the friggin' singer sing, and comment afterwards. Making fun of an outfit she wore several years ago makes you sound like a jackass.

Was I the only one who was *really* annoyed by the duo's habit of associating every freaking country (seemingly) with a major league baseball player? I mean, wtf does that have to do with anything? You really couldn't come up with anything better than that?

Not to mention the fact that they butchered (and completely misrepresented in the process) the anecdote about the Canadian flag bearer.

Thank God for CBC.

[GrantDawg]

That is so cool. I just discovered that Dish network has a channel which will show you all the different channels that are carrying olympic coverage in little boxes. It shows the coverage and if you move the selector it plays the audio of whichever channel you are on. Very nice.

[tucker rocky]

Lets see, today at noon men's basketball(U.S. vs. Puerto Rico) and swimming.
2am, men's basketball, men's soccer, rowing, volleyball.

Also on tap is synchronized basket-weaving at 10pm

[Ksyrup]

I've seen all of 10 minutes of the China/Spain basketball game, which consisted of Doug Collins and whoever's callign the game with him making excuses for why the US sucks in international basketball. Other than that, I haven't seen a damn thing. And the only reason I watched that is because my daughter got in trouble last night and lost TV for today, and there was nothing else on.

Last night I enjoyed the NFL Network's No Huddle show, where they showed live preseason football from each of the night's games, then they showed the entire SD/Indy game live at 10pm. What's the Olympics?

Of course, whenever women's gymnastics comes on, my wife'll want to watch...which is why I have Doom.

[NoMyths]

Originally Posted by Simms

Was I the only one who was *really* annoyed by the duo's habit of associating every freaking country (seemingly) with a major league baseball player? I mean, wtf does that have to do with anything? You really couldn't come up with anything better than that?

Not to mention the fact that they butchered (and completely misrepresented in the process) the anecdote about the Canadian flag bearer.

Thank God for CBC.

Absolutely. Hey Bob, how about talking about the athletes who are actually competing in these Olympics, instead of friggin' Sammy Sosa?

[VPI97]

What a choke in the Men's Freestyle Relay. The first leg by US's Ian Crocker left them in last place and almost two body lengths behind eventual winner South Africa. The other three US swimmers did well enough that they should have challenged for the gold, but Crocker put them in so much of a hole, it was impossible.

[digamma]

It is frustrating being on the west coast. Not only do we have the normal tape delay from Greece that the east coast is getting, but we have the additional 3 hour delay to put it in prime time here. Between the internet, radio and television, there is no way to avoid the results.

[RPI-Fan]

I must say, the gymnastics commentators are quite good. All three of them know what they're talking about (as far as I can tell), and the girly-man isn't afraid to give honest opinions.

[gstelmack]

My favorite moment so far came yesterday when they did that great "human interest story" on the breast-stroke swimmer (Brendan ?, forget his last name this morning) and how he broke the Japanese swimmer's record recently, has wanted a gold medal since he was 6, and just missed out on competing in Sydney. On and on about his quest for a gold medal all his life. Oh yeah, and yesterday was his birthday.

All of this in prime time, knowing he was about to take second place!

I mean, that was just cruel

[Honolulu_Blue]

I finally caught some Olympic action today while at the gym over lunch. I was watching the BBC coverage. It was nice, no commercials. It was a bit of a downer though, because I walked in and saw beach volley ball on. I figured that wasn't too bad. As soon as I settle into the stationary bike, the volley ball ends and coverage of dressage starts. Until this day, I had never heard of dressage. Ever. It sucks. It's a horse riding competition where all they do is have the horse walk and trot around a large rectangular dirt square. There is no galloping. There is no jumping. Nothing. Just walking and trotting on dirt. It sucks. Luckily that didn't last too long and I got see some weightlifting and boxing.

[Ksyrup]

I caught a snippet of men's rowing last night and was shocked to see Britain in dead last in the same heat as the US. I thought rowing to the British was what curling is to the Canadians. I always pictured 8 guys in smoking jackets discussing world events while puffing on pipes. Guess not.

[moriarty]

What's up with the HD coverage? Is it just my local NBC affiliate or is everyone getting a tape delay upon a tape delay. I mean I watch an event (tape delayed for prime time viewing) on the standard broadcast, and I have to wait another day to see the same event on the HD broadcast. Why can't they show the HD broadcast the same time as the standard broadcast?


Edit - just noticed there's a separate thread on this.

[rkmsuf]

I can't believe someone doesn't lose an eye in the badminton event.

[Ksyrup]

I don't have HD, but on a related note, I saw the commerical for NBC about their expanded HD offerings for primetime shows and found it funny that they showed Frasier in the montage of NBC shows that would be in HD.

[rkmsuf]

I thought it was funny how NBC had to make special commentary on why all the seats were empty. I heard today they were contemplating flooding the city with free tickets to get people in the arenas.

[moriarty]

On the gymnastics converage they kept explaining how all the expensive seats (the ones on camera) were empty, but the cheap seats (upper decks) were packed. Of course, we never received any visual confirmation of this.

I guess it was a religious holiday yesterday, but don't you think there would be enough 'visitors' to at least partially fill the stands?

[sterlingice]

We get gypped. Here in Lawrence, KS, we have a small cable company by the name of Sunflower. They are owned by a blanket company (The World Company) that runs the local paper and a couple of other things but have no connection to Time Warner or Comcast. Well, I was really looking forward to some of the events on the other stations NBC puts their stuff on such as judo, fencing, and boxing on Bravo, CNBC, USA, etc.

But, our little company won't play NBC's game. Apparently, if you want the special Olympics station feeds, you have to pay extra not just for the Olympics but permanently. It really stinks for me that they won't pay an extra buck a month to get this coverage but I can't blame them since it's just a crap deal. It would be one thing if it were a buck just for the month but a permanent rate hike for the Olympics stinks. I'd pay it but I'm glad they don't just arbitrarily rase rates and try to keep it low for their customers. Especially since, while I'd pay for the Olympics, I'm sure there is a large contingent of people in this town that would like to see us pay for Oxygen or some other crap station that I would get absolutely no use out of.

Shame on NBC for trying to hose people on the Olympics and make the extra buck. They've already turned a $50M profit in ad revenue but now they feel the need to screw small companies to get that extra few cents for their stockholders.

SI

[kingfc22]

WOW!!! The 4x200 relay was the best event I've seen in the pool. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole race.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

WOW!!! The 4x200 relay was the best event I've seen in the pool. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole race.

I totally agree. I'm glad I avoided the various media outlets and was surprised tonight

[sterlingice]

I already made this claim in the other Olympic thread so I agree with you guys on that

SI

[3ric]

here's one favorable impression:

Now onto Women's Beach Volleyball:
How come no one has told me about this sport before?! This is amazing! I'm not very into sports, but this is a sport I could get into. I mean like I would tailgate and shit. I would make signs on poster board and buy a giant foam hand for this sport. Don't tell NBC, let's just keep it between us, but: These women aren't wearing any clothes! And as if that wasn't enough, they added cheerleaders! It's like watching Olympic Pole Dancing. I kept feeling like I should be feeding singles into my cable box.

hxxp://gardenstate.typepad.com/zach_braffs_garden_state_/2004/08/dove_latte_1.html

[Eaglesfan27]

Tonight's prime time coverage of the olympics was excellent.

[sterlingice]

You know. I can't help but notice that as soon as the Olympic coverage goes off the air here at 11 in the central (or midnight ET), the Olmpics story for the day gets pushed to the top corner on ESPN and something else is in the middle.

SI

[ISiddiqui]

Shame on NBC for trying to hose people on the Olympics and make the extra buck. They've already turned a $50M profit in ad revenue but now they feel the need to screw small companies to get that extra few cents for their stockholders.

How are they screwing anyone? The Olympic coverage on NBC itself is at least the same as last times. If you want extra coverage, you pony up for the extra stations. Better than putting it on PPV.

[kingfc22]

What a fantastic gymnastics competition. Did I actually just write that??? Yikes, must be the Olympics.

It was back and forth the whole way. I still find it amazing that these guys do the same damn thing every single day of their life and they still mess up on the big stage.

Now off to MSNBC.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

What a fantastic gymnastics competition. Did I actually just write that??? Yikes, must be the Olympics.

It was back and forth the whole way. I still find it amazing that these guys do the same damn thing every single day of their life and they still mess up on the big stage.

Now off to MSNBC.

Yep, the competition was amazing. That is what I referred to with my earlier comment tonight about the coverage. Absolutely amazing that I was riveted by Gymnastics.

[Ajaxab]

Are we riveted to gymnastics or are we riveted to NBC's representation of the competition? NBC might be pulling a '96 Kerri Struggs(Scruggs?) on us by manipulating the timing of everything to make the competition more eventful than it actually might be. Apparently, her 'heroic' vault occurred much earlier in the competition than as the last vault NBC broadcasted it to be. I suppose it's in NBC's best interest to tell the story of the competition rather than broadcast the events as they occur, but can you imagine the outcry that would result if a broadcaster did that to a football game? Fox could turn a 42-21 blowout into something good by making it look as though the losing team had made a gallant attempt at a comeback after it was already 42-0 when in reality it may have gone 21-7, 28-14 and 42-21. Games would be edited to turn out like the epic Houston-Buffalo playoff game.

Maybe it doesn't matter in the end, but with the whole tape delay thing going on, one never knows the chronology of what they're seeing. Hats off to the producers though.

[GrantDawg]

Gynastics would still be exciting because of the "danger" element and how a small simple mistake can end up being so huge. Of course it is edited for drama, but there is real drama there. BTW, last night Hamm was the last to complete his elements. That was reported before they showed it (I accidentally saw the article before watching). Even knowing he was going to make it, it was exciting to watch.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Ajaxab

Are we riveted to gymnastics or are we riveted to NBC's representation of the competition? NBC might be pulling a '96 Kerri Struggs(Scruggs?) on us by manipulating the timing of everything to make the competition more eventful than it actually might be. Apparently, her 'heroic' vault occurred much earlier in the competition than as the last vault NBC broadcasted it to be.

Where did you get that??

96 was in Atlanta. The major events, including gymnastics, were broadcast live.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Samdari

Where did you get that??

96 was in Atlanta. The major events, including gymnastics, were broadcast live.

It was some really cool technology

[ahbrady]

Originally Posted by Samdari

Where did you get that??

96 was in Atlanta. The major events, including gymnastics, were broadcast live.

I don't remember the specifics of it, but I do remember that they tape-delayed the Strug vault and some other parts of the women's gymnastics. A friend of mine walked into the room where several of us were watching it in primetime and blurted out everything that happened. She didn't realize that it was being shown for the first time and none of us had heard what happened. I share the opinion of others in that I would like stations that talk about the olympics to all give a spoiler warning at the first. I just heard about tonight's competitions on the radio, so I don't know if I'll watch tonight. I'm very glad that I didn't hear about the men's overall before watching it. That was very exciting to watch.