I put up a flag pole for the soccer Euro's that I decided to leave up for the Olympics. And while it didn't fly everyday it did on most.
In truth though I don't believe I've ever felt so 'who cares' about any games, but maybe I have. It could well be that I've always had this feeling about it. But I don't think so. What I find so difficult is you cannot follow 'a' sport for the TV companies are drawing the feed from whomever they think can give metal.
We have a Silver in Sailing (Women's Laser Radial) but sailing notwithstanding our miles of coast is not even a minority sport it's niche, if even that. Nook is smaller isn't it.
Anyway, we had what seemed like hours of it when we should've been following the heats of the longjump high jump and the pole vault.
Ireland has had a bit of amusement when our local head of the Irish Olympic Committee was arrested for what isn't a crime here in Europe, ticket touting (scalping I think the Americans call it). And the Brazilians whom the IOC reserved spaces didn't take up the space leaving most of the local tickets unsold for it seemed the Olympics was nowt more than a gigantic scam in their eyes, with them as the victims.
The Medal table is as usual. With America bringing back 100+ , then China, UK, Russia, Germany France between 70 and 40. In otherwords, unchanged in all but who sits where in the top 10 or so slots.
However a few things were thrown up that gives a slight easing of the cynicism. The Stateless athletes, refugees from the hell created in North Africa and the Middle East competed under the Olympic flag. And Usain Bolt !.
In truth though I don't believe I've ever felt so 'who cares' about any games, but maybe I have. It could well be that I've always had this feeling about it. But I don't think so. What I find so difficult is you cannot follow 'a' sport for the TV companies are drawing the feed from whomever they think can give metal.
We have a Silver in Sailing (Women's Laser Radial) but sailing notwithstanding our miles of coast is not even a minority sport it's niche, if even that. Nook is smaller isn't it.
Anyway, we had what seemed like hours of it when we should've been following the heats of the longjump high jump and the pole vault.
Ireland has had a bit of amusement when our local head of the Irish Olympic Committee was arrested for what isn't a crime here in Europe, ticket touting (scalping I think the Americans call it). And the Brazilians whom the IOC reserved spaces didn't take up the space leaving most of the local tickets unsold for it seemed the Olympics was nowt more than a gigantic scam in their eyes, with them as the victims.
The Medal table is as usual. With America bringing back 100+ , then China, UK, Russia, Germany France between 70 and 40. In otherwords, unchanged in all but who sits where in the top 10 or so slots.
However a few things were thrown up that gives a slight easing of the cynicism. The Stateless athletes, refugees from the hell created in North Africa and the Middle East competed under the Olympic flag. And Usain Bolt !.
Here in the states, our cable package which is basic, had about six channels to choose from so if one desired to catch some of the more obscure sports, you could. I for the most part just stuck to the four hour prime time recap each night which was enough as it is and like you said, they mainly stuck to sports where medals were expected. Fortunately for me, the U.S. set its third highest metal tally in record so there were plenty of events to see.
ReplyDeleteI love the Olympics for some reason where I could care less about any other sports. I guess I like the spirit of competition between nations and it almost always seems to be in good spirits. In other televised domestic sport competitions, there is so much trying to hurt and talk down the competition. You just don't see that at the Olympics. Now it is another four year wait until the next summer Olympics. I do watch the winter Olympics but don't get so enthused about them as the summer ones. I guess that is because winter sports mostly consist of sitting inside by a fire here in the Midwest where the ice only rarely gets thick enough to skate on and sledding can be hit or miss some years.
I like the idea of them. What I'm less fixed by is the jingoism. I'd far prefer that the Olympics were seen as extra territorial and that all played under the Olympic flag and that the home country wasn't so darn important. But the individual sportsperson was the focus. Now it's a case of who has the greater population and the biggest purse.
DeleteI'm not one for watching much of the Olympics (read that as none), so my only exposure was whatever clips the nightly newscast chose to share - usually swimming or gymnastics. They did tout Usain Bolt and I was pleased he did so well. I also found the athletes without a country fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much into the winter games, either, which tend to revolve around figure skating, speed skating, and skiing as far as national coverage.
I think I'm all about the sports, but I feel we aren't given a chance to follow any with the gadfly way the TV coverage dips in and out.
DeleteI started off looking forward to them starting, but like usual, my interest fell off after recording and fast forwarding hours of what was supposed to be the equestrian events only to end up with snippets here and there and SO MANY commercials! So I just stopped trying after awhile. And then once back to work I stopped caring almost entirely. With all the channels we had running it, I wish one would show something without all the talking. I'm not sure about your coverage there, but it would seem that here the announcers are told that there may not be even a second of quiet during an event as what I did watch had someone talking through every bit. And the constant cutting away from events for color stories drove me nuts.
ReplyDeleteYes I saw that about your ioc scalper, but I hadn't realized that's something legal there. That made me chuckle. You forgot to add the one about idiot man-baby swimmers who lied about being robbed at gun point. :).
Did you see Nick Skelton for the UK won the individual, and he's near 60. He's going a very long time now.
DeleteYeah, those swimmers were reallly stupid.
Hmm, re-selling per se isn't illegal in Common Law. It's a product with a limited supply and perhaps an unlimited demand. It's the real economy at work at it's most transparent. You know the mark up !. Nor, usually is the seat sold to a 'name' where they might be a safety or even an IDing issue like in a jetplane.
We've yet to see what the hell was going on though.
Oh we got three silver. One for sailing, and two for Men's lightweight double sculls.
DeleteI was able to watch Nick Skelton! For the most part, I taped everything so I could fast forward through all the commentary and getting people ready for whatever race was about to happen. I could condense a four hour broadcast down to less than an hour for track and swimming events and maybe down to a couple hour if it was something like gymnastics, horse jumping, etc. where the events lasted more than a few minutes between commercials. It would have driven me nuts to have to watch it all in real time!
ReplyDeleteI didn't get to see any Olympic sailing and blame it on NBC! I did get to see a lot of the swimming and gymnastics and enjoyed what I saw. And, of course, heard way too much about a group of American swimmers who made a mockery of things.
ReplyDeleteWith a day job, I also caught mostly prime time on NBC. I must say I'm a pretty big fan. I'll watch swimming, gymnastics, track, equestrian, volleyball -- all games I would never think of watching on a regular basis but enjoy during the Olynpics.
ReplyDelete