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All Purpose 2008 Summer Olympics Thread

themetfairy Aug 12 2008 01:19 PM

Kudos to Rebecca Soni for [url=http://www.nj.com/olympics/index.ssf/2008/08/plainsboros_rebecca_soni_earns.html]winning a sliver medal in the 100-meter breast stroke competition[/url] last night. Rebecca is a graduate of my kids' high school.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 12 2008 01:50 PM

Fencing = stupid sport to watch.

metirish Aug 12 2008 02:01 PM

Synchronized Diving is so gay......I said I wouldn't be watching the Games as some sort of fake protest by me...anyway I have watched some, I try and watch the soccer but Brandi Chastain never shuts up....I mean she just constantly tries to explain everything....very annoying.

AG/DC Aug 12 2008 02:05 PM

"I fart in your general direction."

metsmarathon Aug 12 2008 06:06 PM

i just wish they'd get some announcers who do more than just alternate between gushing about the awesomeness of how cool it is when american athletes win, and react excitedly about what good or bad things the american athletes just did. i mean, i'm watching the mens gymnastics last night, and they're talking about some american guy on the high bar, and all they're saying is "wow" "look at him go" "here comes the scary part... WOW!!! that was AMAZING" "just, wow" and all i can think is... um, to me, it looked like he was spinning around the bar. sometimes he let go, and flipped or spinned or something, and other times, he just went around the bar. that scary part they all seemed to react to sure looked a lot like what all else he was doing, and aside from the spinning, twisting, letting go, and not falling, i'm really not sure what he did. i'd sure like to know what he actually had just done, and why it was so darned scary, what he had done to pull off such scariness, and, perchance, what the actual technical term is for his maneuver. i mean, they give out their programs before hand, so the judges and tv people know what they're doing and what to look for, so they have to know, right? its gotta be right in front of them, right? or was the move really called "scary"? i don't think that's it. i don't think the program looks like "1. mount apparatus 2. safe loops 3. conservative routine 4. scary 5. amazing 6. easy 7. dismount," but that's all i can get from the tv crew. all they're giving me is what amounts to the reactions of knowledgeable fans, who root and cheer and gush at the right spots. no breaking down of performances, no analysis, nothing. i leave the events knowing less than when i started. in contrast, in the winter olympics, at least for the skating, we get taught what the skaters are doing, and why its so hard, and the intricate differences between a triple axel and a double salchow, and how important the positioning of the arms during a tight spiral are. i mean, they even teach us what the fuck the brooms are for in curling, and all the strategy that goes into it. but we don't get a damned bit of anything about what the scary part is that the announcers practically fell over themselves when the guy didnt screw it up! aggravating. and its everywhere, too. in the swimming relay that we just barely got past the french team for phelps' 2nd gold, the most important thing of that race was the wall touch at the end. because when they first showed it, it actually looked like hte french guy should've got there first, but didnt. they showed it real time once, tehn spent about ten minutes showing slowmo replays of phelps and that other guy pointing at the wall cheering on tehir teammate, then looking up at the clock, and screaming and climbing about. seriously, it felt like ten minutes. it was only after a commercial break that they showed the underwater shot - the only shot that you can actually tell what the hell is going on in, but it too was neither slow motion nor broken down. i think on the third time around, tehy might've bothered to say somehting about the american just getting a good surge in there against the frenchie who "tightened up" but that was the extent of the analysis. yes, tightened up is the most technical terminology i heard while watching the race. its freaking aggravating, beacuse this is supposed to be the biggest freaking deal in the world right now, save for wars and natural disasters and whatever the fuck lindsay lohan is doing, and they can't even tell a decent story. of course i'm probably expecting too much, because no matter how poorly the games are presented to me, i still watch. so there's no real reason for nbc to actually tell me anything about what i'm seeing, but rather to keep voices and noises and pretty pictures flowing at me so that i don't get bored and turn the channel onto something that might actually turn out to be satisfying. blerg!

seawolf17 Aug 12 2008 06:10 PM

Isn't the announcing frustration partly because these are mainly either announcers from other sports who are just covering this for two weeks and/or ex-athletes who have no broadcasting experience and don't know what they're doing? It's not like gymnastics is on NBC every weekend so these folks have time to hone their craft.

metsmarathon Aug 12 2008 08:01 PM

that's a large part of it, of course, butiwould accept rustiness, or even a lack of knowledge. its that they seem to know what they're watching, but cannot be bothered to explain it. that its systematic means to me that nbc doesn't care to have things explained to me. they just want me to react and gush along.

Frayed Knot Aug 12 2008 08:41 PM

The problem is that NBC doesn't treat this as a sporting event(s) they treat it as a TV mini-series, and one which needs to draw in all kinds of non-sports fans (and esp women) as well as sports fans. So they're not nearly as concerned with teaching you about the sport as they are about telling you about the athlete themselves - and about early struggles and their sick relative back in arm-pit Georgia or in bum-fuck Poland. Of course this all forms a viscious circle: these are sports we don't follow in non-Olympic years, ergo they treat it as such, ergo we don't learn anything about it and follow the sport in the future, ergo they continue to treat us that way, and on and on. Phelps just won another gold medal and set another world record.

Frayed Knot Aug 12 2008 08:45 PM

]Synchronized Diving is so gay I was going to say the exact same thing. Also, If you do sychronized diving with your identical twin does that give you an advantage over other teams?

Centerfield Aug 13 2008 09:42 AM

I never realized Gheorge Muresan was such a good swimmer.

metirish Aug 13 2008 09:50 AM

="Centerfield"]I never realized Gheorge Muresan was such a good swimmer. brilliant , i was trying to place who he reminded me of. Meanwhile the Spanish Basketball team paints itself in glory here posing as " slant eyed Asians|"...what were they thinking? "It was something like supposed to be funny or something but never offensive in any way," Spain's Pau Gasol, center for the Los Angeles Lakers, said. "I'm sorry if anybody thought or took it the wrong way and thought that it was offensive. Oh ok then , thanks for that.

Centerfield Aug 13 2008 10:10 AM

You have to excuse Pau for not knowing. He plays in Los Angeles where there are very vew Asians.

metirish Aug 13 2008 10:26 AM

Nothing ever funny about what they did and I find it astonishing that these pictures were taken to promote a courier that is the sponsor of the Spanish team , these pictures ran in full page ads in Marca the biggest selling Daily in Spain . The Spanish womens team also posed in similar ways. Meanwhile Russia and Georgia played today in of all things Beach Volleyball. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/13/georgia_and_russia_throw_sand.html

metsguyinmichigan Aug 13 2008 10:48 AM

="metirish"]Synchronized Diving is so gay......I said I wouldn't be watching the Games as some sort of fake protest by me...anyway I have watched some, I try and watch the soccer but Brandi Chastain never shuts up....I mean she just constantly tries to explain everything....very annoying. "Well, Mr. President, you have some options today. You can go meet and pose with the men's heavyweight weight-lifters, or you can do a nice photo op with May and Walsh."

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 13 2008 10:58 AM

="metirish"] Can Matt Treanor hit you THIS hard? Yeah, didn't think so.

HahnSolo Aug 13 2008 11:56 AM

US lost to South Korea in baseball. Brandon Knight I guess had another sucky outing. At least it wasn't for the Mets.

soupcan Aug 13 2008 12:34 PM

I think the U.S lost in the bottom of the 9th. Wags must be rehabbing in Beijing.

Fman99 Aug 14 2008 06:48 AM

="metirish"] I'm telling you, Mr. President. I eat a lot of pineapple and my flatulence smells like pineapple! Seriously, take a gander!

AG/DC Aug 14 2008 07:11 AM

You have to wonder how seriously to take a sport that includes a rule about the maximum sixe of the swimwear uniform.

metsmarathon Aug 14 2008 07:42 AM

yeah, that's just silly... i mean, i've got no qualms about the sportiness and difficulty and athleticism required for beach volleyball, and as such i've got no qualms about its inclusion in the olympics (certainly not as compared to the twirling of batons and ribbons, or the synchronicity of diving), but if you can dominate in beach volleyball wearing a tunic, then for heavens sake, you should be allowed to wear that tunic.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 14 2008 07:43 AM

I was throwing up watching the men's synchronized diving and their below-the-pube-line speedos and quickly turned on Project Runway for something less gay.

AG/DC Aug 14 2008 07:45 AM

And I've got no problems if you and your teammate want to let it all hang out. I'm not made of stone. But to require it --- pretty much creating a sport that eliminates at the start much the Muslim-observant world --- is risible.

AG/DC Aug 14 2008 07:46 AM

On the other hand, our Olympics were originally for sweaty naked ancient Greeks.

metirish Aug 14 2008 07:47 AM

You know it would not be out of place for Tim Gunn to judge the men's synchronized diving. I have never been less interested in the Olympics , even with Phelps and all his chase of glory I have only seen one of his finals live.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 14 2008 07:48 AM

I'm sick of swimming already, and wanna see some shot-putting.

metirish Aug 14 2008 07:53 AM

How about Hungarian weightlifter Janos Baranyai popping his elbow.... [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1044258/Pictured-The-horrific-moment-Olympic-weightlifter-turns-elbow-front.html]Not For The Squeamish[/url]

Farmer Ted Aug 14 2008 08:02 AM

Less of the 4-foot-nothing-cheating-Chinese-gymnasts (and that's just the guys) and more tape delay du jour of Al Trautwig. The guy has NEVER done anythig live. Poser.

themetfairy Aug 14 2008 08:06 AM

I hate Trautwig. He couldn't even broadcast the Westminster Kennel Club dog show well (SC=0).

Farmer Ted Aug 14 2008 08:06 AM

Did a double take when I saw this guy on the floor playing hoops for Greece. http://www.draftexpress.com/gallery/General/1161156710.jpg Thought it was Becky Hammon situation where anyone can play for any country nowadays. Turns out he immigrated to Greece from Camaroon as a youngster.

Vic Sage Aug 14 2008 08:15 AM

i think they should combine the shot-put, discus and javelin events with the high hurdles... give those runners some REAL obstacles to overcome! Now THAT is an event i'd be willing to watch... even on tape delay, and even with Trautrig announcing.

metirish Aug 14 2008 08:22 AM

I like if Vic , Jimmy Roberts could add the back story puff piece on one of the competitors that NBC likes.

Farmer Ted Aug 14 2008 08:30 AM

Best. Javelin. Thrower. Ever. http://withleather.uproxx.com/post.phtml?pk=6619 Many props to Extra Mustard for uncovering this.

metsguyinmichigan Aug 14 2008 09:16 AM

Bob Costas' hair. Wig? Bad dye job? It's not working.

Frayed Knot Aug 14 2008 09:51 AM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I was throwing up watching the men's synchronized diving and their below-the-pube-line speedos and quickly turned on Project Runway for something less gay. You kinda wonder how (and if) those suits stay on when they hit the water.

themetfairy Aug 14 2008 10:51 AM

Rebecca Soni should be going for the gold in the 200 meter breaststroke tonight. She set a world record in the qualifying heat.

AG/DC Aug 14 2008 12:16 PM

Swedish wrestler (Greco-Roman) Ara Abrahamian, pissed at the judges' decision which left him with a lousy bronze, tosses his medal into the middle of the mat during the medal ceremony. Look how perfectly centered that placement is.

seawolf17 Aug 14 2008 01:41 PM

Meanwhile, Joe Fourthplace from Albania, who's worked his entire life to get to this point, is thinking "you know, if he's not going to take that..."

Centerfield Aug 14 2008 01:46 PM

Breaststroke = not nearly as interesting as the name suggests it would be.

OlerudOwned Aug 14 2008 02:49 PM

James Blake, Met-Loving Big Shot, defeats Roger Federer for the first time in 9 chances and moves on to the semifinals.

themetfairy Aug 14 2008 08:17 PM

Rebecca Soni wins the gold in the 200-meter breaststroke! Yea for the local girl!

Number 6 Aug 15 2008 08:28 AM

I'm in Guangzhou, and the Olympics are on TV everywhere. I mean, not just restaurants and barbershops, but the subway platforms, subway cars, and Buddhist temples. It seems that whenever I look, China is kicking ass in something, making me wonder of they're showing it on delay so the good guys always win. Or maybe they're just winning everything, I'm not paying enough attention. So far, I've seen them dominate in badminton, table tennis, volleyball, and 78 kg+ female judo, which looks like sumo until you realize it's women and there's kicking.

OlerudOwned Aug 15 2008 08:16 PM

Phelps by .01 second. Wow.

Frayed Knot Aug 16 2008 01:42 PM

*** SPOILER WARNING *** to anyone who doesn't want to know any Olympic news until NBC covers it in prime-time while trying to convince you is actually happening live even though it's more than 1/2 day old by the time they get around to showing it ... American sprinter Tyson Gay - the reigning world champion and one of the pre-race favorites - failed to even qualify for the 100m dash final by finishing 5th in the semis. I saw him run the quarter-final qualifier (showed Friday night) where he looked very uneven even though he did advance, seeming to strain just to get through possibly still feeling the effects of the hamstring "cramp" that knocked him out of the 200m contest during the US trials. So that reduced the favorites down to the two Jamaicans where one of them - Usain Bolt (great sprinter's name) - not only won the gold but did so while setting a new world record of 9.69

AG/DC Aug 16 2008 02:21 PM

I can't get over what's been going on in the 100m this year. I thought by the time I got this old, the only way the 100m record would continue to shrink would be if they started counting thousandths of a second. Nothing personal, but if there was a gun to my head and I had to guess, I'd say they were still juicing.

soupcan Aug 16 2008 02:44 PM

Haven't you been reading the papers? The training is better, the suits are sleeker, the pool/track is deeper/wider, blah-ba-de-blah-blah-blah... You mean you're not buying the big load of moo shu they're selling over there?

AG/DC Aug 16 2008 03:18 PM

Depends on how much it costs me. Again, I'm not surprised that man (at least, the best man) continues to get better, only that he continues to get better at the same rate.

AG/DC Aug 16 2008 10:35 PM

That was so crazy: 1) Forget about the equipment. He just wore a typicaly high school track mesh jersey. And one of his shoelaces was flapping. 2) Bolt was like 5" taller than anybody else in the field. So, despite the start meaning so much in the 100, he had a typically poor one relative to the rest of the elite runners. 3) From 50m to 85, he just found a gear nobody else could sniff. 4) In a race where you're trained to believe every could be the difference, he turned to the crowd and spread his arms the last 15m. What would he have run if he didn't pull that nonsense? 9.6? 5) Donovan Bailey's records are looking positively quaint right now. A few weeks ago, Bailey made a statement along the lines of (paraphrasing) Bolt being the best athlete ever. 6) Walter Dix of the US came in third. I may have misheard (or misread the closed captioning), but when asked if Bolt's was the greatest race run ever, he said "not by a long shot, but that guy can run." 7) Everyone in the finals was of West African descent. 8) Among the Jamaicans, Americans, and Trindidadis, there's a fantastic generation of sprinters under 25. And I'm hoping that Gay isn't done.

Frayed Knot Aug 17 2008 08:51 AM

Dude is either an absolute freak or he's filled to the gills with some sort of as-yet undetectable juice. One guy running clear of an entire field of elite runners to the point where it's OVAH with 20m to go isn't supposed to happen in 100m races (won by 0.2 sec) and neither is coasting the last 15m to world records (broke by 0.03). I'd like to see someone calculate his speed from around the 40m to 80m marks. Commentator Aldo Boldon thought he could have hit 30 mph ]Everyone in the finals was of West African descent That's pretty typical for the sprints

AG/DC Aug 17 2008 04:03 PM

Of course it's typical. Which makes it intesting to see one or two exceptions. Although, sometimes it's the damn exception who turns out to be the one juiced. Non West African-types that made the semis: Naoki Tsukahara, Japan, 10.16 seconds: That's it. He finished 13th, as the top eight make the final heat. Not bad. His personal best is 10.15. It's pretty much a rule that the 4x100 goes to the US, but if Asafa Powell isn't hurt --- and the sprint world has gone batshit crazy if a guy can achieve a time of 9.95 and fuel speculation that he's hurt --- this may be Jamaica's year. Certainly there's a lot more concern about Tyson Gay. The 4 X 100 record was set by the US (Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell, Carl Lewis) at the Barcelona games in 1992 and equaled a year later by a similar US team (Jon Drummond, Andre Cason, Mitchell, Burrell). That record (37.40 seconds) is in as much danger as the US dominance. If they could, Jamaica would probably have Bolt run two legs.

Frayed Knot Aug 17 2008 07:15 PM

]The 4 X 100 record was set by the US (Michael Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell, Carl Lewis) at the Barcelona games in 1992 I remember that one. In the semis - where caution and careful passes rule since one just needs to finish in the top 4 - Lewis took the baton for the anchor leg in 2nd place about a meter or two behind his Cuban counterpart. Then, with no incentive aside from a better final's lane assignment and maybe a psychological edge, Lewis shifted into a gear this Cuban fellow had never dreamed of leaving him in the dust and the rest of us with little doubt as to who was going to win only about whether the WR would fall in the process.

Frayed Knot Aug 18 2008 07:25 PM

Jamaicans, btw, swept the medals in the women's 100m But in the non-west African sprinters category, you Irishmen have a finalist in the 200m. Of course Usain Bolt is in that race too and he pretty much jogged in the semis and still won his heat so I think everyone else is running for Silver. China's champion hurdler had to pull out with an injury leaving most of the country in mourning.

AG/DC Aug 18 2008 07:43 PM

I suspect Bolt is going to win that one doing backflips across the finish line.

metsguyinmichigan Aug 20 2008 08:42 AM

Nastia Liukin always seems to be frowning, where Shawn Johnson seems pretty perky. I'm oficailly sick of sports with judges.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 20 2008 08:47 AM

AG/DC wrote: I suspect Bolt is going to win that one doing backflips across the finish line. Victor Conte (of all people) has become a Narc and basically puts a needle in Bolt's ass in a bylined Snooze peice suspecting roid use among the Carribean sprinters.

metirish Aug 20 2008 09:08 AM

Ireland I am proud to say is guaranteed at the least three Bronze medals in boxing , hoping for more though.

Vince Coleman Firecracker Aug 20 2008 09:40 AM

Good basketball game between Greece and Argentina right now, although there's an awful lot of whining to the refs and flopping around.

Vince Coleman Firecracker Aug 20 2008 09:55 AM

Ginobli clangs a potential game-clinching 3 off the rim with 8 seconds left, but Spanoulis just misses a wide open 3 for Greece as time runs out. Great game.

AG/DC Aug 20 2008 09:59 AM

Davey Johnson's men claimed a spot in the medal round thanks to a 4.2 win over Chinese Taipei, featuring starting pitcher Brandon Knight pitching into the seventh.

Vic Sage Aug 20 2008 10:14 AM

i wonder if there's anything to the notion that, from a Darwinian perspective, the fast West Africans were the ones that could evade the slavers. sorry, just had a "Nick the Greek" moment.

AG/DC Aug 20 2008 10:22 AM

Jimmy the Greek?

AG/DC Aug 20 2008 11:15 AM

Spoiler alert v v v v v Usain Bolt wns the 200m gold with a 19.30. Breaking Mickael Johnson's 1996 world record? Oh yes. By .02 Bolt breaks his own personal best by... sit down... .37. That's like, an observable amount of time.

OlerudOwned Aug 20 2008 11:37 AM

I'm no expert, but I do believe he just destroyed everything.

Frayed Knot Aug 20 2008 08:14 PM

I wonder how many other broadcast rights holders around the planet opted NOT to show this in live action. I'm guessing none. Obviously the time diference works out better for some locales. But still, even though NBC is using several of their satellite channels (MSNBC, USA & others) to show events virtually 24 hours/day, they chose to sit on this for nearly 12 hours waiting for their prime-time hours. Of course they could have shown it line as well as in PT later on, but they seem to prefer to make a big show around it while pretending that it's being shown live. And, even after all that, they waited until 2 hours into PT while feeding viewers a steady diet of diving. btw, both the 2nd & 3rd place finishers in the 200m (one American, one from the Metherlands Antilles) were disqualified for stepping on the lane lines, moving two Americans up to the Silver & Bronze

John Cougar Lunchbucket Aug 20 2008 09:24 PM

That was roideriffic. Impossible.

AG/DC Aug 20 2008 10:02 PM

Doesn't even look as ripped as the other competitors, though I imagine that's in part due to his height and, wearinga shirt, rather than a tank top. Nothing about his technique stands out. The only thing about him I notice is that Carl Lewis proved a generation ago that a man can win both the 100m and the 200m by coming out of the blocks and standing right up

AG/DC Aug 22 2008 09:36 AM

Men and women fumble the baton in the 4x100? In the preliminaries? What the Hell?

metirish Aug 22 2008 09:40 AM

="AG/DC"]Men and women fumble the baton in the 4x100? In the preliminaries? What the Hell? The mens race was a mess , I counted at least two more fumbles besides the US team. Nigeria was one and I couldn't make out the other.It was wet and miserable but that's no excuse.

DocTee Aug 22 2008 09:44 AM

4 of the 8 were DQ'd due to bad exchanges.

AG/DC Aug 22 2008 10:10 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Aug 22 2008 10:17 AM

="metirish"] ="AG/DC"]Men and women fumble the baton in the 4x100? In the preliminaries? What the Hell? The mens race was a mess , I counted at least two more fumbles besides the US team. Nigeria was one and I couldn't make out the other.It was wet and miserable but that's no excuse. Nigeria is usually the US Men's team's biggest rival. The Caribbean Islands and Afro-Caribbean-Canada ofen produce top sprinters, but Nigeria is the only nation that has produced the depth that the US team has. Jamaica, your time is now. Now is your time. Let there be no other. Tyson Gay, this, um, isn't your time.

metirish Aug 22 2008 10:15 AM

Ireland's three boxers fought today in the semi's , two lost but Dub Kenny Egan is through to Sundays final. Poor Tyson Gay , he went to these games with high hopes , three golds I think and leaves with nothing.

Frayed Knot Aug 22 2008 12:52 PM

Gay never even got to a final race in any of his events. - got his hamstring cramp in the U.S. trials for the 200m and crashed into the wall like he was in some NASCAR event so he didn't even qualify there - lost in the semi-final of the 100m in Beijing. In fact he looked terrible in the quarters and barely made it through them. - And now the baton drop, made worse by the fact that he's the one who dropped it (or never got it cleanly). And none of the teams seemed to pass the baton the way I was taught a whole bunch of years ago. Maybe there are newer theories now but most of the passes - even the successful ones - looked awkward. Some had passers and receivers with opposite hands held out. It was a real mess. Maybe the fact that top sprinters are more likely to be independant contractors now means there's a lot less relay practice.

metirish Aug 22 2008 12:59 PM

I don't know the names of the commentators in the booth calling the races with Hammond but they both slated the lack of leadership in US Track & Field.

Frayed Knot Aug 22 2008 01:20 PM

="metirish"]I don't know the names of the commentators in the booth calling the races with Hammond but they both slated the lack of leadership in US Track & Field. The problems go beyond just Gay or the dropped batons. No Americans even reached the finals of the 800m, the 1500m, or the high jump. The 1,500 has traditionally been one of the jewels of the whole games but thanks to NBC's 'if it doesn't involve an American it didn't happen' policy they shoved the showing of it to the late-night part of their programming an hour or so after Costas and crew sign off and all the local stations have run their late news.

metirish Aug 22 2008 01:35 PM

Speaking of jewels what ever happened the decathlon , it used to be a big event but not anymore , I just read who won it and confess to not knowing who he is.

AG/DC Aug 22 2008 01:41 PM

Frayed Knot wrote: ="metirish"]I don't know the names of the commentators in the booth calling the races with Hammond but they both slated the lack of leadership in US Track & Field. The problems go beyond just Gay or the dropped batons. No Americans even reached the finals of the 800m, the 1500m, or the high jump. We sent perhaps the three top shotputters in the world to the games, and almost got shut out in that event also, if not for one guy who ground out a silver medal throw on his last attempt.

Frayed Knot Aug 22 2008 02:23 PM

metirish wrote: Speaking of jewels what ever happened the decathlon , it used to be a big event but not anymore , I just read who won it and confess to not knowing who he is. It runs over two days ending today but NBC totally ignored day 1 last night. What I'm sure they'll do is take the two days worth of film and show it sometime tonight (when it's between 12 and 36 hours old) after they boil it down into a neat little 20 minute package designed for short attention spans.

metsguyinmichigan Aug 22 2008 03:23 PM

I've been watching almost every night, and I swear the only events I've seen in prime time are: Women's gymnastics Limited men's gymnastics Swimming Beach volleyball Some of the track races Some of the syncronized diving. I caught some of the baseball only because they had it on the television here in the newsroom.

Frayed Knot Aug 23 2008 06:18 AM

I was pretty much correct on the decathalon prediction because, unless I missed something, they showed only the 1500m final at which point the winner had already been decided. American Brian Clay (silver in Athens) barely jogged to a last place finish in that event because his big-enough lead (in the events we didn't see) had already sealed the deal. Typical Ebersol/NBC-ism. They spend more air time showing you the athlete profile before (w/requisite film of wife and kids) and the medal ceremony after than they are in the actual competition itself. Y'know, if you're going to forego live events in order to "save" all this stuff for prime-time then why not actually show them in prime-time? Or, looked at the other way, if you're going to have blanket 24/7 coverage via 4 different stations under your control why not use them to show the stuff you obviously don't care about enough to show in your main braodcast? And if by sticking them there they're only seen by the night-shifters, the retired, the unemployed, or the track nerds well at least that's more people who are seeing them now. Oh, and the 3 minutes of pole-vault coverage was great too! But, hey, at least we were treated to 763 different dives (even though they all looked the same to me). [/soap box] Jamaica won Gold and busted the 4x100 WR with virtually no competition. I wonder what kind of betting odds you could have gotten on Belgium for a Silver in that event were before the games?