The Crane Pool Forum

The Olympics used to be such a huge deal. But this year, I can honestly say I don't know if I can name a single participant ahead of time. The only real coverage I've seen so far is that athletes are ticked that they have to sleep on cardboard beds.

Am I alone in this?

Not watching. MAYBE the men's basketball final if I'm around but not planning around it

Probably the last time I was interested was when Bolt was the star , growing up the 100 meters was always such a huge thing. Carl Lewis etc ,Michael Johnson..now I have no clue who is the star in that sport...I have zero interest in the Basketball, maybe if some of the Irish boxers do well I'll watch , or rhe runners for Ireland

I'll try to catch some, although the time difference sometimes make things difficult.
The Olympics, for me, are best where the Olympics is that sport's biggest moment: track & field, swimming, etc.
But in this country the national sports media have decreed only two sports are allowed to be acknowledged so, in the absence of football
being an Olympic sport, the story of the Olympics is going to be framed as: LeBron & Steph go to Paris for their summer vacation.

NBC will roll out Jimmy Roberts and his essays for those features , ugh

Olympics lost a lot of momentum between Asia and COVID, but I think there's a chance this one represents a rebound. Paris is making Paris a feature of the games and while there's very few big names on team USA you gotta figure some will emerge

Yeah, between the extreme time difference and the delayed year, I saw virtually none of the 2021 Tokyo games.
I don't recall even making an effort.

Heard an interview on NPR earlier today with two guys from the U.S. marathon team.
Neither are considered favorites, but Connor Mantz and Clayton Young are best buds and training partners since their days at BYU

Won't watch a single minute.

Me neither.

I love it. I miss the old tv wall to wall coverage. Now there’s so much coverage but it’s split between so many channels and omg let’s tug on your
Heartstrings about one amazing athlete after the next so it can be hard to really get immersed into it all

Yeah, if there's an athlete with a dying relative, we're bound to hear about it.

Best stuff is usually the sports for whom the Olympics is the highest-profile event of the sport. Track and field, gymnastics.

I'm a Katie Ledecky fan, but it's hard for me to enjoy swimming as the players have no faces or hair to watch.

Pursuit cycling is mostly boring. Equestrian events are also mostly a snore.

Eight years ago, I got to do a story on the first-ever International Refugee Team at the Olympics, so they're the ones I root for. I think they had only eight or so athletes then but they have 37 now.

It stinks to high Heaven that it's an ongoing struggle to keep baseball alive as an Olympic sport (won't be included in Paris), but in 2028 in LA, they'll be debuting Flag Football.

FLAG FOOTBALL!!

Winter is kind of fun. How often do you get to see luge? Or curling?

Summer? I think the last time I watched was 1976.

I’ll be watching some of the football. Maybe some of the rugby sevens and basketball too.

I was in London during the 2012 Olympics and it was really exciting

I do enjoy the track and field events. The difference in time zones doesn't help though. Nor does the maudlin TV coverage

LeBron James and Coco Goff will be the flag bearers for the US Olympic team.
I guess Bronny was busy.

Later

Edgy MD wrote: ↑Tue Jul 23, 2024 11:23 pm

FLAG FOOTBALL!!

NFL is behind that, as kids don't play football anymore due to the whole head-injury thing.

I guess it's just a matter of time before the NFL switches from tackle to flag.

There are some things that are interesting to us and some that are not, of course.

In summer I kind of like the gymnastics and diving.

An Olympics filled with nothing but fifth-grade gym sports would be something. Flag football, Dodgeball, Rope-Climbing, Steal-the-Bacon.

I've always thought the Olympics could do with some H-O-R-S-E.

A Team has been caught cheating.
And it isn't who you would suspect:
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/summ ... -1.7273360
Now we know who Bill Belichick has been helping.

Later

"Everybody cheats. I just didn't know that" -- Dave Stoller

You guys are all nuts who don't watch and or DVR. Women's Handball
is on USA Network live right now as I type. France vs Hungary! Making
one subscribe to Peacock to watch some coverage is kinda disgusting.

Finding a readable TV schedule is a maddening exercise.

Opening ceremony was impressive