Some thoughts at the end of the Olympic Games: 1) NBC ruined the coverage again with too much fluff and not enough games. Luckily I was able to watch the coverage I wanted with a VPN. 2) It seems every country has critics whining that their country didn't win enough gold medals. Way to miss the whole point of the games. 3) Russia did better hosting the games than I thought they would. Good job! 4) Overall it seems people in the US are getting less and less interested in the games. I talked to so many people who were not following the games at all. I would be interested in hearing everyone else's thoughts.
It seems to be a combination of terrible coverage by NBC, no Americans medaling in the key events and the negative PR that Sochi and Russia had garnered before the start of the Olympics with the yet to be complete construction and the anti-gay legislation.
Dear NBC Olympic Commentators: SHUT UP!!!! Seriously, before the next Olympics, they need to come up with a selective mute where I can mute the commentators but still be able to hear the crowd and music. It wasn't just with the ceremonies, but with just about every single event, they were annoying the crap out of me with their inane chatter.
Well for sure, every country wants to win medals, preferable Gold. But the UK did achieve it's medal target of between 3 and 7 medals. As for interest in the games, could it be because they are the winter games rather than the summer games. And some nations do better at the Summer games than the winter and vice versa. Take the US for example At the 2012 Summer Games they ranked number 1 at the 2014 Winter Games 4th. There is also the time difference which might impact viewing.
And the time difference probably played a role. When the games were in Vancouver, there was plenty of live coverage during prime time. I watched less than I normally do, most of it in the wee hours of the morning. I watched very little of NBC's prime time coverage because I already knew what the outcome was going to be.
CBC didn't have much better north of the border. Hockey with the trio of Hughson, Simpson, and Healy is just painful, especially when it's Canada can do no wrong!
I gotta say, I watched more games this time than I ever have. The last time I watched a lot was 2006. I don't care for the summer games at all and never watch them, but the winter games are my thing and I'm not a sports guy at all. I discovered something about myself that I never knew, I'm a big fan if these types of sports. In the past growing up, I just tuned in because it was the Olympics, it was a big deal. The US hosted the Olympics twice and the big basketball stars like Michael Jordan and Shaque were playing , so it was the thing to do. As a teenager I rode a skateboard a lot. I couldn't do any tricks, but I rode my board around the hood. I always liked skiing and bobsled, but when snowboarding came on the scene, I really liked it. This time around though, I was paying attention to everything and really into it. The only think I don't like is curling. The only thing I didn't watch was hockey, I just could never catch it. I think this time was really good. Vancouver was cool, but I was more invested in this one. I'm glad USA did really good, but it's good to see other teams do well too. That iPod guy was really good, I hope to see him again. I'm guessing Shawn White is done, but who knows. Bodie Miller is probably done. We had a lot of fresh blood too and it will be interesting to see how that plays out next time. Also, Russia really did a good job of pulling this off and while there may be political differences between us, Russians should be proud of this achievement. NBC? What can I say that hasn't already been said? Sadly, I doubt FOX or CBS would do anything differently. If they cut down the pre-game bullshit and the commentary, we could have seen a lot more stuff. I seem to remember Vancouver being aired almost all day every day. Maybe that's because of the time difference, but still, I don't remember it being that bad. Overall, I think it was a good Olympics. I liked the new games like slope style and the other stuff and I look forward to next time.
I just have issues with the Olympics, especially the winter Olympics. 1. a) Why are boxing, karate, wrestling, weight-lifting, and gymnastics in the summer Olympics instead of the winter Olympics? Doesn't it make more sense to perform indoor activities in the winter because it's too cold to go outside? b) Why is basketball in the summer Olympics instead of the winter Olympics, since basketball season is in the winter? c) Why don't we have a summer Olympics, a winter Olympics, and an indoor Olympics, since indoor sports aren't either summer or winter by nature? 2. Why aren't vital or common winter activities represented in the winter Olympics? a) Snow shoveling. b) Snow ball fighting. c) Chair-lift races, perhaps combined with boxing and karate near the pick-up point? d) Shouldn't a modern biathlon being skiing and texting, since that's what skiers do nowdays? e) Why are their no powered events involving snowplows and Zambonis? f) How come no downhill events use inner tubes?
Yeah, I agree with the general low quality of coverage. I mean really, a half hour puff piece about some woman meeting her Russian biological parents for the first time? I tuned in to watch sports! I mostly put it on in cases where I wanted to watch TV but couldn't think of anything specific. They can be fun to watch. But it'd be more fun if they'd show us all the runs and not just the ones with Americas and the ones where the lead changed. They controlled the narrative way too tightly. When I watch these sports I want to see it the same way the people in the crowd see it.
Well as usual the BBC gave very good covergae of the games. It's not always cold winter depends where you are in the world. Perhaps because the season is winter, and teams might be reluctant to release players during the season for the olympics. Take Football for example the World Cup is usually played during the summer, whilst the season is during the Autumn/Winter/Spring (at least in Europe). There are already talking about moving the 2022 games to winter because of the heat in Qatar, which will play hell with the Domestic Seasons in Europe Cost, it costs a lot to host the games the Sochi games are reoprted to have cost a whopping US$51bn, which is over double the cost of the London 2012 games.
There's no reason those events have to be indoor events. I'd bet quite a few of them were in outdoor venues in the earlier games. I know for a fact that most of the indoor winter events started out in outdoor venues (saw some old photos recently). My sentiments exactly. Yeah, I seem to remember this happening while watching 4-man bobsled. They showed Canada, who got the lead, then the US came in with a faster time. Then they show Russia, who had to beat Latvia's time?!?? When the hell did that happen?!