Re: The 2012 Summer Olympic Games Discussion Thread

[Awinnell]

Is the NBC coverage as bad as a lot of people are saying ?

[Professor Voodoo]

Is the NBC coverage as bad as a lot of people are saying ?

One of the criticisms I've heard is that NBC is only giving coverage to sports that US athletes have a chance of winning. In effect they are covering the Americans...not the Games.

I haven't seen much (only one television out here on ship), only a few events here and there, but from what I've seen the criticism is completely true & justified.

[Kurosaka "Ery" Erika]

Is the NBC coverage as bad as a lot of people are saying ?

One of the criticisms I've heard is that NBC is only giving coverage to sports that US athletes have a chance of winning. In effect they are covering the Americans...not the Games.

I haven't seen much (only one television out here on ship), only a few events here and there, but from what I've seen the criticism is completely true & justified.

nowadays, sport are made to show how arrogant a country is...by boasting it's powerful athlete....me myself hate an event such as olympics....but because i take sport science...i have to...

[Awinnell]

Is the NBC coverage as bad as a lot of people are saying ?

One of the criticisms I've heard is that NBC is only giving coverage to sports that US athletes have a chance of winning. In effect they are covering the Americans...not the Games.

I haven't seen much (only one television out here on ship), only a few events here and there, but from what I've seen the criticism is completely true & justified.

You can understand a certain amount of home team bias,everybody does that,but surely the competition is what is important,how can you tell how good your team is if you don't get to see the opposition ?

[Kiskaloo]

Is the NBC coverage as bad as a lot of people are saying ?

One of the criticisms I've heard is that NBC is only giving coverage to sports that US athletes have a chance of winning. In effect they are covering the Americans...not the Games.

NBC has I believe five channels carrying The Games: NBC, NBC Sports, MSNBC, one channel that only covers Olympic Boxing and one channel that only covers Olympic Soccer. There have also been some events on BRAVO.

I've DVR'd over 100 hours of coverage so far and I have seen plenty of events that the US had no real chance in. I've also been able to follow plenty of events in many sports between other country's teams and athletes.

The main gripes I have heard is how NBC handles their prime time coverage of major events to keep the outcome unknown, even though those events happened much earlier in London. During the Team Gymnastics Gold Medal Event, one of the Russians crashed and burned, so the American women were guaranteed the Gold. NBC, however, edited that out and also refused to show the Russian scores (since you could add them up and know the Russians didn't have enough points). This hasn't always gone to plan, however - just before NBC televised the 800 m freestyle, they ran a commercial for The Today Show that spoiled Katie Ledecky's gold medal in the event.

[Entropy]

I find myself frustrated sometimes with the NBC coverage as well, although I don't think it's been "bad" because I don't think it could be done that much better. Sure, I may love watching fencing or shooting sports more than volleyball and water polo, but NBC doesn't know that and even if it did their broadcasting doesn't revolve around me. Although I do see them playing a lot of volleyball in particular.

But I also have 6 different HD channels to watch the Olympics on, 2 of them dedicated to nothing but Soccer and Basketball respectively. There's also the time difference to contend with, which while annoying is much better than it was for the Beijing broadcast. I suppose a valid criticism can be made that they should be showing more non-US medal matches, but they usually have to choose between showing a full replay of a medal match the US is not competing in or showing a live match of an event the US is competing in.

There's just a metric crapton of events and most people are either asleep or driving to work when a lot of them are going on... so they do the best they can, I think. But they should cut it out with volleyball. The women aren't THAT good-looking.

It's also why I like watching the Winter games perhaps more than the summer, because there's less events you can follow each event more closely and watch a strong majority of the medal competitions, and watch events like Biathlon that probably wouldn't be covered if there were 20 other events going on at the same time. And Curling isn't really all the boring once you get the gist of it.

[Kiskaloo]

But they should cut it out with volleyball. The women aren't THAT good-looking.

Yes they have shown a ton of Women's Beach and normal volleyball (switching between US vs. CZE on Beach and ITA vs. RUS on Court right now ), but the South Korean court team is pretty cute and their Captain has a hell of an arm.

[Awinnell]

The BBC has 24 HD and Some 3D channels dedicated to the Olympics, they are showing every sport and every heat of those sports,they are also streaming it all as well !

[Kiskaloo]

The BBC has 24 HD and Some 3D channels dedicated to the Olympics, they are showing every sport and every heat of those sports,they are also streaming it all as well !

It no doubt helps that the BBC is funded by license fee payers, not advertisers.

NBC does have one 3D HD channel.

[Kiskaloo]

Women's Soccer Semifinals

Spoiler:

[Entropy]

Women's Soccer Semifinals

Spoiler:

That US v. Canada match was absolutely amazing, sure to become a classic. The only thing that would outdo it is another epic between US and Japan for the gold.

[Three Dog]

Ya'll hear? Australia doubled its Gold medal tally overnight!

Spoiler:

[Alfisti]

Ya'll hear? Australia doubled its Gold medal tally overnight!

Spoiler:

Yeah, we've been having an pretty attrocious run...

...however, this Gold was in the Sailing, which makes me all kinds of happy. Double bonus, it was in the Laser class. I learned to sail dinghys on a Laser 2 (same hull, but with room for an extra person and about triple the sail area), so yeah: happy about that.

[Kiskaloo]

But they should cut it out with volleyball. The women aren't THAT good-looking.

The quaterfinal Women's matches today between Japan vs. China and Russia vs. Brazil were pretty amazing, even if the US vs. Dominican Republic wasn't.

And the US is guaranteed the Gold and Silver in Women's Beach Volleyball as Kessy/Ross defeat Franca/Silva of Brazil to play May-Treanor/Walsh in the Gold Medal round.

The US vs. Australia Women's Water Polo match was a good one, as well.

[Kiskaloo]

Women's Soccer

Spoiler:

[Kiskaloo]

One can probably understand the pressure an athlete has to perform well for their nation. Even more so for the British in front of their home crowd.

But spare a thought for the South Korean male athletes. Those who win a medal are exempted from the 21-month compulsory military service term and those who do not will probably end up on the DMZ as they are considered "traitors" to the country by the head of the South Korean Olympic Committee.

Makes one pine to be on the Chinese team, eh?

[Awinnell]

if it's like that in the South, whats going to happen to the athletes from the North ?

[Entropy]

if it's like that in the South, whats going to happen to the athletes from the North ?

They'll be hailed as champions of the world, because no one loses in Best Korea!

[Kiskaloo]

Women's Basketball

Spoiler:

[Awinnell]

if it's like that in the South, whats going to happen to the athletes from the North ?

They'll be hailed as champions of the world, because no one loses in Best Korea!

Don't you mean Naughty Korea ?

[Kiskaloo]

Starting the Closing Ceremonies now and I'm sure Allison is pulling her hair out.

I could see Kara driving the Phantom, though she'd be mortified by it being covered in newsprint.

Kara: "It's like driving a quarter-million pound Fish & Chips shop!"

And they should have rolled the Reliant Robin.

[Awinnell]

Closing ceremony had it all,solemn pomp,and a lot of fun with The Who classics and Eric Idle singing 'Always look on the bright side of life !' for those who didn't do as well as they wished !

[Kiskaloo]

The Closing Ceremonies were indeed excellent - best since at least Sydney 2000. The LED displays in the stands were really cool and as opposed to Beijing, I could understand the music.

[Kiskaloo]

So...watching the games, was there any sport that you saw that you think might be something of interest to your cyborg?

I found the Olympic Round Archery tournaments to be really cool and with Kara's interest in Japanese martial arts (thanks to Michele), I was thinking maybe she might try out Kyūdō and perhaps even Yabusame (mounted archery) after watching the character of Sawa Okita on Tari Tari, though I'd have to get her on a horse, first.

Kara: "I do have a closet full of riding boots!"

[Robert Frazer]

I'm afraid that I've missed the Olympics completely - I've been kept too busy to follow it! The closest I've got is checking the medal table while waiting for a flight to come in... and watching some of the hockey when I was ordering a pizza (my transfer-day treat) at the kebab shop.

Rugby is Avise's game - despite his pride in being a good Italian, he doesn't care at all for soccer because he considers the professional sport to be as bent as a used paperclip. He redresses this imbalance in his National Obligations by watching the Women's Volleyball... seriously though, I imagine that he'd watch many of the team sports to see how they interact, and as he bikes himself (the Bersaglieri were once bicycle troops!) he would follow the circuit racing in the velodrome and wish he could have that sheer strength. He might want to cut down on his Marlboros, then, but that's another battle.

One of Agapita's specialties is supposed to be her mortar (she will be using it in her next story, in an actual operational role, I promise) so I imagine that she'd like field sports such as the javelin, admiring the graceful floating crest of the arcs and the final breathless rush down to the ground. I think that she also might enjoy fencing - a cyborg with her heightened reactions can appreciate the whicker-fast rounds all the more, and she might be impressed by the exaction of the technique and the glimmering silver of the foils.

[Alfisti]

So...watching the games, was there any sport that you saw that you think might be something of interest to your cyborg?

I don't think J+M would have a particular interest in the Games. Jethro may take a bit more notice this time around since they were being hosted in London, and he'd probably catch a bit given the opportunity, even if it was just so he could talk about if need be. He'd be keen on anything Britain happened to be winning at the time, but otherwise it would fall into being part of his general interest in everything.

Monty would most likely be apathetic: she doesn't hate them, but she doesn't really care either. If they were on TV she might watch if she had nothing better to do. Some sports she may take more interest in if they were on: sailing, or the equestrian events for example, but more from a "things I can learn" rather than a "I'm being entertained" perspective.

[Kurosaka "Ery" Erika]

following the Olympics is like you're not sleeping in my country...have to stay awake so you can watch it...while archery is disappointing for my country, i'd rather find shooting more fun( i don't care who's the winner..)

[Professor Voodoo]

So...watching the games, was there any sport that you saw that you think might be something of interest to your cyborg?

One might assume the swimming events would appeal to Marisa, but she'd probably scoff at the athletes' need to surface and breathe. Until the IOC awards medals for the 100m fully submerged freestyle I don't think you'll see her at the try-outs.

Ditto with the diving events. If she watched she'd come away extremely disappointed that not one athlete did a canonball.

I caught the finals of Womens' & Mens' BMX...now that would thrill Marisa. Speed and bar-banging close competition, all in an intense 30 second dose, she'd love it, even if she's never ridden a bicycle in her life.

[Kurosaka "Ery" Erika]

if my oc joined the olympics....

Yuki: Shooting Air rifle, terribly making a hole in the center target
Sherry: long jump, exceed the jumping zone, breaking her leg
Ai: Ping Pong, she would make other player catch their breath..
Victoria Malashenko: Boxing, putting other boxer under coma state

****
Rico: how's your day in olympic?
Yuki, Sherry, Victoria, Ai:

Claes: i heard the news that the london olympics game has been suspended from excessive damage...i hope it was not all of you....

Henrietta:

[Il Direttore]

Caterina would definitely be doing gymnastics. That's pretty much her bread and butter during an op, after all. I really need to write more about her doing back flips and parallel-bars-type-stunts than I have....

James doesn't care all that much, but he would have probably watched the soccer, basketball, and volleyball finals. They're much more physical, in terms of mano a mano toughness.

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