Author |
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 10:17 am
I enjoy the Olympics but I'm always astonished at how little coverage there is of the actual sporting events (especially in prime time coverage on the U.S. channels). I had it recorded and was watching it slightly delayed and we forwarded through huge wads of stuff just to see some of the events. All sorts of fluff and talking and commercials.
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 10:58 am
I agree there has been a lot of fluff but I am enjoying some of the Olympic inspired commercials. 
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Msbullwnkl
Member
08-16-2005
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 11:13 am
Jimmer- So did we. I wish we would get more of the competitions, less fluff. For example: I only need to hear about Dara Torres once, not every night. Yes, what she has done is amazing, don't think I am trying to not acknowlege it. However, if we are going to hear fluff, how about more on the stories like the swimmer who learned to swim 9 months earlier from the last Olympics. Those are the stories of the Olympics I would like to hear more of!
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Chaplin
Member
01-08-2006
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 11:20 am
Not to mention as usual NBC is butchering names all over the place!!!!!!!!! They pronounced one of Canada's female swimmers whose last name is Le Croix as Lee Croy. Ouch! I hate NBC's coverage and try not to watch it at all if I can. I was watching it last night as CBC took an hour off for the news. I watch the CBC coverage as much as possible. Our commentators all do their homework and know when not to say something just to fill airspace with babble. They fill it with intelligent facts, figures, history and insight. They also do not just focus on the US Athletes, but try and highlight as much International coverage of athletes as possible. I am not sure why NBC showed more of the Chinese gymnasts than the American however, they may have focused on them because that is the team the US men have to beat and they wanted to stress that. I guess they just did not go about it well. CBC screwed up too by not showing as much of our Canadian Men's team and focused more on the others teams. Our team did not qualify for the next round in the Top Eight as they finished Ninth so our Men's Gold Medalist who battled back from a horrific injury in nine months will not be able to defend his medal which is sad as he also did not qualify in any individual events unless some other gymnast gets injured as he qualified as an alternate in two events. Oh did anyone see the interview NBC screwed up with Bela Karolyi the gymnastic coach? They did not bother to mike him so you could not hear his answers!!!!!! That had to be one of the biggest blunders of all time. So the commentator had to share his mike with Bela. NBC shows way too many ads because heck that pays the bills and they care more about the money. I must admit CBC shows way more ads also in their Olympic coverage. I miss the days when ABC covered the Olympics and especially Jim McKay. At least I noticed when flipping back and forth the other night to NBC they did a quick tribute to Jim McKay. That was classy so I give them kudos for that since it was Jim McKay who tirelessly broadcasted during the whole night and next few days with almost no sleep in Munich when the 2 Israeli Athletes were murdered and 9 were kidnapped.
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Stormie
Member
03-01-2007
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 11:30 am
Some pics of the athletes from the opening ceremonies.

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Kearie
Member
07-21-2005
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 12:22 pm
My daughter called me this morning and we talked about gymnastics scoring. She was a competitive gymnast for several years. This system is much more fair. If you were trying a new, more difficult skill, but you made some errors...it could be more detrimental to your score, than had you not done it at all. This took away from working for those harder skills because it could really cost you. Now you get credit for doing the harder skills...even if you don't execute perfectly. It will take a while to get used to, but it is much better for the athletes.
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Egbok
Member
07-13-2000
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 12:30 pm
NBC ended its Open Ceremonies coverage by dedicating the opening ceremony broadcast to Jim McKay. IMHO, it was a lovely tribute.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 12:33 pm
It's hard when you are dealing with subjectively judged sports like gymnastics and figure skating as opposed to other sports that are based on objective measurements. Now I know that the judges theoretically should be objective but it has to be hard, particularly when trying to compare someone who completes a simpler skill perfectly vs. someone who attempts a more difficult skill but does it less perfectly. I'm sorry I missed the tribute to Jim McKay. I used to love his sports coverage. Love the pictures, Stormie!
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 12:47 pm
thx for the info, I never found it before I left for church. Maybe they will have highlights later tonite
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Stormie
Member
03-01-2007
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 12:48 pm
Having professional athletes in the Olympics still seems different to me, I don't even know when or why they changed it, but it doesn't have the same feel as non-professional athletes. I don't know. Anyhoo, here's some articles. Article Aug 10, 2008: US beats China 101-70 in Olympic opener (Men's team) http://www.usabasketball.com/ Article Aug 10, 2008: Sadness tinges U.S. volleyball team's victory (Men's team) http://www.usavolleyball.org/ Bachman's Website

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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 1:01 pm
I too wish we could see more of the actual events, I know they like to do the feel good stories, but i want to watch the sports. LMAO, I am watching some sort of commercial with sumo wrestlers, it looks hysterical, OMG it is a laptop commerical, I thought it was going to be United since the summo wrestlers flew away, LOL.
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Vacanick
Member
07-12-2004
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 1:14 pm
Stormie ... thank you for posting all the pictures. Especially Bob Bachman's pic & information ... so sad. I like the commercial where the dalmation is training the Clydsdale. So cute!
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 1:48 pm
I feel like I'm seeing a lot of coverage of events, moreso than in previous years, so I'm pretty happy. Maybe it differs by area? Pamy, this was just the first game. USA's Redeem Team has 3 more games this week. I just thought it was esp fun to see them play China, but apparently the big game is against Japan if I'm not mistaken.
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Stormie
Member
03-01-2007
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 1:55 pm
Article Aug 10, 2008: Slow to awaken, U.S. women romp Article Aug 10, 2008: U.S. women's basketball team gets ready for China -- on and off the court USA Team Cappie Pondexter (r)
This site has the US Olympic Team's athletes listed with their event, a profile and some pics for each. http://teamusa.org/athlete/usoc_athletes TU & YW
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 2:10 pm
Has anyone ever checked out the "streaming coverage" NBC mentions on its site, I haven't. Is it just video, or can you get other sports coverage?
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 3:01 pm
Thx Kar, I will ck the site and see when the next game is.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 4:11 pm
Next, have they shown the womens gymnastics stuff on the east coast? any heads up on how the USA and Chinese women do? I am interested in the other teams as well, but these are the only two I know are competing tonight.
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Chaplin
Member
01-08-2006
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 5:44 pm
They are showing it now although President Bush is being interviewed on NBC at the moment in between the Gymnastics.....They have shown the Parallel Bars and the Floor for the American women. I do not want to spoil it for those who have yet to watch the Gymnastics.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 6:22 pm
Chaplin, that is the reason I asked, I want to know how everyone does so that I don't worry while I am watching, LOL. It is okay to post the information after it shows on the the east coast.
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Ketchuplover
Member
08-30-2000
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 6:22 pm
I groaned when Chelsie fell. I hope she stays in gymnastics.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 6:27 pm
It is okay to post the information when it happens.
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Chaplin
Member
01-08-2006
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 6:46 pm
Dipo they only put in 4 American girls on most of the events as one of the gals had a last minute ankle injury in warm up. It was news to her Mom who was sitting in the stands and expecting her to compete. So on the floor, beam and the vault they used all 4 scores because there was no scores they could throw out. Then on the bars they decided to allow the other two to compete with their ankle injuries. So they came in just under the Chinese in second place. Good news was Shawn Johnson did very well and was beautiful to watch!
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 7:06 pm
Shawn is amazing.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 7:38 pm
Nastia fell on her landing on her bars routine. The USA girls huddled together to give each other a good pep talk. The coaches left to presumedly give them their space. Too bad the media didn't do the same. I think it was a huge invasion on what should have been a private team moment. If Chellsie hadn't fallen on her bars routine, she'd have easily been in the event finals for bars. 
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Sunday, August 10, 2008 - 7:40 pm
Thanks Chaplin! The Chinese just started with the floor exercises, and I swear that young woman looked all of 10 years old, is there a minimum age limit for them? ETA: They musst have had questions, since they just announced that they have to be 16.
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