NBC and the Winter Olympics
 

Anyone else think the Olympic committee should look at more than just income in the bids for Olympic coverage? How about a commitment to hours broadcast? Variety of games shown?

It is a complete fiasco and diservice to the games that I come home from work and there is 0 coverage on until 8PM. That there is only one channel with coverage and they primarily show highlights throughout the evening. Other countries active in the games can't possibly have this little available to them.

NBC has fallen so far from the Friends/Sienfeld era it amazing. Now they don't even bother to give us decent coverage of the Olympics. Seriously. You don't need expensive sets, expensive corespondents, just send out some camera crews and broadcast the damn games. Like F1 you don't need people on the spot just voice the commentary in a studio. Damn. How expensive could that be. Your telling me MSN's ratings wouldn't be higher if they covered the Olympics 24/7 instead of rehashing news all day?

Sucks.

I agree, coverage is weak. But you have to remember this is America, everything is declining.

It's not fair, I'm entitled to everything for free.

I can't watch simply because of Bob Costas.
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i've been thinking this very thing.

My wife screams at the TV every night. All of the studio commentators look like they got dressed at Goodwill. Burnt orange jacket, blue shirt with a purple striped tie? Are they friggin color blind?

you guysssss keep the politics talk in the hustler car trapped thread.


NBC used to use 3-5 various cable channels to broadcast everything. what happened?

In the grand scheme, most people don't even care about the Winter games. Its all about Summer games. Summer coverage is WAY larger than Winter

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There's an "Olympic Winter Games" catagory.

I use this site to watch all the polish soccer games and boxing matches. Looks like they'll have a bunch of the games on later today when they actually happen. You may need to download and install some of the programs needed to view them though like Sopcast. All the programs that are needed can be found in the "software" tab.

Enjoy.

every time i turn on the winter games it's moguls, figure skating or distance skating shit. I wanna see people die on the luge.

I watched the snowboard thing where there were like 4 guys racing, was pretty cool. Ever since the winter x games were started no one cares about the winter olympics. The olympics tries to bring in some of those events, but they still fail.

Good winter Olympics coverage on BBC2.

Try :
BBC - BBC Two - Watch Live

If it gives you guff for being outside the uk, bounce off a uk proxy server, see here :
how to get bbc iplayer to work outside UK? - ScoobyNet

Typical :brain: .

I like how he floated nascar-style over the barrier before fatal impact. I can't believe they showed that shit on the news lol.

Just saw that and wow.

I can't believe they didn't have a bunch of plexiglass barriers to keep something like that from happening.

I agree. I think whomever is organizing the entire thing sucks ass. Just yesterday wasn't the ice on the speed skating rink bad and the races had to be postponed for an hour and a half? That luge track is so slow and boring to watch now.

I also liked how, after they changed the luge track configuration, the commentators found it necessary to ask, after every single run, "So, with the shorter track, is it harder to make up time after the start?" "Why, yes, yes it is -- you bring up a good point."

IT'S NOT A GOOD POINT. IT WAS A GOOD POINT WHEN YOU MADE IT 20 MINUTES AGO. I DON'T NEED TO BE REMINDED EVERY SINGLE TIME SOMEONE GOES DOWN THE TRACK.

^Bingo.

I loved the commentator regarding the incident too:

"Common sense would have people asking 'why are'nt those pillars padded'?

Yeah, because a few inches of padding will certanly save a person who is flying in there at 90MPH. Just the other day I hit a light pole doing 90, good thing it was padded. Saved my life. Morons.

Plexiglass is the solution. It won't block the cameras, if its placed right the guy probably would have broken a leg and no more. It would be maybe 10K to do it right in that spot.

And why the fuck do they need about a dozen huge steel beams closely spaced right there anyway? Seriously, are they holding a high-rise building up right over the finish of the track? Those beams can each hold up a 2 story house no problem.

And on top of all those points, they have the audacity to blame the accident on the luger. Yes, he took the turn too high, but when should an accident in the Olympics ever get far enough to result in a death? They track was not designed properly, period.

Wow you guys are bitchy!!!

If any of you can find the snowboard cross or ski cross events online, they are awesome to watch. It's like roller derby down a mountain! Lots of carnage and superness.

My favorite moment so far was the Korean short track skater taking himself and the other Korean off the podium on the last turn...and he nearly took the lead skater, another Korean, out too.

What do you think is going to happen to him when he gets back to Korea?

Well the guy was a terrible luger anyways, he had yet to make it down the track all week without crashing. He was a accident waiting to happen, he shouldn't have been at the Olympics at all.

What is even more pathetic is his other country men withdrew after the crash. What a Vagina. The least he could do is compete in honor of his dead brotheren.

Do you think there is a single Luger that doesn't realize death is a possibility when they compete?!? I imagine everyone here doing HPDE, wheel to wheel racing, time trials, etc all realize that bad things can happen. We don't plan on dying but it is inherently dangerous. That is part of why we do it. No one, to my knowledge, said before the incident - "gee, we should block off those poles". You can die stepping into the bathtub and slipping. You sure as hell can die doing 90mph in a partial ice tube on a glorified radio flyer sled.

I'd believe every country with a significant presence at the games, has better coverage than the we get in the USA. NBC has Cnbc, MSnbc, SciFi, Bravo, Universal and USA they could be putting coverage on. Other than USA, you can't convince me Olympics coverage wouldn't pull more viewers in than regular programming on those channels.

Wow, the Olympics have actually started? All I've seen are heartwarming stories of the athletes, and how they got started in their sport.

I refuse to watch this horrible shit.

Summer sucks too, if you don't care about swimming, that is. Want to watch people try to stab each other? Sucks for you then because you won't find fencing on at all, just some 13 year olds jumping and dancing and twirling batons.

Yes, there is some danger inherent to motorsports and shit can happen at track days. But that doesn't relieve track owners of their responsibility to maintain a safe facility, or at least to not expose drivers to more danger than can be reasonably reduced with some intelligent planning. I have become accustomed to seeing gravel traps and tire walls strategically placed around the tracks I visit, rather than bare concrete slabs placed two feet off the track at the end of a long straight.

The dead luger may not have been one of the world's best, but he would not have been the only one to go off there if they continued with the same configuration. There was not enough of a wall/roof (luger's "runoff room" if you will) on the high side of that turn to contain people that get a little high on the banking. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but engineers are supposed to use math so hindsight doesn't come into play.

I do worry about safety at these games. I was surprised at the fencing used in the downhill.
Most world cup class events use A netting (30 high, suspended by booms) and then several rows of B netting (6-8 foot high orange fencing).

The B fencing is designed to give, slowing the athlete down before they hit A netting.

At these Olympics, the mens course only had B fencing - in some places several rows of it. It is conceivable that an athlete could crash and clear the low B fencing, ending up in the trees.

The good news is nobody did, but it was not an impressive safety setup.

I was also surprised to read that the guy who won the downhill has his Dad setting the slalom course for the combined. How is that fair?

I've been trying to catch some, but have only managed to stumble upon a few hours of short track skating and sledding, a ski run or two. I was actually kind of looking forward to seeing some Olympics. Surely isn't anything else on TV. Coverage is a joke. Sad considering they didn't have to travel across the world, it's in southwest Canada for god sake.

Snow Cross....that shit was sweet.

And by the late 50s the politicians in this country were making noises about banning racing because of the complete lack of safety. The European political shitstorm after the 55 Lemans disaster (about 100 killed when a lot of the guts of a Merc went into a crowd) was incredible.

Point being, if they had proper safety layouts in place, the lugers would not have to use the kiddie course right now and the sport would be better off. Not to mention that guy would have lived to become a better luger.

I know its a PITA, but safety regs are the only reason racing survives anymore. So idiots who put steel girders right after a tricky high speed bend with inadequate barriers kinda make me shake my head.

The example mentined above is a good one. The fact that it is inherently dangerous is exactly the reason why they shuld pull their heads out.

Hindsight is 20/20, but it does not take an MIT grad to see that the ayout was just maybe a bad idea. They have people who are very well paid to figure this stuff out. Shoot, we have thousands of out-of-work engineers who would love to figure this out right now.

So they've been showing Olympics on CNBC when I get home. Last two nights from 6:30 to 9:00 pm what have they shown? Womens hockey. China vs. Ukrainaslavia and some country vs some other country. 3 hours, during semi prime time, of unwatchable no-contact hockey from countries we could care less about.

I guess they want to be able to say they were covering the games. NBC will point to the piss poor ratings and say no one watches the olympics. Total bullshit. No one watches womens friggin hockey! No one wants to watch Norswederland beat China 14 to 2.

Asses.

^ +1 to that. I was just getting on to bitch about the same thing. I've been working some crazy hours lately and it's killing me that I've been missing it. I get home all excited, now I've got my choice between curling and hockey. Is there someone who is actively trying to pick out the most boring events to put on tv? Give me some downhill skiing, speed skating, snow boarding, shit even figure skating would be better than this crap.

It better be some damned good coverage tonight...not happy that Parks and Rec and The Office aren't on.

I'd much rather see curling than womens hockey. If I want to see no-checking hockey I can go down to my local rink and watch a pick up game or B-league play.

DVR FTW. I have been watching the coverage a lot this week (DVR delayed) mostly due to being sick and trying to stave off home-bound boredom. I end up fast-forwarding through a lot more than just the commercials.

FTW:
Biathalon - Cool combo/balance between shooting and skiing. Ski too fast, too winded to shoot accurately, lose time anyway. Ski too slow, shooting is better, but you still lose for being too slow. LOL at the Chinese coach/spotter using a Zeiss spotting scope to check the Chinese woman competitor's shooting. EDIT: Well even Zeiss makes stuff in China now (http://www.photonics.com/Article.aspx?AID=19430)
Alpine Downhill - Awesome speed, awesome air, awesome skill.
Stephen Colbert - Mocked the whole thing Colbert style during his Costas interview and then at the end climbed completely inside of the fake fireplace in the backdrop to 'warm himself'.

FTL
Figure skating - Just don't get it, at least not to the point where I wish I could do it. The female skaters have great bodies though and wear tastefully skimpy clothing.
Curling - rhymes with hurling, enough said. Why isn't shuffleboard a televised summer olympic sport?

Attention fahgsss! Men'sss figure ssskating is on tonight!


Rhinestones FTL. I wonder if Will Farrell to show up.

It would be more interesting if they were drunk and had to navigate a course with chicanes or something.

And there should be steep downhill sections too.

And the biathaloners should be able to shoot at them too.

Switzerland v Canada hockey is on CNBC right now...

Skeleton was run today according to the schedule. NBC is supposed to show it late night tonight.

This just in. The women in skeleton are hotter than the ones in luge. Not saying much, but attractive athletic women who like to haul ass head first against the clock = good TV.

This was a funny I found on Yahoo this morning.

Are You Stupid?

They are reporters, so yes, they are stupid. And they are typically arrogant as well.

Now that was a great game! I dont mind rooting for the Cannucks in the Olympics.

And it was immediately followed by the highlight of the week for me. China VS Russia womens hockey. :facepalm:

Guess fucking what everyone!

The US/Can Hockey game is on Sun night! Cool!

Its just on MSNBC while ice dancing is on the main NBC channel. Fucking hell. Idiots like me who save money by not purchasing cable in a crap economy better find freinds or pony up the cash for the bar.

ahaha.

I been watching a lot of coverage. CURLING is the shit. Morgan F-in Freeman commercials FTW.

It needs an element of significant risk of injury or death to the athletes. Like, if they had to fire the granite block thingies out of large slingshots at high speed. Then the opposing team sweepers were also allowed to be on the ice and redirect the projectile's trajectory with the same broom thingies. Or better yet they can alter it by deflecting it with other granite blocks of their own that they have to set on the track by hand. Not to mention collisions with the granite blocks (and exploded block debris) from previous turns. Throw in some motorcycles with ice spike tires riding around the edge of the playing field to accelerate the sweepers into the path of the projectiles. Rollerball comes to Curling. Rollercurling. Now were talking. Hell I should write a screen play and send it to John Woo. Or maybe Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

^ Sounds exciting. I'd watch that movie! :laugh:

One of the NBC announcers calling the women's bobsled races is really, really annoying. He is trying far too hard to be dramatic and as a result sounds like an idiot.
"Bobsledding is like being shot out of a rocket" :rolleyes:
"4g of force in the turns, that is more than an astronaut feels during blastoff" :jerkit:

So I guess it's safe to say that Bobsledding is More rocket-like than actual rockets.

Wow! Sounds like you are getting screwed with coverage. I have so many options for coverage in Canada! We have about 4-5 networks carry different events and it is almost 24 hours a day.

GO CANADA GO - For HOCKEY! USA woke up our mens's team when they handed us the loss in round robin play. We came back and killed Germany and Russia. Slovakia is next for us!

Also we have the Women's USA vs Canada Gold Medal game tonite!

I tried to watch the Men's hockey quarters last night online... it was just a guy looking awkward in front of the camera for 5 minutes. I gave up.

Why didn't you watch it on TV?

OK so we were watching the socialists match on TV but I was curious how good the online video was...

My parents have DirecTV. I was at their place last week (Central time zone) and there were 4-5 channels during the day carrying the olympics. Not all day, but a good part of it. USA, MSNBC, the local NBC affiliate, and a couple others. So not sure if that's a DirecTV thing only, or what. Haven't really been able to check here with Comcast since I have to like work for a living during the day and stuff.

You'd think living in the Pacific time zone when the Olympics were also in the Pacific time zone (only 300 miles away) would be an advantage. But, noooo. Actually, fuck no! Evening coverage in Central started at 6pm Central. Doesn't start here until 8.

WTF?

You perv. Guys always look awkward in front of the camera. Move your peephole spycam over to the women's hockey quarters.