Some strange things about Olympics and its coverage by NBC:
1. Michael Phelps:
Eight golds? NBC and other media for that matter, give me a break! The guy didn't even get silver in 200 Freestyle. I didn't even hear one mention of the Dutch guy that beat him after the race. It's as if there were only two athletes competing. Nothing could be farther from the Olympic spirit. Also, what's with the turn of tone after the bronze? Suddenly, the media is listening to what the kid has to say.
2. Delayed coverage:
Like any intelligent American, I cannot stand any delay (and re-packaging) in broadcasting a game. Yeah, right, at 7PM CDT it's still "tonight" in Athens. It's so painful to watch poor Bob Costas pretending everything is happening live and there's no such thing as a time difference. Even worse, the ever innocent eyes of Bob Costas make it infinitely intolerable. Hello? Did you know that the earth is round???
These are my observations so far. More to come...
Posted by Shamu at August 18, 2004 04:42 PMI absolutely hated how people called that 200m freestyle "a showdown between Phelps and Thorpe" as if Van Den Hoogenband did not exist.
Gotta give Phelps props, though. He missed two gold medals, but he still has the chance to get eight medals, which will be a record high.
Posted by: Yan at August 19, 2004 12:42 PMNBc's Olympic coverage is terrible as usual. When I was a kid, ABC did a great job: the Olympics were on ALL DAY, EVERY DAY on the same channel. NBC thinks people will only watch if they create "heroes" like Phelps. If I hear his name again -- or see anymore swimming -- I'll lose my mind. It is odd. The 2000 Olympic coverage was even worse, but NBC learned almost nothing from all of the criticism they got at that time.
I think it is simple: 1) show everything LIVE (repeat it later if you want) 2) Show ALL of the sports, not just swimming and gymnastics. 3) Don't only show events which Americans win.
#3 is the worst part. As soon as a non-swimming event comes on, I know there must be an American in it who won something.
Posted by: 托的 at August 19, 2004 06:16 PMEnough. Let's all write to NBC and ask for a LIVE, NON-PHELPS and ALL-SPORTS Olympic game. I can stand to watch the delayed, edited, zero-audience game no more.
Posted by: shamu at August 19, 2004 07:42 PMBeing in China at the moment, I must say that there are striking similarities between Chinese and American coverage. I don't recall having heard one national anthem beside China's. So far the most coverage time seems to have been devoted to shooting, ping pong, badminton, diving and weighlifting.
One should probably go to Canada for better coverage.
Posted by: z at August 21, 2004 10:21 PMWell, at least in China they show the games live.
:-)
Posted by: z at August 22, 2004 09:33 PM