The Olympics

[Eracer]

Is it just me, or are these Olympics about as compelling as watching your neighbor mow his lawn? Bode makes big bucks hawking himself to the media hounds, then what? A 20yo kid who doesn't know what a barber shop looks like (dude) on a freakin' snowboard? A US men's hockey team, made up of some of the greatest players in the world (supposedly) ties LATVIA!?

CURLING !!!! Sorry Canucks, but it's not exactly the most thrilling of competitions, is it? What's next, shuffleboard? Chess? The Olympics is supposed to be an ATHLETIC event.

Maybe I'm just getting jaded. Maybe I'm sick of an amateur sporting event that has become an advertisment honeypot for a few lucky professionals. Maybe I'm becoming Andy Rooney.

Or, maybe most of the events are just inherently boring. Yeah, we've got luge, and speed skating, and downhill. But we need another Franz Klammer, another Jamaican bobsled team; something to be interested in. Someone that doesn't view a Gold Medal as something that will help him "score chicks" (Shaun White actually said this in an interview). Please.

I think the only good thing coming coming out of these games is a healthy (and much needed) infusion of national pride for the host country. Italy has won Gold, and has contested well in many events. And I've read nothing but glowing praise for the way Torino has prepared and executed the games.

Other than that, who cares?

[SiberianDVM]

Sasha Cohen. Yum.

[tdaniels]

There have been some incredible wipe-outs!!!! Several on the downhill competition and a few more on the luge. Very cool to see considering both of these events move faster than 70 MPH.

But I still cant make myself sit and watch, just gotta catch the good stuff on ESPN later.

[SiberianDVM]

Tatyana Totmiyanina. Yum

[Silver]

Hey, curling's a sport.

It's actually really hard, I've only gone about a half dozen times in the past couple of years, but it was way more challenging than I thought it'd be.

My legs were tired, my arms were tired, my back was a bit sore, and I had blisters!

But it was fun!

[Loop]

Other than that, who cares?

You're right.
Who cares about someone who whines about something he doesn't actually know?
Are you implying that Latvia sucks? What about Tchekoslovakia? Or Finland? Or Sweden. Do these country suck in Hockey? Do those northern country play lots of hockey?
Sorry for being slightly sarcastic here, but the loss of the appeal may be because you're not interested into sports you're not too familiar with. If you don't like figure skating, and curling and cross country skiing, would you caracterize the Olympics as boring? I bet you would.
Is golf athletic? No. What would you think if it goes as an olympic summer game, would you applaud it, or just plain hate it?
Remember it's Olympic game. The roots of it may be athletic, but it has evolved in the modern times as something more broad.

[Eracer]

That's OK Loop, I like a little sarcasm with my morning coffee. At least it shows you're awake. Of course, you missed the point. I was not whining, and tried to have at least a modicum of satire in my post. It was an offer for discussion, as these threads are supposed to be (?????) Or perhaps I'm being arrogant in thinking that as well, eh? I certainly didn't expect to be insulted. Or did I misunderstand what you wrote: "...who cares about someone who whines about something he doesn't actually know?"

Does Latvia have a good hockey team? These are PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY PLAYERS in an AMATEUR competition. Forgive the liberal use of caps here, but i feel this urge to r-e-i-t-e-r-a-t-e things so that perhaps my meaning (as apparently cloudy as it was in the first post) BECOMES MORE CLEAR. Is this the NFL? Are we trying to achieve parity here? Shouldn't countries field teams made up of their best amateur athletes? Of course Finland and Sweden have good teams. They have quite a few players in the NHL. Who also play in the Olympics.

Are curling and cross country skiing interesting spectator sports? Give me a break. At least skiing is an athletic event. Sorry, but you're way off base when you suggest that the Olympics should not be considered an athletic event. That is what it is, and what it should be. You want sports in the Olympics? How about darts? Or bass fishing?

Golf is enjoying a tremendous upsurge in popularity among new players, even as it's TV ratings plummet. There's a reason for that. Most people simply don't like watching golf on TV. It's the same reason that golf should not be an Olympic sport - I mean, "game". It simply is not a compelling athletic competition.

You say the Olympics have "evolved" into something broader. Perhaps. But perhaps that evolution is just Intelligent Design. An equally pathetic attempt to turn a venerable tradition into a series of pop-culture media bites. Sorry - mixed metaphors. Troubling, I know.

Yes, yes - these Olympics do have some drama, tradition, excellence. All is not lost. And I watched curling. I think it's an interesting GAME, and used to watch it when I was a kid in Wisconsin. But do these games hold my interest? Do I have the excitement I once felt for them? Absolutely not. And if it's because I don't "understand them", even though I've been watching them for decades, then so be it. I don't understand a lot of things that I have interest in.

You see compelling sporting events. I see a vacation travelogue. Enjoy the games.

[SiberianDVM]

Cassie & Jamie Johnson. Sisters. Double yum.

[Loop]

Of course most people don't watch golf on TV, since most people don't play golf. And just a reasonable guess, I do think that most of us here on the board watch golf on TV. It's certainly not boring, well not for me.
But, I do not have any source to back my guess, so I'd just like to see some evidence that TV ratings for golf plummets.

Sorry, but you're way off base when you suggest that the Olympics should not be considered an athletic event.

Hmmm... Please tell me where in my previous post I suggested that the Olympics should not be considered an athletic event?

And since we're both sarcastic (at least that's something we have in common ), I'm nostalgic like mad about the old times, how it was better and great and friendlier and so on. But people need to evolve and adapt with modern times, and that includes trashing tradition....
Because if I were to follow your thinking, then no other events other than the decathlon would be allowed in the Greek Olympian games...

BTW, I apologize if I insulted you, as it wasn't my intention. But sarcasm has it charms you know....

[VtDivot]

FYI - for those who have not curled, if you are able to try it, you should. It is a fascinating and extremely difficult sport... more difficult than golf in my opinion.

While I'm not trying to insult anyone here, I'd say that curling appeals more to the meticulous and intelligent sports fan.

[Eracer]

It appears that my original post just didn't convey what it was that I was trying to say. Sigh...

I lament that there are more and more professionals competing in an amateur event.

I lament the inclusion of sporting events like curling that, while interesting, (I watched the entire USA-Swiss match last night and enjoyed it) just don't, in my opinion, belong in the Olympics (the same way ribbon dancing doesn't belong in the summer games - hot chicks, bad event...). Bass fishing is very difficult to master. And you want to talk tough, try ice-fishing. But they are not athletic events, and don't belong in the Olympics either.

I especially lament that the media does such a piss-poor job of showing us the games. The curling match last night is a perfect example. It seemed they went to a commercial after EVERY rock. Are there no other games going on? Could they have shown the Canada-Finland match that was happening thirty feet away? Golf on TV is the same. Shameless pandering to advertisers (who I lump in with developers and pet psychiatrists). It seems that there is a commercial after EVERY shot. How many players are on the course at any one time? Can't we see some golf, instead of "the latest in tampon technolgy"? I'm exaggerating of course, but it is getting much worse. And I know that television events like golf need advertising dollars to work. But how soon before one-fourth of your screen is devoted to the actual event, and the other three-quarters is a constant barrage of ads? It's gonna' happen, folks. Have you seen "Minority Report"? Personally addressed holographic ads bombard the populace any time they're in public. A sad prediction of the future, methinks.

Perhaps I am nostalgic and a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to an event with such a rich history. In 1936 we had Jesse Owens in Berlin. Seventy years later we have "The Flying Tomato" in Torino. What's next - The Flying Wallendas? Olympic taco eating?

Loop - here's the statistics for golf viewership.

Sunday network telecast average
(PGA Tour events only)
2000 (4.09)
2001 (4.50)
2002 (3.97)
2003 (3.76)
2004 (3.66)
2005 (3.53)

All viewership figures are in millions. Information furnished by Nielsen Media Research. The numbers go up somewhat if you include the majors, but the trend is the same - down.

As for how many PLAY?

"According to Sports Marketing Surveys, there are 61.1 million golfers
worldwide; 6.9 million in Europe, 13.6 million in Asia, 1.7 million in
Australasia, 1 million in South America and 500 000 in South Africa.
There are 37.1 million in the US alone."

So only about 10% of golfers in the US actually watch golf on TV. Wanna guess what the percentage of football players watching NFL games is? There's a reason for that.
By comparison - the average NY Yankees game on TV has between 8-10 million viewers.

The Olympics (again, my opinion - and I respect yours) are held every four years with the purpose of pitting the world's best athletes against each other, with individual and national honors bestowed upon the winners. It is still that. I just perceive it becoming less of that, and less interesting because of it.

Ring in if you want - I'm interested in your opinions. I've ranted enough.

And Loop - no worries, man.

[VtDivot]

Luckily for us living so close to the Canadian border, we get a CBC feed and have been watching live coverage of the games. It has been excellent. CBC also shows replays in prime time also.

[SiberianDVM]

Tanith Belbin. A Canadian import. Yum.

[Farquod]

You want sports in the Olympics? How about darts? Or bass fishing?

You know, I was working out this AM and was surfing the stations and saw the BASS Masters Classic on ESPN. OK, so I fish a little, and still watch snippets of this stuff, so I stuck around for a minute or 3. Then I heard the funniest comment of the day (hey, I don't get out much...)

"Yep, you know, with (some old bass pro) retiring, it's gonna leave a mighty big hole in tournament bass fishing. Makes you understand the need for a senior circuit."

Talk about a sport. Guess some guys just can't use that flippin' stick like they used to...

[What'saScore]

FARQUOD Better be careful the way you talk about how old guys use their flippin stick. Some of them can flip their stick with any of the young bucks out there.

On the subject of the Olympics I think that a large part of the way people forge their opinions of the olympics is by the TV coverage they get. NBC's coverage absolutely sucks. There are probably better than 50 downhill ski racers, and we see maybe 6-10 of them. NBC has 6 channels, (network and cable combined), involved in their Olympic coverage. During the day on Saturday and Sunday, most of them are showing infomercials so people are forced to watch what NBC thinks are the "premier" sports on the main feed. If the sport doesn't have a prominent USA participant, it virtually gets ignored. It HAS turned into a large corporate marketing scheme, rather than good coverage of competition.
As far as the actual events, I like just about all of them, with the one big exception of figure skating. Watching the skaters perform is ok, but most of the music they skate to is horrendous doomsday music. The judging is an absolute joke. As far as I am concerned, if you can't score it with a clock or a difinitive scoring mechanism, (goals, strokes, etc.), it doesn't belong in the Olympics.
I have to weigh in on curling. I will tell you up front that I am a bit prejudiced because my oldest son worked for the skipper of the mens team at one of his pizza joints. I have found it to be quite interesting to watch, and the more I watch it, the more I understand the strategies, which makes it much more interesting. My wife is now trying to arrange for an outing with her Girl Scout troop to give it a try, because of the coverage we have seen. I think it would be a real gas to try it.
I used to absolutely HATE golf on TV, until I started playing. Now I understand the complexities of the game, and can better appreciate how good the pros are and what they are actually accomplishing. I have seen at least 1 day of every televised event so far this year. When it's 15 below zero, with a 50 below windchill outside, watching the Olympics on TV gets a whole lot more apealing.