Winter Sports Thingie Stuff

[dr_nebula]

I've been *trying* to get into the spirit of the Winter Olympics - but without a huge amount of success. NBC's coverage has been less than spectacular and uneven - concentrating too much on 'American crap' and less on the games. I like the FAST and SKILL events - skiing, sledding (all types - but esp. the luge and skeleton), speed skating and ice

Comments

[crwilley]

I'd call it "uneven" - I was watching curling yesterday (they've got it on CNBC - won't help the cable-less Doctor...), and the announcers really had it together, one was offering insight into strategy, and they knew when to shut up. I wince every time the figure-skating announcers open their mouths, though. There seem to be a lot of commercials - and it's the same commercials, over and over and over - and it's a legitimate grouse that they're limiting access to their internet feed to not even "only cable subscribers", but "only subscribers of cable companies that have paid us for the privilege".

And it hurts me that they assume their audience knows so little about Canada, and hurts me even more that they're probably right.

One improvement over past years: I noticed a lot more willingness to "root for" the athletes at the top of their sport who weren't Americans - the Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer got covered pretty well, and the Chinese pair in figure skating was heavily promoted (at a bare minimum, because there was dramatic tension and a good story).

FWIW, all the sports you mentioned that you enjoy have gotten coverage - but I think it's the nature of the beast that in an attempt to cover everything (because for everyone complaining that they're interrupting the downhill skiing to show figure skating, there's someone complaining that they're interrupting the figure skating to show downhill skiing), they can't cover anything in too much depth.

[pkthunder]

I'll have to search down the listings on CNBC, because I do enjoy the curling.