Korean Television
I discovered Korean Television this weekend. No, I don't understand a word they are saying. But! They're showing Olympic coverage with NO commercials! Granted, they're showing just Korean athletes, BUT! it means I get to watch more than just swimming and gymnastics. I don't get HD channels, so all that the American stations show is Michael Phelps and Dawn Johnson. Phelps is damn good, he really is, but meh.
On the Korean channel though... I've gotten to watch: Men's Judo, Men's Air Pistol, Women's Archery (where the Korean team set a new world record), Women's Weightlifting (the Asian chicks are all short and unbeliveably solid, the Turkish chicks are kinda hawt, and the Canadian and French chicks didn't even really *look* like weightlifters, despite being able to lift twice their body weight), Women's Basketball (Brasil lost to Korea), Men's Handball, Women's sabre (but, alas, not any of the US matches) and yes, some swimming.
There's no way I would ever get to see those sports on "regular" TV. The US just wants coverage of Swimming, Gymnastics and the "Redeem Team". Bah. There are so many more cool sports out there. I had *NO* idea how handball was played till I got to watch it. Very cool. I didn't know that in the air pistol competitions there is a time limit. I didn't know that in weightlifting you're judged on 3 different things, and you need two of the three to be successful for the attempt to count as "good". Unfortunately, I don't know what those things are, since, yeah, I don't speak Korean, and thus get no actual commentary or help figuring out a sport.
We also get Chinese TV, but they were only showing the US vs China Men's Basketball, and then they went off the air.
They need to show a larger variety of sports. And it would be cool if they showed athletes from some of these more unknown countries competing too. The US Women's Sabre team managed to completely sweep the medals in their event, and no one here really heard about it, because all the media wanted to talk about was swimming and gymnastics. Our media sucks. They are idiots.
On the Korean channel though... I've gotten to watch: Men's Judo, Men's Air Pistol, Women's Archery (where the Korean team set a new world record), Women's Weightlifting (the Asian chicks are all short and unbeliveably solid, the Turkish chicks are kinda hawt, and the Canadian and French chicks didn't even really *look* like weightlifters, despite being able to lift twice their body weight), Women's Basketball (Brasil lost to Korea), Men's Handball, Women's sabre (but, alas, not any of the US matches) and yes, some swimming.
There's no way I would ever get to see those sports on "regular" TV. The US just wants coverage of Swimming, Gymnastics and the "Redeem Team". Bah. There are so many more cool sports out there. I had *NO* idea how handball was played till I got to watch it. Very cool. I didn't know that in the air pistol competitions there is a time limit. I didn't know that in weightlifting you're judged on 3 different things, and you need two of the three to be successful for the attempt to count as "good". Unfortunately, I don't know what those things are, since, yeah, I don't speak Korean, and thus get no actual commentary or help figuring out a sport.
We also get Chinese TV, but they were only showing the US vs China Men's Basketball, and then they went off the air.
They need to show a larger variety of sports. And it would be cool if they showed athletes from some of these more unknown countries competing too. The US Women's Sabre team managed to completely sweep the medals in their event, and no one here really heard about it, because all the media wanted to talk about was swimming and gymnastics. Our media sucks. They are idiots.