Olympic coverage this year SUCKS!

[superboyac]

What are the games about?  The competition.  How do we experience this?  With video.  Is there any video available?  Not much, maybe like 10%.  What's one of the most anticipated events?  Usain Bolt's 100m.  Did they show it live?  No.  What the hell??

Do highlights show up on NBC.com in a reasonable amount of time (less than a day)?  Nope.  Is it because they don't have the technology or employees, or money?  hardly.  Have corporations sucked the fun out of everything?  Seems like it.  Are politicians concerned?  Not really.

Olympics suck.  We can't see shit, it's too hard to find what we want to see.  This is stupid.  I'm done.  Enjoy your Olympics.  I don't need to turn watching the Olympics into a volunteer job of detective work.

Let me ask you this: Of the events that you are aware of (you know who won, interesting things that happened)...do you know this because you SAW it live?  Or on video at least?  Or from reading articles?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  And I don't mean 15 second highlights, that's basically seeing the last half lap and someone celebrating.  i wouldn't call that an experience.

[KynloStephen66515]

What are the games about? 

Nope...

This year, its all about the money, they don't give a shit about the sport.

http://news.sky.com/story/966545/olympics-anger-as-visa-cards-crash-at-wembley

http://imgur.com/gallery/uovYe

Just a few examples (and proof)

[superboyac]

What are the games about? 

Nope...

This year, its all about the money, they don't give a shit about the sport.

http://news.sky.com/story/966545/olympics-anger-as-visa-cards-crash-at-wembley

http://imgur.com/gallery/uovYe

Just a few examples (and proof)

Sheesh.  People wouldn't need the wifi hackspots if they would just show the games in a reasonable way.  I'm still blown away...how do you not show the 100m live??  Is there a more high profile event?  Man, i remember growing up in the 80s and just seeing the Olympics 24/7 on the TV...any TV, anyone's house.  Now we have more technology, more channels, more people, more events, more TV's, more everything!!  And we are seeing fewer events!  It's so freaking ironic and crazy!!  The easier it gets to see, the less we are seeing??  I feel like the corporations won't ever be happy in this world until they've turned every single person on this planet into an asshole.

[MilesAhead]

Hmm, when I watched Wimbledon this year I thought if the Brits were ever gonna' get a champion, it would be in 2012 since they shelled out billions to host the Olympics and spent a lot in the last few years putting a roof on Center Court etc.. Murray got to the final, but lost to Darth Federer.  But it seems like my theory was only 1/2 wrong. Murray beat Roger to get the Gold. Now maybe he has the monkey off his back.

The other thing too, Comcast bought NBC. They already owned Versus channel. They call it "NBC Sports" Channel now. So with the content carrier also owning the content maybe it's too insular/incestuous?

There used to be a quaint Asian cable TV channel called "The International Channel" a few years ago. It was quaint enough that sometimes on the late late movie there'd be frontal nudity. But there were definitely a lot of quirky Hong Kong flicks shown.  Comcast bought it and "jazzed it up" renaming it AZN TV.  The shows became South Korean for the most part. A Few Hong Kong shows but very few Japanese. I think it lasted 2 years before they went chapter 11.  More of the content had English subs, but evidently the channel had less appeal.  They "modernized" it out of existence.  Some of the content was newer. But the quirky color of the channel was totally bleached out leaving only a sickly hospital white.

[40hz]

I'm boycotting the Olympics this year. I've had enough of the nonsense surrounding who gets to watch what, where, and when. To Aram's earlier comment, I too remember when the Olympics just used to be "on" before Los Angeles decided to go all out and blatantly make a huge buck off the games. Their historic success has since inspired far too many wannabe host countries to try to do the same.

Add in the embargoes on news coverage, score reporting, and even certain words already found in English dictionaries, and I've had my fill.

I wish the athletes the best of success, and hope their Olympic experience lives up to their expectations. They deserve it for the amount of time and personal effort they bring to the games. And I also personally hope London and all future hosts (the US included) merely break even  going forward - and fervently hope that NBC and all the other media vultures lose their shirts. That's the only way the Olympic Committee will ever get the message - when they can no longer play the ignorant, the egotistical, and the fools off against each other in order to line their own already bulging coffers.

[wraith808]

Lifehacker's guide to overcoming nbcfail

And I don't feel bad at all about doing it...

[superboyac]

I'm boycotting the Olympics this year. I've had enough of the nonsense surrounding who gets to watch what, where, and when. To Aram's earlier comment, I too remember when the Olympics just used to be "on" before Los Angeles decided to go all out and blatantly make a huge buck off the games. Their historic success has since inspired far too many wannabe host countries to try to do the same.

Add in the embargoes on news coverage, score reporting, and even certain words already found in English dictionaries, and I've had my fill.

I wish the athletes the best of success, and hope their Olympic experience lives up to their expectations. They deserve it for the amount of time and personal effort they bring to the games. And I also personally hope London and all future hosts (the US included) merely break even  going forward - and fervently hope that NBC and all the other media vultures lose their shirts. That's the only way the Olympic Committee will ever get the message - when they can no longer play the ignorant, the egotistical, and the fools off against each other in order to line their own already bulging coffers.

I was here in LA during that Olympics.  My Dad took me to the events, cool father-son time.  But the marketing was sooooo much.  You couldn't turn anywhere without seeing that weird eagle/owl mascot thing.  At the time, I thought it was cool since I was a kid and liked cartoons.  But looking back, I hate the fact that I remember that stupid bird more than the events.

[superboyac]

Hmm, when I watched Wimbledon this year I thought if the Brits were ever gonna' get a champion, it would be in 2012 since they shelled out billions to host the Olympics and spent a lot in the last few years putting a roof on Center Court etc.. Murray got to the final, but lost to Darth Federer.  But it seems like my theory was only 1/2 wrong. Murray beat Roger to get the Gold. Now maybe he has the monkey off his back.

Dude, I have soooo many questions and suspicions about tennis.  Too many people are conveniently winning at just the right time to maximize profitability.  i don't know, i don't have any evidence for anything, but the last couple of years have been far too convenient in tennis.  All the steroid use stuff is completely ignored by the media, but at least this blog keeps them in check with its tiny viewership:
http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.com/

Seems like weird stuff started happening once people got bored of Federer a few years ago.  Guys like Djokovic and Nadal beat him with ease over the years, and then went on to consistently lose in insignificant matches to insignificant opponents, in embarrassing fashion.  Injury reports are all vague, suspicious, and also always conveniently timed.

Federer won a lot, everyone got bored because of no competition.
Then Nadal started showing life, and everyone wanted that to become a rivalry.  Then it did.  Then Nadal rode some hype to a suspiciously incredible season.  Then he just sucked all of a sudden and Djokovic had a suspiciously incredible season.  Then, people remembered how beautiful Federer's game was, and started comparing Djokovic/Nadal to his, and calling it brute strength victories with just hard, conservative (i.e. boring) rallies.  Then Andy Murray was in the mix, but could never beat Federer.  Then he does in the Olympics.  Serena has been surrounded by controversy, none of which is investigated seriously at all by the media.  How do you cut yourself in a restaurant under both your feet??  I'm still waiting for a remotely reasonable explanation on that one.

But welcome to the information age everyone.  Where we find out that all these things that we thought were so clean and kosher, are in fact riddled and dominated by manipulation.  Part of growing up I guess.

[barney]

Man, i remember growing up in the 80s and just seeing the Olympics 24/7 on the TV...any TV, anyone's house.  Now we have more technology, more channels, more people, more events, more TV's, more everything!!

You left out, "...more networks...," as opposed to one (1) proprietary outfit that won't allow anyone else to broadcast.  But, in fairness (?!?  ), that's the Olympic committee, the same fold that shut down anyone online trying to promote their cause under the guise of patent and copyright.  I remember seeing the Olympics on all three (3) major channels (after there were three (3) channels  ) ... but it's a very dim childhood memory  .  But, then, TV happened after I was born, so they hadn't quite figured out all the revenue paths when I first saw the event(s)  .

[Renegade]

I'm boycotting the Olympics this year.

Yay~! More people need to boycott the Olympics.

I haven't watched the Olympics since the 80's. It was complete corporate whoredom then, and it has since slid down the ranks to corporate-crack-whoredom. The level of "control" this year is more sickening than ever.

On top of that, I've always had this icky, dirty feeling about the Olympics. Something has always seemed "off", in an H. P. Lovecraft sense of the word... I suppose the Olympics is just showing its true colors more than ever now.

[superboyac]

I'm boycotting the Olympics this year.

Yay~! More people need to boycott the Olympics.

I haven't watched the Olympics since the 80's. It was complete corporate whoredom then, and it has since slid down the ranks to corporate-crack-whoredom. The level of "control" this year is more sickening than ever.

On top of that, I've always had this icky, dirty feeling about the Olympics. Something has always seemed "off", in an H. P. Lovecraft sense of the word... I suppose the Olympics is just showing its true colors more than ever now.

[4wd]

Olympics coverage has always sucked for any sport that wasn't track/field/swimming.

I'm not interested in the Olympics at all - but my wife loves the equestrian events.

You'd be lucky to get more than 10 minutes and it would only be the Australian riders, (and generally only if they have a hope of a medal), on the local coverage this year but thanks to the wonders of modern technology and a band of dedicated cappers....~43 hours of equine shenanigans is available via BitTorrent.

The local coverage was far better last time when it was split between two TV broadcasters - one did the boring mainstream track/field/swimming, the other did the more interesting sports.

[vlastimil]

I am boycotting Olympics this year as well, I did not watch a single event and don't talk about it with anyone (except to tell them it is only about money). I feel sorry for the people, who trained so hard for this.

The TV coverage here in Czech Republic is probably not that bad - 2 channels are showing different events most of the time. But I usually only watch the local news channel (not on a real TV, online) and when the sport news are about to show a 15 seconds clip from OG, the screen goes green informing me they do not have the rights to show this clip online on this channel - most likely because all of the content of the news channel is going to an archive and is available on demand at any time. I guess that is something the license explicitly forbids. The internet broadcast of other channels is working fine, but is geo-locked and not available at later time.

[joiwind]

OK, the Olympics = money, however I recently read a long and very interesting article about the ancient Greek and Roman Olympics - at the time they were just as, if not more, corrupt and money-spinning than now (I'll try to find the reference to the online version of the article).

Sorry for all you people who would like to watch the games and don't have access to the BBC (via Sky) where there is complete coverage live of all the disciplines and no intrusive publicity ... think what you like 

[Renegade]

Ok, I must admit that I smirked after reading this:

http://www.businessinsider.com/roubini-the-london-olympics-are-an-economic-failure-as-london-is-totally-empty-2012-8

Economist Nouriel Roubini is tweeting doom about the London Olympics this morning.

From @Nouriel:

UK policymakers scared so much folks before the Olympic that London is a deserted city: non-olympic tourists are away; londoners are gone!

The Olympics are an economic failure as London is totally empty:hotels, restaurants, streets. They scared all off with crowd excess warnings

By scaring every1 to stay out of London with warnings about too many people coming here it turns that London is totally empty, a zombie city

The rest

RT @Notgiamatti The Yogi Berra effect! Nobody goes there, it's too crowded.

The West End - usually packed on any Saturday night - was an empty waste land last nite: barely a soul to be found in theaters, bars, etc

They scared away all non-olympic tourists that pack london all summer;they pushed most londoners to escape;they told 2million to work @ home

RT @_garrilla that's the 'olympic economy' - all dispacement & deadweight (oh, and hot air)

Meanwhile London retailers are begging the transport system to stop warning about congestion problems, according to Telegraph's Graham Ruddick.

Retail chief Richard Dickenson told Ruddick: “We know there is a displacement effect. Instead of normal tourists you get sports tourists, we knew that.

But we didn’t expect the impact on the London catchment and commuters."

London taxi drivers have reported a 20-to-40 percent drop in income this month, with industry representative Steve McNamara calling the Games "a complete and utter disaster."

More on the topic:

http://www.businessinsider.com/london-olympics-curse-g4s-2012-7

We've come up with 43 reasons that we think the Olympics will be remembered as a disaster, and trust us, the list could have been longer — we probably could have come up with dozens of reasons related to the IOC "brand police" or the G4S fiasco alone.

What's the only way to watch the Olympics? Oh, yeah... head on over to http://eztv.it or http://thepiratebay.se. Gee. Sounds like they've done a bang up job on making the Olympics visible...


Now, when the gold is worth a paultry $25,000 cash prize for years of dedication and massive investment in equipment, trainers, etc., and they restrict how athletes can get some sponsorships, can anyone tell me how this is different from "The Hunger Games"? Poor people being used for sport and kept poor for the entertainment of the elite?

See here: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-36-olympic-athletes-do-for-a-living-2012-8

(Yeah - Disaster at the Olympics committee? I'm sooo totally laughing inside. And outside~! )

[IainB]

Ok, I must admit that I smirked after reading this:
http://www.businessinsider.com/roubini-the-london-olympics-are-an-economic-failure-as-london-is-totally-empty-2012-8

Crikey! Looks like a major business fail for London.
How could that happen?   

[mouse53]

I will add that from what I have heard,  since I won't waste time watching the garbage,  the judging has been questionable even to those watching at home.

[IainB]

...Sorry for all you people who would like to watch the games and don't have access to the BBC (via Sky) where there is complete coverage live of all the disciplines and no intrusive publicity ... think what you like 

I am one of those who "boycotts" the Olympics, and I hardly ever watch TV, but I was interested in this post at The Week: How the BBC crushed NBC and brought Olympics coverage into the future

Until I read that, I had not really appreciated what all the complaints in this discussion thread were about.
Now that I do, I'm surprised you all put up with it. The NBC seems to be a national disgrace. Mind you, some people think the BBC is a national disgrace too, but there you are.

[Renegade]

Something has always seemed "off", in an H. P. Lovecraft sense of the word...

This is the kind of stuff that I mean when I say "off"...

Not really nice reading for people that love the Olympics...

[attachimg=#]

Utopian? Yeah. That always works out well... Who else had Utopian dreams? Stalin - bodycount 60+ million, Mao Tse Tung - bodycount 70+ million, etc. etc.

Collective? Yeah. Right. Ummm... Borg anyone? Socialism? Communism? Those always work out well. See above.

Dream? Yeah. Exactly my point -- the dream is completely Chthonic. See above.

The rest of the article is a circle-jerk.

[barney]

Well-l-l-l,

There's a lot of comment here about the politics/commercialism/restrictions of the Olympic event.  Most of it reasoned.  But there's been little comment about the participants, apart from a few comparisons like unto The Hunger Games.

I watch the Olympics.  I enjoy the Olympics.  There is no more beautiful sight to this old cripple than to watch some young body, male or female, surpass what we consider our physical limitations.  Doesn't matter why they are there, what their reasons might be - they press the borders of human frailty by performing feats heretofore unimagined.  Maybe they want the money from endorsements and merchandising, maybe they have ulterior motives for later activities, maybe it's just plain pride.  These kids - for the most part they are kids - put a lot of blood, sweat, & tears into getting there.  Maybe they're being exploited, but that does not reflect upon their art, their expertise, their ability. 

I cannot imagine anything more beautiful than the floor exercises or the bar exercises.  They demonstrate what the human engine can do, given practice and will and a dream. La misma with the diving and the track events.  Say what you will about the venue, these participants are physical and mental ideals to be lived up to.  (I say mental because, no matter their ability to speak or do mathematics, they had/have the mental ability to continue, to force their body into exertions that the body wanted to deny - if you don't like mental, call it force of will.)  These folk have learned a discipline very few of us will ever know - or have ever known.

Why have they done what they have done?  I neither know nor care their personal reasons.  They are proof positive that the human body can be more than compulsive consumption, more than sex organs and opinions.  And they give us dreams of grandeur that we'll likely never achieve, but at least know to be possible.  They give us dreams.

So, I watch.  Mayhap I cannot create art , but I can damned well appreciate when I see it  .

[IainB]

@Renegade: I see what you mean. That is nauseating though. Sort of like you might image a Guardian "journalist's" w#t-dr#am.
Because boycotted, I don't read Olympics commentaries either, so had not seen that sort of drivel.

[Renegade]

Well-l-l-l,

There's a lot of comment here about the politics/commercialism/restrictions of the Olympic event.  Most of it reasoned.  But there's been little comment about the participants, apart from a few comparisons like unto The Hunger Games.

I watch the Olympics.  I enjoy the Olympics.  There is no more beautiful sight to this old cripple than to watch some young body, male or female, surpass what we consider our physical limitations.  Doesn't matter why they are there, what their reasons might be - they press the borders of human frailty by performing feats heretofore unimagined.  Maybe they want the money from endorsements and merchandising, maybe they have ulterior motives for later activities, maybe it's just plain pride.  These kids - for the most part they are kids - put a lot of blood, sweat, & tears into getting there.  Maybe they're being exploited, but that does not reflect upon their art, their expertise, their ability. 

I cannot imagine anything more beautiful than the floor exercises or the bar exercises.  They demonstrate what the human engine can do, given practice and will and a dream. La misma with the diving and the track events.  Say what you will about the venue, these participants are physical and mental ideals to be lived up to.  (I say mental because, no matter their ability to speak or do mathematics, they had/have the mental ability to continue, to force their body into exertions that the body wanted to deny - if you don't like mental, call it force of will.)  These folk have learned a discipline very few of us will ever know - or have ever known.

Why have they done what they have done?  I neither know nor care their personal reasons.  They are proof positive that the human body can be more than compulsive consumption, more than sex organs and opinions.  And they give us dreams of grandeur that we'll likely never achieve, but at least know to be possible.  They give us dreams.

So, I watch.  Mayhap I cannot create art , but I can damned well appreciate when I see it  .

By no means does that Olympic committed diminish the achievements of the athletes, but I do feel sorry for the athletes. They work so hard, and they're exploited so badly. Then they have the pressures of making certain to never take any cough syrup for a cold/cough, be careful about eating any meat as it could be contaminated with some kind of steroid, etc. etc. Cripes! They practically need to be sequestered from reality.

It's almost as if they're busking on the street with a guitar and open case for handouts. They're certainly not compensated for their participation in a major commercial event. I find the way they are used rather disturbing.

@Renegade: I see what you mean. That is nauseating though. Sort of like you might image a Guardian "journalist's" w#t-dr#am.
Because boycotted, I don't read Olympics commentaries either, so had not seen that sort of drivel.

I just saw that by accident while reading the news. It's kind of hard to avoid sometimes.

[barney]

It's almost as if they're busking on the street with a guitar and open case for handouts. They're certainly not compensated for their participation in a major commercial event. I find the way they are used rather disturbing.

That viewpoint can be appreciated, but I was thinking more of their viewpoint.  That's something that's been pretty much ignored here.  "Be all that you can be," was a fairly popular saying [relatively] recently.  If that is what they are trying to do, why should we belittle the venue - for better or worse, it's the only one they have.

As to Boycott's process, do we still drink Coke, one of the sponsors?  Do we still eat at the sponsoring eateries?  Drive the sponsoring vehicles?  If so, it's not boycott, it's denial.  A true boycott would mean having no truck with any Olympic sponsor, now or in the [assuming lack of change] future.  That's simply not practical on several levels.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boycott
to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/boycott
1. to combine in abstaining from, or preventing dealings with, as a means of intimidation or coercion: to boycott a store.
2. to abstain from buying or using: to boycott foreign products.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/boycott.html
Collective, organized, economic and social pressure by public groups against unfair trade and employment practices, environmentally irresponsible corporations, and oppressive regimens. See also concerted refusal to deal.

Boycott simply is not practicable on an individual level ... it requires group cooperation, crowd-sourcing, if you will.

Mind, I'm not at all comfortable with much of what goes on to organize/create/present Olympic events.  The Olympics is, always has been, likely always will be, a political event, meant to show the superiority of some political entity.  But I don't let that distaste detract from the real efforts of the participants.  They may be pawns, but they're damned talented ones.

[Renegade]

I actually stopped drinking Coke (or any sugary junk for that matter) and no longer eat at McDonalds. And I LOVE the taste of Big Macs... I'm am always soooooo tempted every time I'm near one... As for cars, I have no idea what any of the other sponsors for the Olympics are. Oh, Visa. Yeah... That's one that I can't really get around much. I much prefer to use cash, but my wife likes the paper-trail, and I love my wife more than I hate Visa. (That says a lot.   )

As for their viewpoint, I really have no idea. I think it is almost impossible for any of them to speak out about any of the kinds of things above. What would happen? Well, after the crucifixion... I think things would go downhill just a little bit.

So I doubt that we can actually get what they really think. My bet would be on most being far too scared to say anything. I could be wrong. No idea. Just guessing.

Boycott simply is not practicable on an individual level ... it requires group cooperation, crowd-sourcing, if you will.

Well, yes and no. I know where I spend my money, and if more people did the same, well, there you go. It starts with "me". I kind of see it something like this:

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ghandi

But I don't let that distaste detract from the real efforts of the participants.

I can understand the efforts of the participants, but the shadow hanging over them is too much for me. I just can't bring myself to watch any of the Olympics. 

[40hz]

What works in war also works in sports. A group of self-serving and monied older people get together with intent to exploit by appealing to the idealism and hopes of the innocent and dedicated young. It's just another variant of the old "dulce et decorum est..." scam.


At the end of the day, those running things are wealthier and more firmly entrenched than ever, while the young come home, draped with medals (or tucked in body bags) to be fêted and displayed as "shining examples of commitment and self-sacrifice" for the next generation which is scheduled to replace them.


"So it goes."