Comments | meatnog: Why I love the Olympics

meatnog

Why I love the Olympics

Aug 19, 2008 21:58

When I was a kid, I used to watch Disney's Wide World of Sports whenever it came on the TV. It was so cool and so bizarre to see all these forms of sport and competition that didn't exist outside of my Football/Hockey/Baseball/Soccer/Basketball world. It was fascinating and intoxicating to see these people lifting heavy things and crashing down ( Read more... )

Comments 10

dirque August 20 2008, 02:13:57 UTC

Dude, I was watching USA vs. China in baseball yesterday and boy did it get nasty!

USA batters were hit 6 times with pitches.

Chinese catchers were pasted by runners twice. One went to the hospital.

Pitchers and managers ejected from games. There needs to be more of this!

musical_jay August 20 2008, 02:16:04 UTC

Me tooooo.

cmdrhobbes August 20 2008, 03:08:40 UTC

This sums up pretty well the way I feel about the Olympics. With the most recent ones, however, I find myself in a bit of a bind about the coverage ( ... )

meatnog August 20 2008, 15:49:05 UTC

I think the coverage by NBC on this Olympics has been stellar compared to years past. They've really made this monstrous effort to use all of their stations for broadcasts as well as the Internet and mobile devices. This was something like a $1B test case for them to not only get the rights to the Olympics ($900M) but also play with new technology ($100M), and I have to say, so far, I am impressed.

A large part of the problem is that it is in China. Not only due to the authoritatian, controlling gov't but also due to the difference in time zones. The combination of the two make it rather difficult to get access to everything.

Still, this bodes well for the future. NBC is making a healthy profit on their $1B investment. Found a news story talking about $100M in profits. 10% rate of return is pretty good for sporting broadcasts.

meatnog August 20 2008, 15:52:51 UTC

Oh, plus they already have the rights to the 2010 winter olympics and 2012 summer olympics. 2012 is in London, so I expect even better coverage.

examorata August 20 2008, 13:27:06 UTC

Man, me too. Every week I'd be glued to the TV set as the "Thrill of victory, agony of defeat" guy went crashing off the ski jump. I think I still love the Olympics so much, despite the crappy commentary and weird politics of it all, because it's such a big deal from my youth.

booyeah August 20 2008, 15:39:32 UTC

The Olympics put the "Bad" in Badminton. It is surprising in a manner similar to table tennis.

Also, I was able to catch glimpses of 3 of the throwing things events, and I have to say that the hammer is by far the most awesome.

meatnog August 20 2008, 15:43:11 UTC

I haven't seen much of throwing stuff, sadly. Ping pong was just too damn funny, though. The best part were the announcers.

"He was just overwhelmed with the power of that shot."

"12 countries have professional table tennis leagues and that number is increasing."

"He's the reigning 12-time African champion."

Hehehe, I couldn't stop laughing.