I'm not
much of a sports fan, but I love the
Olympics (both Winter and Summer) and I
am fortunate to live in an area that I
can receive both American (NBC) and
Canadian (CBC) coverage of the Games.
I've always been glad I wasn't stuck
with NBC (who still don't seem to even
understand the concept of the Olympics)
and am able to watch CBC's far-superior
copious live coverage. This year was no
different, though it seems CBC took a
few lessons from NBC on "How Not to
Cover the Olympics".
CBC aired many, many more live events
than NBC, but I found it very
frustrating to tune into CBC's morning
broadcast (evening in Beijing) only to
find repeats of events that had already
aired and a lot of boring "blah, blah,
blah" while medal events were going on
live, but not being aired. How very NBC
of them. Perhaps because CTV (Canada's
other large broadcast network) will be
taking over Olympic coverage for the
Winter Games in 2010, CBC just didn't
care and stopped trying so hard to
provide their usual top-drawer Olympic
coverage. Whatever the reason, for
shame, CBC! Despite this, CBC was still
the one to watch, not only for having
more live coverage, but for airing
less-popular events you'd
never
see on NBC.
NBC, meanwhile, once again showed their
pathological aversion to airing live
events - the most egregious of which was
their failure to air the 100 m men's
sprint live. Considering it was expected
that the world record would be broken
(which it was), I'm still dumbfounded by
NBC's decision not to air it live. NBC
was airing the U.S. vs. Spain basketball
game at the time (10:30 a.m. EDT on a
Saturday), but I guess they couldn't
interrupt the first period of a
preliminary game for 30 seconds to air
what is arguably the Olympics' main
event (I suppose since Michael Phelps
wasn't in it, NBC didn't deem it worthy
of live coverage). Atypically, NBC
did
have some live coverage in their
primetime broadcasts and, occasionally,
in the morning (at least in the EDT time
zone). But they only covered an event or
two - focusing almost exclusively on
beach volleyball, swimming and
gymnastics - then filled the rest with
taped stuff I'd already seen on CBC
(sometimes more than once), ended their
"live" broadcast around midnight, then
aired more taped events in the middle of
the night. Typical NBC crappy coverage.
Unlike other years, much live coverage
could be had on both networks' websites.
In this instance, CBC outshone NBC,
hands down. On CBC's TV broadcast, it
was usually made clear what was
streaming on their website at any given
time, so you could make the choice to
watch one event live on TV and/or
another live event on the web. On NBC,
they rarely mentioned what was streaming
on the web during their broadcasts and I
had little luck watching anything on
their flawed site anyway (not
surprising, since Microsoft was
involved). It seemed that NBC's website
was merely an excuse to air very little
on live television. Considering webcasts
are zillions of dollars cheaper than TV
broadcasts, NBC's greed once again
became apparent. No matter how good (or,
in the case of NBC, bad) the webcasts
were, however, I have little interest in
watching TV on my computer. It's fine
for catching a specific moment - such as
the last few minutes of a medal event -
but there's no way I'd ever sit in front
of the computer for hours to watch
anything.
And, even if I wanted to watch on the
web, who's to say I could? Some people
work and can't be using their computers
to watch sports - sports that should be
on TV. Others just don't have the
computer power or broadband internet.
Webcasts should complement
live TV broadcasts, not
replace
them.
Despite a slide in the quality of CBC's
Olympic coverage, they were still far,
far better at it than NBC. NBC still
hasn't got it through their big, fat,
thick skulls that people will
stay up late and/or get up early to
watch live Olympic events on broadcast
television. Why they don't seem to want
to air them is just beyond me. Sure,
they're in it to make money and, thus,
want to have the biggest audience they
can, but it seems to me that if people
are willing to watch, they should be
willing to broadcast. For every single
Olympic Games that NBC has covered
(regardless of the time zone), message
boards have been rife with complaints
about NBC's lack of live coverage. Don't
they care about what viewers want? Oh,
silly, silly, me...of course they don't.
Viewers are just too stupid to know what
they want [roll eyes here].
If you like live Olympic coverage as
much as I do, get a dish, move close to
the Canadian border or camp out at a bar
that has satellite to watch them on
Canadian television. Bonus if you can
get European broadcasts as well. Don't
bother with NBC. They just don't get it
and, it seems, never will.
Some Olympic highlights:
Opening Ceremony
Coverage
I actually got a little tired of the "spectacular stupdendousness of the
spectacle" and became desensitized to the truly jaw-dropping performances,
effects and engineering marvels (tempered some when I learned that some effects
were digitally enhanced and the little girl singing was lip-synching because the
actual singer "wasn't pretty enough"). I still watched both CBC's and NBC's
coverage, however. First up was live coverage in the morning on CBC. Despite
mistakenly identifying Guinea as Equatorial Guinea and mispronouncing some
countries' names (funniest was "powpow" for "Papua"), CBC did an adequate job,
keeping the blather and commercial breaks to a minimum. Until the Canadians came
in the Parade of Nations, that is. Then CBC's commentators seemed to lose their
focus and started babbling incoherently and, like the Games in 2004, called up
obscure Canadian athletes on a cell phone, torturing us with horrible audio. In
the process, incoming nations were totally and completely ignored. I was aghast
at the extreme disrespect. Twelve hours later, NBC's coverage in primetime was
much better. Not only were the camera angles and audio better, they, too, kept
the blather to a minimum and were more adept (and accurate) at explaining what
was going on than CBC, despite the incessant commercial breaks. During the
Parade of Nations, every single one of the 204 countries was given their due,
even after the U.S. entered the stadium. When the commentators did
babble a little, they still managed to mention the incoming country, and the
excellent graphics on the screen filled in any gaps with information on: the
country, its population, its location, who the flag-bearer was and his/her
sport. If they just could've stopped themselves from mocking the athletes'
attire (something NBC always does for some strange reason), it would've been
worth sitting through.
Silliest Comment
"It's always yesterday somewhere when you're here." (CBC, during the Opening
Ceremonies)
Best Example of Good Sportsmanship
American hurdler Lolo Jones. Devastated after tripping on a hurdle and costing
her the gold medal in the 100 m, Jones collected herself and, surprisingly
composed, gave an interview to NBC, interrupted it to congratulate silver
medalist Sally Mclellan of Australia who happened to be walking by, then
continued. Classy.
Best Example of Bad Sportsmanship
Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian. Enraged with a judgment call that cost him the
gold medal (leaving him with a bronze), Abrahamian first shouted at the referee,
then raged and shrieked at the judges. During the podium ceremony, he left the
podium, took off his medal, put it on the ground, then walked off in a huff (he
was subsequently disqualified, stripped of his medal and banned from the
Olympics). If the judges were wrong (many think they were), he could have filed
a formal protest which has specific procedures to follow. Pitching a hissy fit
isn't one of them. Big baby.
Lamest Event
Beach Volleyball. This is not a "sport"; it's a summer pastime. If I want to
watch beach volleyball, I'll go to the beach (duh). Far too much precious
Olympic airtime was wasted on this stultifyingly dull non-sport, making me
thankful once again that I had different TV network choices. If something this
lame is an Olympic sport, they should also have Olympic Croquet, Lawn Darts and
Horseshoe Throwing. I'd rather watch any of those than beach volleyball.
Best Commentator
Steve Armitage (CBC swimming events). Regardless of whether the event was a
preliminary heat or a medal final, Armitage's enthusiasm and excitement over any
good race (no matter the country or swimmer) was very infectious.
Worst Commentator
Bob Costas (NBC anchor). Why, oh why, is this fool still covering the Olympics?
Sporting a ridiculous Howard Cosell hairdo (which mysteriously disappeared after
the first night's broadcast), Costas' constant idiotic comments make a mockery
of every Olympics. He must go.
Best Feature
CBC's "Volume Up" - a series of video montages set to music. The one I enjoyed
the most was a collection of crashes, falls and spills set to "Don't Fear the
Reaper" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMt_qS-iC6E)
Sport I Never Thought I'd be Caught Dead Watching (never mind
enjoying)
Fencing. Rarely seen on TV, I know it was only broadcast because of the
backstory (50-year-old Jujie Luan who had won gold for China in the 1984
Olympics - its only fencing medal until this year - was competing for Canada),
but I still found the oddly understated fencing matches fascinating (and took
childish delight in seeing their masks light up when they got a point).
Best Moment
Jamaica's Usain Bolt's world-record win in the 100 m sprint. There's been much
talk about Bolt's showboating after the race, but the only one who took offense
was IOC president Jacques Rogge (who chastised Bolt's behavior, saying it was
unsportsmanlike). Bolt made history; there's nothing wrong with the way he acted
after the race. From what I've read, both fans and athletes alike found Bolt's
jubilant display charming and funny and totally justified, not offensive.
Best Website
CBC. When I visited the websites a week before the games started, NBC's was slow
as molasses and bewildering in its organization; CBC's was quick and easy. Once
the Games began, NBC's sped up; CBC's slowed down; both were reasonably
well-organized. However, CBC takes home the gold for having detailed broadcast
times of individual events (both on-site and in a downloadable version),
easily-accessible streaming video (live and bug-free) and, marvel of all
marvels, a toll-free phone number and e-mail link for "all your questions"! NBC,
on the other hand, had no specific times for individual events, the streaming
video was so buggy I never managed to watch a single event and they never,
ever want to hear from those pesky, stupid viewers - never mind
during an important event like the Olympics - so it was no surprise that I
couldn't find a single "contact us" link anywhere on their Olympic site.
Thunks on the Head
To CBC for repeating the same events over and over and over again (sometimes
airing the same thing 3 or 4 times a day). With all that was going on, they
could've aired something different all day long.
To NBC for once again interrupting their commercial coverage to air (taped)
Olympic events. Hey, NBC, two words: "product placement".
