Random Olympic Musings

"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78) 02/16/2018 at 13:16 • Filed to: None

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1. The NBC commentators are annoying AF. Go to the NBC livestream and it’s a couple of soothing British guys. More facts, less color and backstory. Then I put the stream on TV and it’s Bodie Miller talking about the time he got high with Ted Ligety or whatever.

2. So sick of curling. Looks fun, but this is like if billiards dominated the summer olympics. Every...single...day.

3. The weird sexualization of female Olympians is starting to get creepy (as the father of a young daughter, I begin to take more notice. Not like that.). Do other countries do this, too? Now here’s a shot of Mikaela wearing daisy dukes and riding a unicycle. That would sound crazy if it wasn’t true. At least VISA was kind enough to put her in an ice bath.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 13:25

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I like curling, but I usually have it on in the background while I’m doing other things. Showing the matches also allows NBC to fill lots of air time. And there’s something oddly arousing about those women screaming, “Hurry! Hard!”

Also, sex sells.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 02/16/2018 at 13:26

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So really, you’re saying that #2 and #3 are related. I won’t disagree.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 13:27

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I love curling. It’s too bad it isn’t televised in the US outside the Olympics to my knowledge. It’s kind of like golf, only better. I get really into it when I’m in Canada for a while...

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 13:28

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Johnny Weir commentary is great and his outfit and hair styles are off the charts.

I like Bodie’s commentary his is not always talking about getting high with Ted. He sees things and points them out very effectively making the sport more interesting to watch.

Ash78, voting early and often > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 02/16/2018 at 13:31

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Do they play it like an everyday/common sport, or is it more relegated to the Olympics? I’m always curious about how people get into certain pursuits. Curling looks pretty approachable.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 13:32

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I wish curling was a thing in the Southwest. It seems like a fantastic drinking game in the winter.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 13:40

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I guess, but my comment about curling is more a byproduct of how the game is played, and not an overt move by the TV producers to get guys to watch. Now, if the women curlers were made to wear bikinis, like they do in beach volleyball, that would be another story.

Svend > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 13:41

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The British Olympic Team for curling are from South West Scotland just across the border from me. While not a massively televised sport it is followed well locally.

I’d say it’s televised less than hockey (non ice).

promoted by the color red > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 13:58

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I did a double-take when they kept saying the NK ice skating duo were the only ones who made it in on merit. I get the need to build up hype for the Americans, but is this damning with faint praise really all that necessary?

Chariotoflove > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 14:00

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Agree about the commentators. The Olympics coverage usually seems more about trying to do human interest drama stuff more than actual sports coverage. Figure skating is the worst at this.

Over the years, I have come to believe that good sports commentating is hard , and that there are few who are really good at it.

Svend > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 14:09

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It always makes me laugh when American sports commentators try to talk about stuff they aren’t used to.

It turns into a cluster fu** shit show.

Especially when they don’t even get the broadcaster to learn how to pronounce people or place names.

not for canada - australian in disguise > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 02/16/2018 at 14:28

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Brier >> Memorial Cup > Stanley Cup >> Grey Cup >>>>> Superb Owl

functionoverfashion > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 15:26

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I haven’t been able to watch much NBC coverage for a few reasons, but one is that I use Eurosport, which has tons of on-demand stuff and more complete coverage of the things I really want to see like alpine skiing and ski jumping. All the announcers are British, to your point. And one thing they do NOT do is skip actual live event happenings, like non-American ski racers actually competing, to talk about the life and times of the next American racer. In an hour of coverage the other night, they showed about 10 ski racers. Eurosport showed more like 30 in the same period, and if you really wanted to keep watching, they showed ALL the rest of the skiers in the first run, until it was completely over.

Umm, oh yeah I had one other point. Say what you will about Bode Miller, but his commentary on ski racing is, on the whole, thoughtful, and full of good insights into racing strategy, mental preparation, ski tuning, and subtleties of the course. There are very few commentators who can do that for alpine ski racing, and I’m including the very good announcers on Eurosport who cover the entire Alpine World Cup all winter. Does he always say smart, insightful stuff? No, he’s a ski racer and therefore didn’t really go to school, like ever. So, there’s that.

Ash78, voting early and often > functionoverfashion 02/16/2018 at 15:36

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I was just picking on Bode as an example, they rotate commentators and I can’t keep up. But yeah, the NBC livestream seems to have the “official” international broadcast and commentary which, for the women’s slalom, was just back to back nonstop action on that short run.

Meanwhile on TV, it was all commercials, sidebars, interviews, and other stories. I just couldn’t take the insulting nature of it when all these world class athletes were out there killing it — or like Laura Gut, crashing into photographers. I watched that one live, then it made the highlight reel. If you have to crash, do it in style.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Svend 02/16/2018 at 17:11

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The Canadians are possibly more obsessed with it than the Scots. Although, that’s probably also the reason I blend in so well up there - a large percentage of Canadians are of Scottish descent.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 17:32

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It’s pretty common up there as far as I could tell. Like they have facilities for playing it in many places and professional level events are televised... A large number of Canadians are somewhere between part and mostly Scottish, so it doesn’t surprise me that the game is popular.

In other places it’s a little more surprising, but apparently I’m close enough that there are facilities that specialize in it in my metro. I really do hope to start doing it sometime soon. One of the trainers at my gym has been threatening to assemble a curling team or two out of the members of the gym if she can find enough people up for it.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > not for canada - australian in disguise 02/16/2018 at 17:34

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It’s official: I was born in the wrong country.

not for canada - australian in disguise > Svend 02/16/2018 at 18:00

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I think part of curling’s popularity in Canada is just how many Scots emigrated here. That, and we have plenty of ice to play it on.

Svend > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 02/16/2018 at 18:14

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ye’, every place is proud of their Scottish or Irish heritage, there is only one place I know of in Canada that is proud of their English heritage (no I can’t remember the name off the top of my head). Lol.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Svend 02/16/2018 at 18:29

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Victoria, BC is pretty proud of their British heritage.

Most of New England is as well.

In the US there isn’t much knowledge of, let alone pride, in Scottish heritage. This is probably because most were hillbillies and frontier people, which were either actively rejected or forgotten. There are exceptions, just not many.

Svend > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 02/16/2018 at 18:56

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Many that are proud of the British heritage is mostly Scottish rather than English. I’d like to think there was more that were proud of their English heritage.

In the U.S. I think there is a lot more pride in their Scottish or Irish heritage because in some parts just north of the border it’s a game of how to take the pi55 out of the American with the one long leg one short leg haggis that lives on the steep mountains, and can only walk one way around the mountain because if it turned around, it’d fall off the mountain. It’s a standing joke on how many you can convince to go haggis hunting. Some are several generation American and never been to Scotland and say to a Scottish person, ‘I’m Scottish too’.

Lol.

functionoverfashion > Ash78, voting early and often 02/16/2018 at 20:11

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I wouldn’t be surprised if the NBC livestream was the British Eurosport stream purchased by NBC somehow. I agree completely on how insulting it is that they can’t even be bothered to show the bulk of most of the events they choose to cover.

I just turned on NBC at 8:00 to see what was on, and they did a quick “summary” if you can call it that, then cut to commercial at 8:04. FOUR MINUTES where they didn’t show anything happening, then bam, commercials.

*Side note about Bode - again, not personally offended, just a side note: He grew up skiing at a nearby mountain to me, in fact it’s where we ski every weekend with our kids now. I heard stories about him dodging ski patrol as a kid; then I heard stories about him showing up late and unprepared for races with duct taped equipment, and winning, by multiple seconds. Or crashing spectacularly, one or the other. He and I were racing locally at the same time, but I never raced against him. I hung out with him in a bar one night in my town, he’s not at all unlike lots of my friends, except he’s a better racer. Still kind of a dumb ski racer though haha.

It was 8:09 before they cut back from commercial.