The Olympics

Other factors that could be contributing to a less anticipated Olympics could include:

1. The doping allegations hovering over many of the elite track & field participants

2. The difficulty getting basketball players who want to go (should have only invited college players in the first place)

3. Terrorism worries and the concerns about the security not being ready yet

4. Anti-American sentiments in some parts of the world and USA athletes being told not to celebrate much if they win

I agree with you about the excessive amount of athlete profiles taking up too much time, but I don't mind them broadcasting taped events. I don't want to stay up until 4 AM to watch my favorite events, especially if I have to work the next day.

 

I'll watch grass grow and listen to crickets chirp before I'll watch anything to do with the Olympics simply for these two reasons. Since America is so hated, why bother.

 

I agree with Rod. The liberal pantywastes who run the Olympics are what turn me off when they come out against Nationalistic displays and against celebrating. If My country wins something, they worked for it, they deserve to celebrate. The Olympics have been so liberally feminized, I don't even care about it anymore. Boring. I might tune in every now and then if I have time and nothing better to do. But other than that, Who cares.

Now, if they made the X-Games part of their events, I would tune in for that.

Joseph Botwinick

 

I will watch as much as possible. Unfortunatully I am working wayyyyyyyyyyyyy tooooooooooooo muchhhhhhhhh and will see very little.

It does bother me alot to not see the athletes celebrate their victory. All of them have worked hard to get there and deserve to have their moment in the sun.

At the age of 18 I attend the 84 LA Olympics. I traveled to LA and went to the games by myself, and that is an experience I will never forget. What stands out in my mind the most from that trip is standing in the LA Coloseum signing the Star Spangled Banner durring the medal ceremonies.


Bill

 

"4. Anti-American sentiments in some parts of the world and USA athletes being told not to celebrate much if they win"
'''
The person who made up that guideline for US athletes needs to be fired.
Not counting terrorist attacks the worst thing that is going to happen is something like the following hypothetical example.
The finals of say polevaulting and Fierljeppen 2 very similar events take place on the same day, in the same stadium, in front of the same crowd. The winner of the Fierljep event is a Frysian and he receives his golden medal to a thundering ovation. Afterwards an American athlete wins the polevault competition, when he get's his golden medal the crowd is considerably more subdued.
This is truly sad for this particular athlete. And truly petty of that crowd.

Ofcourse his mom back home doesn't notice it because instead of covering the fierljep competition NBC has aired a profile (hosted by John Tesh) on how some American Olympian overcame his ingrown toenail problem.

 

They aren't amatuers any longer, it isn't as fun to watch the pro's go at it. Those that aren't pros don't get any air time. They need to go back to the every four years instead of every two years, not enough time to build up the excitement and to build the stadiums evidently

 

There are four years between summer games, and four years between winter games, but there are only two years between the summer and winter games.

That format acutally helps keep the excitment, since you only have to wait 2 yrs for the olympics instead of four. When the summer and winter games were the same year then it was a one shot deal and a long wait until the next time.

Bill

 

Woohoo!!!

Yeah!!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember being a kid and watching ALL the ABC covered games. They weren't live then either. Those that were live on the east coast were tape delayed for my viewing area. Don't forget, depending on the location of the games, having a "live" broadcast at 2am would be a bit daunting.

However, Jim McKay was great. Alas, he made one brief appearance in the last games, and he's gotten long in the tooth, as do we all.

John Tesh was not involved in the 2002 brodcast. I believe he did 1998 and 2000.

One of the problems is that the Parade of Nations is now 2 hours long in and of itself. Back in the day when it was 45 minutes, this was possible. BTW, I have the Calgary games (ABC) on video. They cut to commercials during the P of N then as well.

Hey, give the dude a break. He's a terriffic Christian role model, if you ask me, and he's not a bad announcer either.

Now, if they got Thurl Ravenscroft to be the announcer, I'll be glued to the set!!!

 

Michael Phelps powered to the first of a possible eight gold medals.

 

Better than anything else on TV right now.

 

I must be getting old! I just can't get enthused about the Olympics. I just watch the highlights or the end-of-day summaries. Maybe when track and field starts, I'll be more lively.

 

I love the Olympics. I love the spirit of the Olympics! GO USA!!!!!

 

Another smashing performance by the Dream Team tonight.

 

A college team or under 22 team might lose a couple games, but I am pretty sure they would play a lot better than the NBA "stars" have. It is a shame that marketing has gotten in the way of having a complete, well-rounded team.

 

Easy guys...It's not so much that we're worse, it's that the world has gotten better.