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Post by afriendlychicken on Feb 8, 2014 5:32:47 GMT -5
Just thought I'd start this for anyone who wants to leave any thoughts or observations about the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Okay, so the Olympics started. I was watching what was a very beautiful and nice opening ceremony with, yes, a glitch, but for some reason three rude, intolerable and obnoxious people ruined it for me. Yes, those gloriously idiotic NBC announcers showed why we desperately need ABC to get back the Olympic coverage. We're here to watch athletes from different countries compete in sports, not to find out all the many, many reasons you three hate, hate, hate Russia. The more they talked, the more I liked Russia. The more they spouted inane facts, the more I liked Russia. When a cool image of a boat sailing on the ocean was talked over by people who seemed to not be watching the ceremony because they hate, hate Russia, the more I liked Russia. Yes, politics has overwhelmed the Olympic games, but it's not from Russia. NBC should be proud of themselves. They made me really like Russia.
Oh, look at the little girl floating. Why isn't she representing forced labor camps and prisons? Maybe for the same reasons we wouldn't have her representing slavery and the Japanese internment during WWII? Yes, I'm really starting to like Russia.
I hoped you all enjoyed that satire.
Anyway, the US women won their first hockey game. Keep it going!
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Post by Crowfan on Feb 8, 2014 7:34:06 GMT -5
They've been harping on all this negative stuff forever, it seems like. I mean, if you don't like the venue, then surely NBC could send someone else who could maybe, I don't know, do the job of actually covering the games?
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Post by afriendlychicken on Feb 8, 2014 16:02:50 GMT -5
I swear they said the name Vladimir Putin and the line "You can't separate politics from the Olympics" 10,000 times. Yes, you you can separate politics from the Olympics. It's been done before. It was Vieira, Lauer & Remnick who couldn't separate politics from reality and thought they were on 'Meet the Press." I actually turned down the volume so I couldn't tell what they were saying but I could still recognize the music, which came in wonderfully handy when they played Stravinsky's Firebird Suite to accompany the torch lighting. Here's a link to an insightful article about it from the L. A. Times. If you did a drinking game to every time they said Putin you would have been drunk in about 5 minutes flat. I was glad to see that when the actual games started, they stuck with competition related language. That'll probably last Until Bob Costas get's on and pontificates the games to death. I was able to watch women's cross country skiing and the early rounds of the women's ski jump before I knocked out last night. I'm waiting for luge. For some reason I've always loved luge.
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Post by nondescript spice on Feb 8, 2014 18:33:07 GMT -5
i've never been a fan of the olympics - i have nothing against them; i just never watch them. but i'm already sick to death of hearing how horrible sochi is. if it's so bad, why were they chosen to host the olympics? this might be an obvious answer to a fan, but it all seemed totally avoidable to me.
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Post by afriendlychicken on Feb 8, 2014 20:54:19 GMT -5
Yea, it seems like they're two types of people. Those who pretty much avoid watching it and those like me who get Olympic hangovers after they're through from watching it every chance we get.
Maybe the accommodations aren't all that great, and from what I hear they weren't all that great at other Olympic venues, but it looks to me like a beautiful area of the country.
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Post by Truck Farmer on Feb 9, 2014 1:58:31 GMT -5
What I like about it is that with the 9 hour time difference, I'll be able to watch a lot of the coverage while I'm at work.
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Post by reaperg on Feb 9, 2014 11:23:01 GMT -5
That opening ceremony did make me want to go to the library and check out a book on Peter the Great. Good for you, Vlad.
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Post by continosbuckle on Feb 9, 2014 17:19:59 GMT -5
Just thought I'd start this for anyone who wants to leave any thoughts or observations about the Sochi Winter Olympics. Okay, so the Olympics started. I was watching what was a very beautiful and nice opening ceremony with, yes, a glitch, but for some reason three rude, intolerable and obnoxious people ruined it for me. The funny thing is, you could have made this statement at least no matter were the Games were being held. No matter what was going on, the announcers can be counted on to say something inane and interject something that doesn't need to be interjected. If it hadn't been politics, it would have simply been something else, like Vonn not being there or the Ralph Lauren uniforms or this being Bode Miller's last Olympics or something. It would have been inane, and it would have merely been a prelude to them repeating that same observation literally dozens of times over the next two weeks. That's actually one of the things that's repelling me from sports in general, is the media's need to make a narrative out of it. It's focusing less and less on the athletic competition and more and more on the personalities involved in the competition. Don't watch the NBA Finals to see the two best basketball teams in the world battle it out for a Championship. Watch it to see if LeBron James can fulfill the destiny we've ascribed to him since he was in high school. Don't watch the Super Bowl because it'll be an intriguing game between two talented teams, watch it because we have to know what effect winning or losing will have on Peyton Manning's legacy. Seriously, twelve hours of coverage and instead of covering twelve different things, they just repeat the same four stories twelve times.
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Post by afriendlychicken on Feb 9, 2014 18:19:12 GMT -5
Just thought I'd start this for anyone who wants to leave any thoughts or observations about the Sochi Winter Olympics. Okay, so the Olympics started. I was watching what was a very beautiful and nice opening ceremony with, yes, a glitch, but for some reason three rude, intolerable and obnoxious people ruined it for me. The funny thing is, you could have made this statement at least no matter were the Games were being held. No matter what was going on, the announcers can be counted on to say something inane and interject something that doesn't need to be interjected. If it hadn't been politics, it would have simply been something else, like Vonn not being there or the Ralph Lauren uniforms or this being Bode Miller's last Olympics or something. It would have been inane, and it would have merely been a prelude to them repeating that same observation literally dozens of times over the next two weeks. That's actually one of the things that's repelling me from sports in general, is the media's need to make a narrative out of it. It's focusing less and less on the athletic competition and more and more on the personalities involved in the competition. Don't watch the NBA Finals to see the two best basketball teams in the world battle it out for a Championship. Watch it to see if LeBron James can fulfill the destiny we've ascribed to him since he was in high school. Don't watch the Super Bowl because it'll be an intriguing game between two talented teams, watch it because we have to know what effect winning or losing will have on Peyton Manning's legacy. Seriously, twelve hours of coverage and instead of covering twelve different things, they just repeat the same four stories twelve times. It's like everything has to be TMZ style. I remember ESPN baseball broadcasts from last year that were 90% filled with Alex Rodriquez talk. Look, it's a homerun... SAY SOMETHING MR. KRUK! Instead the homerun just proved to him why Alex Rodriquez should stop being Alex Rodriquez and should go back to being Alex Rodriquez. They also try to make us feel bad when the person they wanted to win didn't, while I'm busy watching the actual winner celebrate and thinking "oh, that's so cool for (Add name here)" like last night woman's skiing x-games-sort-of-event thingy that one of the Canadian LaPointe sisters won. I liked her 19yr old exuberance. And because of these x-games events my favorite event luge has been dwindled down to 15 or so minutes of late night "we're-only-showing-this-because-we-have-to" status. Sorry, but I prefer luge over skate-boards-on-ice. And now there's even more figure skating events (team competition) which makes me yearn for the curling competition to start, although that 15yr old Russian girls end spin last night was something to behold.
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