Anyone give a shit about the Olympics?

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2004-08-18 08:05am

The olympics has caused the non broadcasting of Leno/Conan. I allow my GF to watch michael phelps, then we watch the history channel. Last night, the whole night was about WHORES! That's right, a night filled with the sordid history of the oldest profession on earth, prostitution....you wouldn't believe all the stuff I learned. that said, Go america and all that, but *yawn* Now, talk to me when the winter olympics are up! I LOVE the winter olympics!

Next of Kin · Post by **Next of Kin** » 2004-08-18 10:05am

Here's an interesting article about the Olympics and NBC's low ratings:

No record for NBC as rating on Games low
The arenas in Athens may be half empty, but ratings for NBC's coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics seem to be recovering after a shaky start.

Forecasts of sparse attendance have so far proven true, with the early rounds Saturday and Sunday punctuated by embarrassing shots of gymnasts and swimmers competing before endless rows of nearly vacant stands.

The early prime-time ratings added to NBC's worries. Friday's opening ceremonies averaged a less-than-spectacular 25 million viewers, down 8 percent compared to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research. Numbers for Saturday -- when U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won his first gold medal -- dropped 11 percent, to 18.7 million.

Sunday ratings rebounded, though, as viewers seemed to finally start paying attention to the games. Prime-time coverage rose 5 percent, to 25.1 million viewers.

Overall, NBC is offering more than 1,200 total and combined hours of Olympic coverage on its broadcast network as well as cable networks MSNBC, CNBC, USA and Bravo.

Source: The Spec[/url][/quote]

Post by **Cairber** » 2004-08-18 10:12am

I wonder how NBC coverage compares to other countries coverage. When I live in BUffalo, the Canadian channels got most of the western NY viewers since their coverage tended to be less "fluff filled"

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-08-18 10:28am

I just tune to another channel every time they start up the "athlete sob story." You know the one. How Yavanova Roshinkovanovavichski was born to a poor family, started doing gymnastics on the street at 6 months old while working 12 hour days at a job where all she did was shovel shit to support her mother and 14 brothers and sisters. How she finally got her break when famed gymnastics coach Boris Michaelovolosovicski found her performing lewd but acrobatically difficult maneuvers with manhole covers on the sidewalk for whatever paltry amounts strangers would give her. And now here she is, at the Olympics, living her dream. How touching. Kind of makes you feel bad when she doesn't even get a medal.

muse · Post by **muse** » 2004-08-18 11:06am

I have several friends & people I know competing in the Olympics so you can bet I'm following their progress. CBC's coverage could be better, it isn't as good as I remember it being in past years but it's still far, far better than what I saw on NBC, that was pain inducing. Of course I do wish I was competing in the Olympics instead of watching it on TV, but, we'll see how things go in four years.

CrimsonRaine · Post by **CrimsonRaine** » 2004-08-18 11:40am

I used to be majorly into it, but I'm just not this year. Too much goin' on I guess. =/

Raine

sketerpot · Post by **sketerpot** » 2004-08-18 11:45am

I now present my idea for how the companies that cover the Olympics could make me happy and make more money: Olympics DVDs. Think about it: they could fit the entire Olympics onto DVD if they can the soap opera shit and just show people doing things. I would watch it happily rather than having to decide between watching the Olympics or doing something else, and frankly the Olympics coverage annoys the hell out of me. I would go on, but NO IT'S TIME FOR YET ANOTHER FUCKING LONG COMMERCIAL BREAK!

*wait five minutes*

Now, let's show some extreme closeups of some members of the Russian women's gymnastics team, and then spoil the picture with background information! Oops! Time for another commercial break! We have these about every five minutes! Whoohoo!

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-08-18 11:45am

I watch the winter Games, but except for swimming I'm not too terribly interested in the summer.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-08-18 12:07pm

I couldn't care less for it.

I'm no spectator of sports as it is, but the Olympics is just a sham now anyway.

Jade Falcon · Post by **Jade Falcon** » 2004-08-18 12:45pm

I'm no fan of sports but I'm even more apathetic about the Olympics.

Now, not trying to sound like an anti-capitalist/godless communist/jealous git (add or delete as appropriate)

but part of the problem is that there might be too much damned money in the games now for the athletes. That's not how it used to be, and yes, I realise this is going way back. However, look at the farce surrounding those two greek athletes and their failure to turn up for a doping test. Now the guy involved won a gold in Sydney in an event primarily dominated by black athletes for decades, with seemingly no prior record and he trained in Quatar which isn't meant to be that stringent about dope testing. The amount of money, both directly and through sponsorships could be the cause of a lot of the drugs scandals now.

Oh, and to add to others, the sort of events getting added are getting to a ludicrous stage. What's next, Pro-Celebrity tea picking, international nazi-hunting?

Korvan · Post by **Korvan** » 2004-08-18 01:47pm

Not a real sports fan. A good friend of mine's brother is swimming for Canada, but I guess I can always watch the tapes.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-08-19 01:16am

I watch swimming and track and field. That's about it.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2004-08-19 01:47am

I like some sports, the track, the "go go go!" swimming, but my favorites are archery and fencing.

America won a gold medal for fencing yesterday, the first in 100 years, but Michael Phelps is what everyone cares about.

SUCKS!

LordShaithis · Post by **LordShaithis** » 2004-08-19 01:48am

A mere twenty-five million watched the opening ceremonies here in the US, where positively EVERYONE has at least one television? Impossible. Fgalkin, please go tell the Nielsen folks they're wrong. Show them your links where they mention four billion people, or pretty much every waking person on the planet, watching.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2004-08-19 03:02am

GrandAdmiralPrawn wrote:A mere twenty-five million watched the opening ceremonies here in the US, where positively EVERYONE has at least one television? Impossible. Fgalkin, please go tell the Nielsen folks they're wrong. Show them your links where they mention four billion people, or pretty much every waking person on the planet, watching.

Hey, that's 25 million more than you said gave a shit about it. So guess what, your "no one gives a shit about the Olympics" opinion is just that.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2004-08-19 04:03am

Gandalf wrote:Especially the crap he had with Craig Stevens. Thorpe fell in the pool, and under official rules would have been disqualified. It was revealed that if one of the guys who did qualify dropped out that Thorpe would have got in.The nation's press went apeshit and put insane amounts of pressure on him to step aside.

That shitty rule was put in so the TV stations didnt have to show rematches.

Its nothing todo with the swiming itself, but the TV stations recording the event.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-08-19 06:44am

ggs wrote:
Gandalf wrote:Especially the crap he had with Craig Stevens. Thorpe fell in the pool, and under official rules would have been disqualified. It was revealed that if one of the guys who did qualify dropped out that Thorpe would have got in.The nation's press went apeshit and put insane amounts of pressure on him to step aside.
That shitty rule was put in so the TV stations didnt have to show rematches.

Its nothing todo with the swiming itself, but the TV stations recording the event.

Holy Zeus, that's just nuts.

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2004-08-19 09:31am

I could not care less for the Olympics. To me, it's nothing more than annoying replacements to the semi-good things they could have shown instead (though that's what I think about all sports events on TV).

However, I accidentally tuned in to see two tired Judo guys (or is it Judo-ka?), and that was pretty fun. I realized that the purpose of high-level Judo must be to ruin your opponent's shirt

. They really should get some other kind of suit.

And I usually don't mind watching women's beach volleyball

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-08-19 09:36am

Alyeska wrote:
Durandal wrote:Ballroom dancing and ice-skating are Olympic events ... but racquetball is not. Makes perfect sense to me.
Don't be surprised when that becomes an event within the next ten years. Recently the IOC has been adding several sports a year which deserve entry. They are also evening up events and allowing women into more sports that were originaly male only.

One of the primary reasons I've heard cited for not having racquetball as an Olympic event is because it might be difficult to televise. But I think that's crap, personally. Just build a court entirely out of bullet-proof glass.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-08-19 10:51am

Durandal wrote: One of the primary reasons I've heard cited for not having racquetball as an Olympic event is because it might be difficult to televise. But I think that's crap, personally. Just build a court entirely out of bullet-proof glass.

have you ever taken a raquetball to the twig-n-berries off a serve? yeah, thats not fun.

GySgt. Hartman · Post by **GySgt. Hartman** » 2004-08-19 03:53pm

About the only events I watch are Fencing and Judo, but only because
-I have practiced them myself, and the skill displayed is just sweet
-They are full of action, as a single fight lasts 6 minutes at the most
Maybe I'll watch Boxing, Wrestling and Taekwondo too; these are the most interesting ones. Beach volleyball is nice too, although not for the reasons listed above...

Aeolus · Post by **Aeolus** » 2004-08-19 06:30pm

Dahak wrote:
Gandalf wrote:I've been watching very little of the Olympics, Ian Thorpe annoys the hell out of me.
But why? He's hot!

yeah you just like his size 18 "shoes"

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2004-08-19 06:49pm

I do care about the Olympics, not because their good but because its the only TV aside from CNN, and Fox news I can catch now which makes even Water Polo intresting when you've been working sixteen hours and are on a break

Side Note, Damn Olypmic water polo is violent on a side note(The Aussy match we saw had people being punched and draged under)

But as off events I care about, Martal Arts, Track and Field
Though I check the Weightlifting scores as well just to see what people are strait lifting

And of course Soccer is always fun to watch, Minus all the damn patrotic wanking they do when the Iraq team plays

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2004-08-19 06:54pm

Durandal wrote:One of the primary reasons I've heard cited for not having racquetball as an Olympic event is because it might be difficult to televise. But I think that's crap, personally. Just build a court entirely out of bullet-proof glass.

Isn't the US Open going to be televised? They have a special court made and everything.

Jadeite · Post by **Jadeite** » 2004-08-19 07:03pm

I definitely don't give a shit.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Anyone give a shit about the Olympics?

Anyone else profoundly apathetic?