Clifton

I'm probably one of the most cynical people I know. And I'm capable of pulling sarcasm out of the hat for any reason or no reason at all. It's a gift.

But I still haven't been able to be cynical about the Olympics. (not saying any poster here has, just shows where I'm comin' from). It's not perfect and the US television coverage is uniformly bad. For the best of human intentions, though, it's as close as we've come to actually attempting to form some sort of higher purpose and bond over that of individual and govermentalized manipulation. Even if for just a couple of weeks, in one setting, as best we can.

And I still want to see something besides beach volleyball! Sheesh...

AAFrequentFlyer

Thank You <b>Barbara</b>!

I wonder what would all the complainers do if they paid for 1/2 of the olympics?

AAFrequentFlyer

BTW, I'm watching a live volleyball game between Russia and Serbia-Montenegro on BRAVO right now. So as I stated before, the day coverage is live and international.

Kate

Sounds to me from reading this post that US TV coverage carries a lot of the blame for poor interest in the Olympics. Here in the UK the BBC are doing a fantastic job. NO TV ads, live events (it helps that we're only 2 hours behind Greece), all the major events covered on prime time (brit entry or no brit entry), plus interactive digital viewing which allows you to select the live sport you want to see (choice of about 4-5 different options). I'm loving it.

And of course Badminton is a sport - what makes it less so than tennis? I personally think there's a few sports that shouldn't take part as the olympics is supposed to be the pinnacle event in any sport's calendar - and this clearly isn't the case for tennis or football (where the major players aren't even taking part).

Giovanna

Capo: Just watched the Bruno Bozzetto version of the Olympics and thoroughly enjoyed it. When I saw your post looked forward to seeing what I knew would be cleverly done and very funny, based on the previous two I've seen that he did on Italian traffic and way of doing things. Thanks for an early morning laugh!

Wildfire

I have always looked forward to seeing coverage of the Olympics, but this year
the coverage seems to be exceptionally bad..
or perhaps so limited that it really isnt interesting at all. Just swimming/gymnastics and beach volleyball in prime time and the endless droning on once great athletes.
its sad that so much has been hyped to be just michael phelps. one blessing that that loudmouth Maurice Greene has had relatively little attention

JoeG

I did catch the last hour of NBC's coverage last night and there were a couple of exciting events.
The men's 1500m race which was won by El Guerouj from Morocco and the women's hurdling event , where the Candian favorite fell on the first hurdle. I really felt sorry for the Russian woman that was knocked down. Apparently they appealed and it was denied. This will probably end up in court.

I woke up this morning with &quot;Katie&quot; interviewing the USA Women's Beach Volleyball medal winners - no surprise there. What was really annoying were the segments with &quot;Katie Doing the Long Jump&quot; and &quot;Katie Doing the Hurdles.&quot; YEEEESH!!!!

What's next - Willard Scott and Al Roker Greco-Roman Wrestling?

JoeG

Patrick

I liked it this morning when Matt pointed out that Katie had feta cheese on her teeth!

Judyrem

FYI, Australia vs Cuba in baseball is on right now on CNBC....go Aussies! Some of the Aussie players are on the roster of theFt. Myers minor league team, the Miracles....hope they do well!

Grasshopper

I've enjoyed the olympic coverage. Sand wedgies aside, I particularly liked beach volleyball, but my daughter went to high school with Kerry Walsh, making it more &quot;up close and personal&quot;.

JoeG, here's a tip: Turn OFF the TV. Nobody is making you watch any of it!

JoeG

Grasshopper,

Sorry, but some of us common folk don't have personal aquaintances in the Olympics - you name dropper you!

I have no gripe with the athletes - in fact, I admire them tremendously. I WANT to watch and be able to enjoy the events. It's apparent from many responses that maybe the NBC coverage might have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm.

&gt;JoeG here's a tip - Turn OFF the TV.&lt;

Your point is we must agree 100% with the TV coverage or unless we have children that went to high school with one of the participants, we have no right to comment.

JoeG

capo

Grazie, Giovanna. Glad you enjoyed Bozzetto's Olympics animation. I really enjoy the simplicity of his work.

I remember how funny his animation piece on Italian traffic was, but I don't recall his piece on the Italian way of doing things; do you have a link for that?

RufusTFirefly

I lost interest over the years as the Olympics became more and more a money making gimmick, and as more and more sports went pro. Things like beach volleyball and synchronized swimming extinguished any spark of interest I had left.

I am glad to see that the US basketball team had a rough time--of all the pro sports, pro basketball has the most spoiled, crude, and egotistical bunch of fanny excavations in all of sport.

Grasshopper

My point, JoeG, is that if you find particular TV coverage so annoying, change the channel! You can say anything you want (and apparantly are wont to do so). And so can I. I think some of your comments are very cheap shots. (stumpy legs?) I really wonder why you subject yourself to TV that you find so irritating. The Today show is hardly Olympic coverage.

JoeG

I've obviously come up against the President of the Katie Couric Fan Club!

JG