olympics thoughts

[lirazel]

So despite my typical complete disinterest in sports that don't involve doing pretty twirling on ice or doing flips on four-inch-wide beams, I actually quite enjoy the Olympics. Mostly because of the ideal behind them--the idea of the whole world getting together peacefully to just have some serious fun. Like, that's beautiful (I wish there was something else where everyone in the world got together that way--something that doesn't involve sports, but what can you do?). And I know it doesn't always live up to the ideal (Munich 72), and I also know that there's really nothing fair about modern sports (the amount of training and the facilities the rich countries get skew everything horribly towards them), I still like it.

Mostly I like hearing the stories about the competitors--those little mini-documentaries we get--and I'm always on the lookout for a good story, some beautiful transcendant moment like that one swimmer from Equatorial Guinea who had never swum the length of a pool and yet kept going a few games ago, or the time the runner hurt his leg while running and his dad came down and helped him struggle through the end of the race--people, even if sports are silly (which, they really are when you think about it), that is gorgeous.

So I'm always on the lookout for things that construct narratives out of something that is essentially narrative-less (which I think is why I can enjoy sports movies without actually enjoying sports). Yay that.

But you know what I hatehatehate about the Olympics? NBC'S COVERAGE. The way they chop things up--we get fifteen minutes of swimming, then we're back to gymnastics for thirty minutes, then we're back to swimming, then we move over to diving. NO. DO NOT WANT. It's stupid because of the time difference--you absolutely could show all of each event at the same time. I feel like they're trying to manipulate me into watching things I don't want to watch--into keeping the TV on even during events I don't care about so as to make me watch ads so they can get money. Gross.

I would watch things online where you can do it all in one sitting, except that I like making icons while I watch, and I can't do both. So I'm stuck with muting the TV during things I don't care about while keeping one eye on the screen so I can turn the volume back up when something I like comes back on. UGH.

Also: Ryan Seacrest, go home. I cannot take you seriously.

I bet y'all in other countries have better coverage than we do, don't you? Tell me about it and make me jealous.

To close on a happier note: as I was watching the countries come into the arena on Friday night, the only thing I coud think of was I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE IN ONE PLACE.

Comments

[laeria.livejournal.com]

Well, and also there is https://www.examiner.com/article/olympics-opening-ceremony-tribute-to-london-terrorism-victims-not-shown-us and https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/28/1114648/-NBC-We-skipped-terror-tribute-because-it-wasn-t-tailored-for-the-U-S-audience which fascinated me utterly, because I have this huge curiosity about things getting lost in translation, and this, kinda, qualifies.

I haven't been able to see Serbia's coverage, but generally it tends to be quite professional? Like, a bit stuffy to be honest, but none of that annoying nudge-nudgeness I think you're describing.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

^^ Whoa. I'd heard about NBC cutting the terror victim tribute, but I didn't realise they actually had the balls to be that blatant about why they did it.

[laeria.livejournal.com]

Right? It's like the evil cynical icing on the ugly cake of disrespect.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that made ZERO sense to anyone I know. Everyone I know was ticked off about it, because it was insulting both to the people it was intended to honor and to our intelligence. I made sure to email the video around once I got it. I'm still not sure what actually happened with that, though I find their explanation bull for various reasons.

I'd prefer the stuffiness, yeah.

[laeria.livejournal.com]

Definitely, it's insulting to absolutely everyone. I guess their explanation just prove that they're disconnected from their audiences - I cannot imagine even the most Ameri-centric viewers actually objecting to being reminded of the 7/7 tragedy.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I know no one who would have had a problem with it. It's unbelievable to me that that was really their thought process. It's such a ludicrous explanation that I feel like there must have been something else going on, but I can't imagine what it might be.