I love the Olympics, but I hate what NBC has done to them

[GameForAnyFuss]

I have to confess my love of the Olympics. Summer and winter, it’s all good. Here are my reasons:
1. They provide welcome and much-needed variety from the same 2 or 3 sports we’re normally forced to suckle from the 6-network tit.
2. I’ve played a bunch of Olympic sports and I enjoy seeing how the very best play them.
3. Many of the athletes truly do it for the love of the game and make incredible personal and financial sacrifices because they don’t have high salaries or big endorsement deals.

That said, NBC makes the Olympics nearly unwatchable. And frankly, what’s making it unwatchable is how they pander to women to try to boost their ratings. NBC is already on record admitting it. And they’re insulting women in the way they do it by assuming women don’t care about actual competition but instead want to see the Olympics as reality TV. Here’s everything I hate about NBC’s approach to the Olympics:
1. It’s too US-centric. Look, I’m cheering on the USA as much as anyone, but when they show the entire US bobsled run on the way to a 32nd-place finish, and only mention in passing that “oh yeah, Germany won the gold medal”, it’s too much. I want to see the best, wherever they’re from.
2. Too much emphasis on the supposedly female-friendly “graceful” sports (gymnastics in the summer, figure skating in the winter). If I have to see one more figure skater – or the idiot commentators who are trying to make it all about them – this Olympics, I’m gonna puke.
3. Terrible human interest stories. Actually I’m OK with some of these, because like I said, there are some remarkable tales of sacrifice at the Olympics. But NBC tries to find the most touchy-feely things they can find, often at the expense of the athlete’s accomplishments. Case in point: Mikaela Shiffrin is 21 years old and is already being talked about as possibly the greatest skier EVER – male or female. And what angle did NBC go with for her human interest story? Her relationship with her mother. Yeah, let’s ignore the training time, the six hours a day she puts in at the gym, the falls, the injuries, and talk about how she gets along with her mom. Sigh.
4. Not enough focus on the analysis of the sports themselves. This is really important when you’re showing sports that most people don’t watch very often. For example, I’ve watched a ton of snowboarding during this Olympics, and I still have no idea what a double cork 1080 is.
5. Not enough coverage of certain sports to get a good feel for it. A 5-minute recap of a two hour biathlon race doesn’t really do it justice. But of course, we have to show the entire long program of every single f**king figure skater.

Sorry about the rant. I love the Olympics but I absolutely hate how NBC covers it.

[ironman1315]

As for point 4, they NEED a John Madden type to explain what most players would think is simple but is so not obvious to the random Joe.

[gUrthBrooks]

I would like to see the Gold Medal winning performance in each event – regardless of country, some pretty terrific athletes from all over the world. 

[KiYi-Ute]

If it helps, a double-cork 1080 is when the rider makes three full rotations (360 degrees x 3 = 1080) while changing their horizontal axis to be either fully inverted or sideways twice during the course of the rotation (double cork).

I’ll be here all week if anyone else needs help deciphering snowboard/ski talk.

[gUrthBrooks]

Also, were you referring to a front double cork 1080 or a back double cork 1080?

[EagleMountainUte]

 Not a fan of it personally I feel like cheating is rampant throughout the whole thing. Also the bribing and all the sexual favors that go on the downlow.  I guess I just find a lot of negative in it(big surprise). 

[GameForAnyFuss]

I guess if cheating, bribery, and sexual favors in sports bugged me, I wouldn’t be able to watch any sports. Can’t think of a single sport or league where this (and more) isn’t going on.

[EagleMountainUte]

You are right but it is the self righteousness of it all in the olympics. 

[FtheY]

I thought the skiing with pellet guns was pretty sweet. Never seen that event before, but then again, I never really watched the winter Olympics much. Love the summer one’s though. 

I agree on point number three. I would also love to hear about the logistics of training, sleep, diet, etc. These folks dedicate their lives to mastering their craft, would be cool to see more about it. 

[PlainsUte]

I read they are actually .22’s Norwegian squirrel hunting?

[ironman1315]

Other ways to improve the olympics.

[Puget Ute]

Get the app, stream the events you want to watch.  Problem solved.

I just learned about the app this week, and the streamed content is exactly what you want to watch and with no distractions.  It is great! 

I was very disheartened trying to watch the games on TV because they weren’t showing anything I wanted to see, surrounded by hours worth of commercials I don’t want to watch.  But every even is on the streaming app in its entirety, and it is a beautiful thing!

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