If, during recent Olympics’, you’ve occasionally turned into coverage from NBC, you might have noticed something a little peculiar. David Jones explains:
The year the Olympics became a reality show aimed at drama queens, I suppose not of complete coincidence, was 1992. That was the first year of MTV’s The Real World, generally accepted as the first reality series.
It was also the second Summer Games after NBC took over telecasts from ABC and the entire prime-time block became a chick-flick facsimile, courtesy of then-NBC Sports chieftain Dick Ebersol. That’s when it was decided the casual audience, the ones who may watch or may not, needed some prompting.
Until then, boxing, track & field and basketball – sports targeting mainly a male audience – were prominent Olympic events on TV. Basketball hung in there because of the Dream Team. But boxing and track began to take a backseat to women’s gymnastics and swimming, country club sports with high socioeconomic viewership and broad appeal among females.
That’s pretty much when everything went to hell. Not because women began watching more. But because NBC began pandering to them at a floor wax marketing level, one that I’m sure many female viewers resent as much as males do.
Say, is it just me or is anyone else utterly uninterested in the 2012 Olympics and anything connected to it?
Am I becoming misanthropic?
The Olympics … as a celebration of equality of outcomes.
http://www.thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog/we-need-progressive-olympics-t9341.html
The modern olympics where a creation of the european aristocracy that at the turn of the century was finding an ever increasing influence from the new world, and it’s growing economic clout, was diminishing their influence over world affairs. The worst outcome was the fact what that growing US influence ment to the way economics played out. That regular folks didn’t need hereditary rulers deciding if they won or lost in the game of life.
Was going to tune into the Olympics for a bit yesterday. But, then decided to sterilize my garbage cans instead.
Say, is it just me or is anyone else utterly uninterested in the 2012 Olympics and anything connected to it?
~JJM
Me too.
There’s Olympics on?? And they’re being feminized?? So what? Our K-12 and secondary institutions have been steadily sissified for at least 30 years.
As I rant every 4 years: No, synchronized swimming is NOT a sport. True, it takes skill, but it’s not a sport. An art form, maybe. Ditto for the ribbon-twirlers.
Well I’ve been watching and gymnastics has been rechristened “artistic gymnastics,” with pink and purple being the colours of the event site. Seriously, it looks like an 8 year old girl’s room/wardrobe.
I’ve always wondered about Rod Black; whereas other guys get excited over hockey, football, baseball, etc, Black is always covering . . . gymnastics and figure skating.
I make a point of not watching the Olympics. Too commercial! Not interesting! I can get by without watching any of the stuff they show. A monumental waste of money, IMNSHO
Of course, I’m probably referred to as a Philistine since I have much the same opinion of NHL Hockey.
Say, is it just me or is anyone else utterly uninterested in the 2012 Olympics and anything connected to it?
~JJM
Me, three.
heh, mojo. Synchronized swimming is just the June Taylor Dancers in swimsuits. IMHO, if the outcome of a “sport” cannot be quantified either in terms of goals or runs scored, or measured by stopwatch, tape measure, or scales, then it is not a sport. In other words, if the outcome of a contest cannot be determined objectively by any mildly-interested non-expert, but depends upon the opinions of a panel of “expert” judges, it is not a sport.
Eight judges to decided the chap from Japan did not fall off the horse.
Talk about your collective salvation.
Ha! Brilliant observation, and very true.
He comes close but picked the wrong Olympics. The 1992 Olympics had the “A” events LIVE on three PPV channels..Red/White/Blue. The PPV was not a commercial success in the USA, but I watched it all the time in my office in the Barcelona IBC ..
The Prime time in 1992 picked a Post Production presentation. Athletics (Track & Field) was and still is the most watched event. The schedule is set up for T&F on the second weekend of the Olympics…He seems not to know that Dick Ebersol came to NBC from ABC…NBC coverage was a copy of ABC
Note: 1992 was the first year for Basketball. The1988 Olympics was all LIVE Coverage, but was criticized for the excessive “Column” Bumper shots….
The 1996 Olympics (Atlanta) was the FIRST 100%post production event, AKA as Teflon Dicks WTF. That 1996 production fits the complaint by David Jones
IMHO subjective Judged events are not Sports, they are expressions of Art.. It is easy to determine winners of ART before the Event
Olympics is still the single greatest event of Human Endeavor….
BTW: Dick Ebersol was fired when GE sold NBC..He was rehired when they realized they didn’t know bugger all
After 12 hours of women’s volleyball, with the mandatory group hug after every single point, I got thinking that NOBODY could beat a synchronized swim team that were all Thalidomide babies.
Beyond just the “sports” that they choose to cover, you can’t help but notice that only about 30% of the entire airtime is dedicated to broadcasting actual events. The remainder (aside from commercials) is spent talking to athletes, talking to ex-athletes about other athletes, or showing slick “human interest” pieces about the various competitors (usually with touching music in the background).
It’s all talk and emotions. Why can’t we tune into coverage of the world’s largest sporting event and actually watch sports? Because women don’t care about the sports…only about how the competitors *feel* about the sports.
I tried watching some live coverage this morning but I couldn’t stomach it.
Watching paint dry is less painful – my favorite was trying to make nice for Kim Rhodes medal win (a very big deal) without actually showing her shooting.
Had the TV on while I was getting ready to go out Sat morning. Had the Olympics on the TV (I was in a hotel). I tuned it to the weather channel after about 30 seconds–when I realized their intention was to show every minute of the bicycle race (I think it was supposed to last 3 hours)– instead of broadcasting the last 30 seconds when the winner comes in.
JJM >
“Say, is it just me or is anyone else utterly uninterested in the 2012 Olympics….”
Not just you, what a waste of Liberal Globalist propaganda money.
“No, synchronized swimming is NOT a sport.”
Can’t remember which SCTV episode it was but one of Martin Short’s simpering, neurotic characters was shown at a pool where, to combat stress, he enjoyed performing in “synchronized singles”.
“I touch upon this every two years but this is what made Jim McKay so good for so many Olympics at ABC. He tried neither to embellish nor sugarcoat the disappointment of such moments. The guy just had a touch for them. Matter-of-fact with a smidgen of empathy. Not the smothering manufactured pathos and blame-placing we get today.” David Jones
The Salt lake Winter Olympics was an example of David Jones’s Feminization Claim
NBC Ebersol had convinced ABC Jim McKay to join NBC Bob Costas to cover the Olympic opening Ceremonies.. It would have been a GOLDEN Olympic moment to every sports fan in America.
At the last moment the NBC new/old female Entertainment/News host, Katie Couric, insisted on joining the Mix… The System could not support that many mix-minus feeds.. This resulted in McKay been unable to communicate with Bob Costas.. It was a Sports disaster…I would have had respect for Dick Ebersol if he had insured that Couric & her crew were fired, but no he was castrated and sports lost….NBC & CBS have both since fired Couric for her lack of talent…
Yes the Olympics was destroyed by the NBC feminists, but this is their last one
The only thing I’d watch was the shooting sports, which of course are not televised at all… after all wouldn’t want to encourage the gangbangers
Swimming, a country club sport? Oh please! It’s cheaper than frickin’ hockey by a long shot.
I was not watching any of it until I happen to notice during my channel surfing that women’s beach volleyball was due on. So I tuned in only to be totally gobsmacked that the women were covered from neck to ankles. Bummer!!
I immediately tuned out. What is the world coming to? Have the prudes taken over?
@Canuckguy, some Brit jihadist probably whined to the IOC about the immodest clothing.
I have absolutely no use for the Olympics since the powers that be decided that baseball and softball were not worthy of being Olympic events. Anything involving a trampoline … now that’s a different story.
I refuse to watch one second of the Olympics, once they decided the Islamic head scarf via sharia law was acceptable I decided to shun the coverage.
I like watching the olympics, but I do agree that the coverage looks like its trying to attract women. My complaint is that I would like to see the sports that they are not showing.
I have little interest in swimming and gymnastics, and so far that is what the coverage has mostly been. I am an avid bike rider, so I find the bike events interesting. I am a fencer, who has fenced in several tournaments, and that is getting very little coverage. I would like to see some archery and shooting events covered. I know these things aren’t exactly viewer friendly, but it would be nice to see some of it.
I honestly hope that the stupid muslim chick that wants to wear a head scarf in judo gets her head taken off by her opponent. It’ll be one less female to churn out jihadis that we will have to fight later on.
No I hadn’t noticed at all.
Mind you I have no use for the Owe-limp-icks whatsoever and am scrupulously avoiding watching any of it (except for youtube clips highlighting hotties with nice tight butts)
They should rename them the Islamic games after their new found hero’s.
Olympic air pistol and Pentathlon is being shot with laser pointers this year. Air pistol is already fully wussified, and the scoring is strictly from Barney the purple dinosaur school. “I love you, you love me!”
But laser pointers? Why not twirl a ribbon on a stick at it?
And don’t get me started on Olympic fencing. Gad! Those guys have PhDs in gaming the scoring system, half of them couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
My favorite though is the Chinese girl that swam the last 50 meters of a 400m race faster than the male 50 meter record. Cheating much? That poor girl’s health is in serious jeopardy from whatever crazy sh1t they pumped her up with, better believe it. I do not want to see kids like that flaming out for national propaganda, thanks.
I can proudly say I have watched -zero- coverage except what’s been unavoidably forced on me in public places. Barf.
If I had my way, no public money would be spent on the Olympics in Canada. Not a dime. No national teams, no taxpayer funded training centers, nada. If kids want to train and go to this Big Brother farce, let their mums and dads pay the shot.
I always look forward to the Olympics, but I find the coverage is lousy for the same reasons that RW in Big C stated at 1:55 PM: Too much talk, too many “slick ‘human interest’ pieces”, and not nearly enough extended and settled-in coverage of the events.
What coverage there is tends to jump from one event to another; they show little snippets and highlights but don’t let you get into the flow of the events. It’s good for people who have the attention span of a tree shrew, but for actual fans of the sporting events it’s incredibly annoying; it’s like going to a restaurant where they take your plate away after one bite, and then replace it with another dish which you only get one bite of…
I’m hoping that at some point in the future they’ll be able to open up other channels for use and broadcast a particular event at length, so that you can watch the boxing competition (for example) as it unfolds in real time, instead of seeing one match every twelve hours — and that’s if you’re lucky enough to catch it by accident.
The olympics has been feminized? I hadn’t noticed.
What I do know is that the IOC is dirty and corrupt.
Is there still widespread cheating in every sport?
It’s all small town cheap nationalism disguised as sport.
Haven’t watched in years…. but might reconsider if UFC becomes an event.
I disagree. I have a decent cable service and my coverage is magnificent, and without individual cable ppv. I am getting Olympics coverage on most of those channels and internet as good s ever. We all know that the 8-12 evening is going to be for the ladies. Good for them. I watch and record all day long and have no complaints.
The Phantom at July 31, 2012 10:35 PM
Paint ball teams, man.
The original Olympics were supposed to simulate war exercises, the way to resurrect the Olympics in the 21st century is to re-emphasize the martial aspects.
*pause*
LOL
OK, lets talk turkey.
The Olympics are Elite sports with Elite athletes watched on site by Global Elites paid for by taxes on the backs of common people ostensibly designed to interest the common people through nationalist sentiments, diverting them from how badly they are being mis-governed.
WTF??!??!
In every nation on earth the MSM and industrial dumbing down schools have been trying to indoctrinate a visceral hatred for elites in the common people(class warfare) and bleed any sense of national pride or patriotism(jingoism) from the ranks of the commoners in favour of one world government and a sense of being a member of the ‘Global Village’.
The Olympic Spirit, and I mean the real Olympic Spirit born of intra-national competition + good sportsmanship is, like it or not, Dead-as-Dad’s-Old-Hat band.
And we’re I dick ebersol I think I probably would have done the same thing. He and NBC are in the entertainment bisiness and they are in it to make money.
Check out their ratings. And go watch the boxing somewhere else.
I personally hate the schlock almost as much as I hate the plantation economics and gold-plated corruption of the IOC. This I watch the Olympics sparingly – marvelling at some of the athletic ability but more often than not I turn it off after about ten minutes.
As for the sports that people actually watch, note that men’s soccer is already just for U23 and that both basketball and hockey (and tennis?) are considering the same so they can have a world cup where they – the players and the leagues they are ckntracted to get the money not the IOC. If that happens the Olympics will return to being largely about games and feats that no one watches but once every four years…
Oz said: “The Olympic Spirit, and I mean the real Olympic Spirit born of intra-national competition + good sportsmanship is, like it or not, Dead-as-Dad’s-Old-Hat band.”
YES! Yes it is. Dead and buried by Adolph Hitler in 1936 if you ask me.Its stinking zombie corpse got dug up in 1948 for the Cold War and has been shambling through modern culture ever since, jazzed into movement by an unholy combination of propaganda and steroids.
The spirit of good natured competition lives on at the X-Games of course, a purely COMMERCIAL enterprise put on for filthy profit and attended by adrenaline junkies who lend each other gear during events.
You can also find the spirit of international, inter-cultural fun and sportsmanship alive and well on You-tube, of all places. Kids from everywhere are posting video of themselves dancing or singing to see who can do the most faithful rendition of Happy Synthesizer. This is the silliest, funnest thing I’ve seen in ages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsu9YOlEhUA
I for one am on the edge of my seat over the womens badminton scandal.