With a Conservative government he knows he has to put out if he wants any more aid.

As for the rest of the country, very, very few people give a flying f*ck about how “our” teams do. My Chinese friends are following China’s performances and everyone else is more or less “meh.”

<blockquote>They hand out medals like candy to Michael Phelps for

Heaven forbid we Canadians want to be able to express pride our country.

“IN our country”.

Dammit.

Heaven forbid we Canadians want to be able to express pride our country.

Note the “all good humor” disclaimer. I’m not actually down on anyone who is hoping Canada’s athletes win a medal or two; not at all.

I do get a little sick of reading Canadians (and maybe you don’t do this, so it doesn’t include you) talking about how the CBC’s admittedly way more diverse programming is just a sign that USAians, unique in all the world, are absolutely laser-focused on their own athletes and nothing else.

It may be true, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get tired of hearing it.

Well, they give out precisely one gold medal for doing that. It’s called the decathlon, and it takes two days: the same amount of time it takes for Phelps to qualify and win three gold medals.

Has a decathlete ever had a better performance in the individual sport than the winner of the individual event has had? I see your point on the differences/lack thereof between 100m and 400m in the pool, though.

And I was actually speaking the opposite about the breaststroke vs. backstroke: They use different muscle sets and success in one is not a precursor to success in the other. I chose those advisedly; freestyle and butterfly have a lot more similarity to each other, for example.

Sweden so far has three medals, two of which were pretty damn surprising, and the other one the wrestler who won it (a bronze) stepped down from the podium, walked out on the mat, dropped his medal and left in protest. Not against Tibet or anything, just against the fact that he didn’t win.

I get the impression that the complaint/point is that the USA coverage is unique in its complete and utter focus only on the USA.  Yes, other countries focus more on their own athletes than those of other countries, but not to the exclusion of everything else.  In the UK, for example, we’ve been hearing a lot about Michael Phelps.

I could be talking complete bollocks of course, since I have never seen the US coverage, or indeed the Olympics coverage of any other country than the UK.

With the greatest good humor I observe that sports self-centeredness isn’t quite as uniquely (US of) American as some people believe.

Of course it isn’t.

Exhibit A: The World Cup.

it’s clearly easier for swimmers to walk away with a huge medal haul than for any other sport.

Please, please, please train as an Olympic caliber swimmer for four years and then tell me how fucking easy it is.

My wife has been watching, I just don’t care about it anymore.  That said, this Canada thing came up at some point during one of the broadcasts and I tried to put it in perspective, as much for myself as for her.

So you don’t win one of the top three medals.  So maybe you come in fith, or seventh or whatever.  So you and the country you represent are the seventh best person in the entire fucking world in that sport.  Yeah, that’s something to hang your head in shame about.

Honestly, this biggest dick contest of who has the most medals really misses the whole point of the olympics doesn’t it?  Maybe that’s another reason I don’t give a shit about the olympics anymore.  I thought the whole thing was about international competition and the bringing together of all the nations.  I don’t know, I must be nuts.

Oh, and NBC’s coverage, terrible.  I guess there’s only four sports in the summer olympics these days.  I wonder what happened to all that other stuff.  Maybe they stopped awarding medals in the other events so who cares?

Oh, and NBC’s coverage, terrible.  I guess there’s only four sports in the summer olympics these days.

I can’t stand this ritual where we’re expected to care about gymnastics all of a sudden, just because there’s an Olympics on. In any case, the webcast offerings are quite extensive and make up for the fact that there’s nothing on TV.

“Monopolisation” is a good way to describe the distinction between American coverage of the Olympics and many other countries.  We’re not only singularly focused on our athletes, but on our athletes who are heavy favorites to win medals.  Why is NBC broadcasting hours of preliminary beach volleyball matches in primetime (while ignoring proper indoor volleyball)?  Because it’s virtually guaranteed to produce American wins.  There are Americans competing in just about every sport, but some of them may not win, and that seems like an unfathomable possibility for the Peacock network.

Anyway, rooting the USA in international sports is like rooting for the Yankees; even if you can plead residency, you’re still kind of lame for doing it.

Honestly, this biggest dick contest of who has the most medals really misses the whole point of the olympics doesn’t it?  Maybe that’s another reason I don’t give a shit about the olympics anymore.  I thought the whole thing was about international competition and the bringing together of all the nations.  I don’t know, I must be nuts.

Is it?  I thought it was a giant expression of nationalism.  A way for countries to prove who has the biggest dick without having to whip out the guns and start shooting.  One of those “civilizing” things that lets us channel our nationalism and aggression into something that is, if not healthy, at least not destructive.

Of course, I’ve never been a big fan of the Olympics, so I’m probably horribly biased.

Being in Canada, I can say that all the noise about not winning any medals so far is coming from the anchors and not from any Canadian I know of.

The sentiment expressed is more of, “I feel sad for them after training so hard” and “it sucks!”

Why is NBC broadcasting hours of preliminary beach volleyball matches in primetime (while ignoring proper indoor volleyball)?  Because it’s virtually guaranteed to produce American wins.

Um, beach volleyball isn’t the example I would use to prove your point.  NBC would, in all likelihood, broadcast hours and hours of beach volleyball in primetime even if the US were ranked dead last in the world.  Or at least they’d broadcast hours and hours of women’s beach volleyball.  Which is a sad statement on NBC, American TV viewing habits, and the Olympics in general.  But I’m 99.99999% positive that it’s a true one.

Please, this is nothing unique to the US. Over the pond in the UK our olympics set up gets set goals for where we come in the medal table, and funding is directed to sports where we win medals.

Maybe we aren’t quite as bad with coverage, but its not that different. The big sports (athletics) get covered, as do achievers like Phelps. For the rest, its all UK all the time (We will show highlights of the 3/8 heats with British competitors in, for example). We do have more time for our losers than you, it would seem from the above, which doesn’t suprise.

As for obscure sports- we cover them where Brits win, same as any other nation thats not America. So rowwing, 3-day eventing, yachting in, table-tennis, archery, Taekwondo out.

Personally I wish we didn’t bother, we spend so much on elite atheletes- if the sport can’t pay for them to be full time with a training team, then its probably because nobody cares and the moneys just for the medal table, and stuff that.

One of the great shames of us throwing £12 billion at the olympics is the amount that is going to get snatched from grassroots sports in poor areas to build sports arenas in the capital, half of which are going to get disassembled because nobody actually wants to watch that sport.

“I chose those advisedly; freestyle and butterfly have a lot more similarity to each other, for example”

And, not coincidentally, freestyle and butterfly are the two strokes Phelps competes in, except for the individual medley.  He’s a great swimmer, but the truth is that it’s easier for swimmers to have large medal hauls.  Not easy; none of it’s easy; but easier than for a distance runner or even a sprinter.

I have admired the Canadian Olympic effort since I learned about dressage rider Ian Millar - sixty-one-year-old dressage rider Ian Millar, in his ninth Olympics.  It’s not quite as impressive as the thirty-three-year-old German gymnast (the stress a sport puts on the body has to be considered in comparing athletes from different sports), but it’s pretty darn impressive.

As a good, international-minded, mildly self-flagellating American, I used to largely accept the notion that Americans are uniquely parochial and jingoistic when it comes to covering and watching international sports competitions. 

And then I moved to London, where I lived during the 2002 Winter Games and World Cup, and let me tell you: what a load of crap.

Great Britain sucks at the Winter Games, so they were largely treated as a nonevent—except for Women’s Curling, where Great Britain was a medal contender, and so were covered in loving detail.

As for the 2002 World Cup, which England had high hopes of winning before the tournament began: if you think that American displays of enthusiasm for its national teams during the Olympics are unseemly “jingoism,” I don’t know what word you’d use to describe English enthusiasm for its men’s football team during major international competitions.  It seemed like every other building in jaded, cosmopolitan central London had the St. George’s cross hanging in the window, and the city ground to a halt during England’s games.  It went way beyond the enthusiasm that most Americans display during the Olympics; the best American analogy would be a college town with a good football team the week before a big rivalry game.  I’m sure the same is true of most of the rest of the world during big international soccer competitions, and Canada during big international hockey competitions.

So, no, Americans are not uniquely self-centered when it comes to cheering for national teams.  And while I’m no fan of NBC’s “up close and personal” style of Olympics coverage, it’s no longer really fair to criticize NBC’s overall coverage as too US-centric.  That might be true if you insist on watching only NBC itself.  But NBC is also broadcasting hours and hours of coverage on USA, MSNBC, CNBC and other channels, and that coverage routinely shows competition not including US athletes.

Does Canada cover more than just its home girls and boys? Maybe they take a pool feed to save money. over sending a buttload of cameramen, producers, and commentators. All I know I was able to compare CBC coverage of the Sydney Olympics to NBC coverage. Let’s just say I saw a lot more Steve Nash on the CBC than on NBC. As far as coverage goes, nobody covers the shooting events, except for the biathlon in winter.

In the UK, for example, we’ve been hearing a lot about Michael Phelps.

On the other hand, we in the States have been hearing a lot about competitors from other countries who are favored to win in the events we care about, especially to folks who are favored to beat us.  For instance in women’s swimming, Liesel Jones (Australia) and Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe).  Though I don’t think they get any press over and above the simple fact of being The One To Beat. 

What I’ve always been annoyed at is that there’s only TV coverage of the sports Americans tend to do well at.  You can’t decide to tune into Judo or Cycling, well, too bad so sad.  Which is especially in an embarrassing in an era when there are a gazillion TV channels, including several channels dedicated solely to sports, and with the new digital scheme, there’s even a specially dedicated sports channel for each of the major networks.  We should be able to see every team play every sport, no problem.

But NBC is also broadcasting hours and hours of coverage on USA, MSNBC, CNBC and other channels, and that coverage routinely shows competition not including US athletes.

And The Opoponax is officially proved to be talking out of her ass…

He’s just whoring for some money. Because the Olympics is such a good role model for the kids. Teaching them about winning at all costs, drugs, etc.

I’d rather see kids play video games…

Heaven forbid we Canadians want to be able to express pride our country.

Neither pride nor shame is appropriate for anything that one is not personally and directly responsible for.  I can’t understand how Americans can live in a country that many of them have converted to a fetish object, where according to political inclination one must be either fervently proud or fervently ashamed of so many things out of one’s control. It seems an exhausting and ultimately futile exercise, like masturbating 24 hours a day.

Someone beat me to the point other NBC channels are covering more and more diverse sports.  However, my husband keeps telling me what I’m missing as I only get NBC at the hotel where I am staying.  And per him, CCTV beats them all for China coverage, being the Chinese propaganda tv channel for English speakers.

Because the Olympics is such a good role model for the kids.

You know, I actually think the Olympics are a good role model for kids.  Especially American kids.  Not so much in an athletic sense, but in a global sense.  I remember first really being aware of the fact that other countries exist, America is not necessarily the best at everything all the time, and similar sorts of concepts via the ‘88 and ‘92 Olympics.  Especially big for me in ‘92 (I was 11) were all the narrative tie-ins to the fall of the Iron Curtain.  It was really one of the only ways, as a kid growing up in the conservative rural South, that I could understand that peace might really be possible somewhere and somehow, progress can be made, and Teh Evul Commeeeeeez: We Mussss Bom Dem! is not the only valid foreign policy stance.

It also used to be one of the few ways to see women playing non-cutesy sports, though that’s changed since I was a kid with the popularity of the WNBA and women’s soccer and NBC’s obsession with Beach Volleyball.

(Even though I’ve always liked gymnastics and always will, so there.  I’ve also noticed this year that some of the women are starting to actually look like healthy adult women again, and not like artificially pre-pubescent bodybuilder mutants.)

Minor nitpick. Canadian equestrian Ian Millar competes in show jumping, not dressage.

(Sorry, equestrian obsess.. er… enthusiast here.)

Yep, my mistake.  I’m blaming NBC for never showing equestrian events at any time when I can watch them, and for not having a video format I can view on my computer.
The coverage of the all-around gymnastics finals were especially irritating - “Here’s a U.S. gymnast, and here’s a Chinese gymnast and, oh, yes, in the background, that might be a German gymnast vaulting, but you probably don’t care.”
I felt especially sorry for the Brazilian beach-volleyball women.  The country abbreviation goes across the front of the top of the uniform, so the Brazilian team had, writ large across their chests, “BRA 1” and “BRA 2”.  Very, very unfortunate placement.

The coverage of the all-around gymnastics finals were especially irritating - “Here’s a U.S. gymnast, and here’s a Chinese gymnast and, oh, yes, in the background, that might be a German gymnast vaulting, but you probably don’t care.”

Totally.  I get that the way the competition is organized, it’s difficult to follow different groups of competitors and manage to keep much if any of the coverage live, but some effort could be made.  And they did manage to show the top Romanian competitor, who was obviously in a different group from the rest of the women they showed—they also covered both Russians who were in the same group as the Americans and Chinese, even though neither was remotely a medal contender.

I also generally hated the way that the commentators kept getting overly freaked out about what they suspected to be biased judging against the Americans, even though both Americans medalled (which is pretty much unheard of for the US).  And would go into orgasmic rapture at the performances of the Americans, even when their routines weren’t necessarily exceptional, but would overcriticize the other athletes or give backhanded compliments like implying that the performance was pretty good, you know, for such an easy peasy routine…  They were also a big fan of reminding everyone how such and such Chinese gymnast fell embarrassingly at such and such prior event, or how the Chinese were involved in this age faking controversy even though both of the competitors from China seemed likely to be of age.

Rooting for your country is one thing, but suggesting foul play and being unsportsmanlike about the other competitors is beyond the pale, sorry.

really, I’ve been most impressed with South Korea. They’d been steadily in third for days, and while they’re now in fifth on the medal count, the only ones ahead of them are places like the US, Russia, China, with literally dozens the size of population.

Although Australia is also doing a great showing too, just now edging out Korea for 4th, and they have half the population of Korea. Good showing, Kiwis!

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yes, I did that just to see if I’d get a rise out of any Australians or New Zealanders.

Equestrian is shown pretty much every day between 6-8 pm on Oxygen.  CNBC has about 6 hours of boxing every day.  MSNBC and USA are showing lots of rowing, indoor volleyball, tennis, badminton, weightlifting, and, yes, women’s beach volleyball (but not just the US team).  NBC actually has water polo during the day, and they covered an hour or so of the cycling road races (I wish they’d sold that off to Versus or something so we could see it all, though).  UniversalHD is actually showing 24-hour high definition coverage, although most of it is just an HD feed of the CNBC and MSNBC coverage.  The rest is not nearly as US-centric as the main coverage, though. 

As much as I dislike the NBC prime time coverage, the rest of the NBC family is doing a great job with the Olympics.  It might be nice to see archery, shooting, judo, taekwondo, and fencing (other than women’s sabre, the least interesting event, which was only shown because of the US medals sweep), but they’re all available on the NBC website without commentary. 

My major beef so far is that the NBC channels are showing WAY too much baseball and softball.  I love baseball (not so much softball), but Olympic baseball is idiotic, and the games take up a huge block of airtime that could be much better spent.  I find myself cheering against the US teams here just so NBC can move to more interesting sports.

I’d rather see kids play video games…

you’ve never actually watched Pro-level gaming, have you?

you learn 2 things. one: the only expression anyone has on their faces during gaming is this creepy blank stare, and two: racial segregation in sports is acceptable when you’re talking about Starcraft. The leagues really are Koreans in one league, and everyone else in the other.

Also, “hardcore” gaming is actually horrible for the enviroment and health. I enjoy video games a lot, but your average MMO gamer has a 3 times larger carbon footprint than a nongamer.

They’ve shown some of the archery, some of the shooting (and the South Korean women’s archery team has the most amazing shoulder coverings - one of them has this round little cartoon panda, pink, holding up a heart with “LOVE” written in it; one of the others has an equally-cute yellow bear).  Unfortunately, the coverage on Oxygen is exactly at put-the-kids-to-bed-time, which means the TV needs to be off.  I forgive them the baseball coverage; how else would I know that there’s a U.S. baseball player with the last name of Teagarden?  Teagarden!  Isn’t that the most wonderful last name ever?
There is some evidence that two of the Chinese girls are underage for Olympics competition.  There is also a history: Yang Yun, who was on the bronze-medal-winning Chinese team in Sydney in 2000, later said she had been fourteen at that Olympics.  The commentators’ efforts could better be put to use in explaining the exact skills and exact difficulties of those skills, rather than generally saying “Oh, that was difficult” and, well, cooing.  And why, during the periods when there’s only one channel showing the Olympics and the viewer doesn’t have the option of going elsewhere, must they do puff pieces?  Surely there’s sports somewhere, even if it’s sports without Michael Phelps?
Does anyone know the exact explanation as to why Hong Kong competes separately from China?

[M]an-fish hybrids should not be allowed to compete, and that fucker’s part-fish.

Speciesist

The Aussies have a point when they consider the 1500m the blue riband event of the gala.

IMO a lot of that is just machismo—“Real men swim distance.”

[I]f you’re watching on the peacock network, you’ll know the precise contours of Misty May’s ass by the time next weekend comes around.

You say that like it’s a bad thing

I’ve also noticed this year that some of the women [gymnasts] are starting to actually look like healthy adult women again, and not like artificially pre-pubescent bodybuilder mutants.

With the notable exception of the Chinese team.  Hence, all the controversy.

NBC prime time coverage

NBC has a target audience, and it tailors the prime-time show to hit that audience.  End of story.

Teagarden!  Isn’t that the most wonderful last name ever?

I kinda like the Italian soccer player named “Acquafresca”.

With the notable exception of the Chinese team.

Actually, I think the Chinese team (well, the ones who are old enough to be there) are part of the positive change, actually.  They tend to look pretty much like petite Chinese women, not like they’ve had their growth deliberately capped at 4 feet.  It might just be that none of them has a stocky body type that puts on a lot of bulky muscle mass—because that was what made the American women of years past look so strange.  The face of an adult, the height and frame of a 9 year old, and the muscle mass of Schwartzeneger.  Nastia Liukin is another part of the change—she looks pretty much like I did when I was 18.  Well, if I’d been even vaguely athletic.  She even has breasts and everything.

karped, you’re a fucking idiot, as are most of the people that have posted here.  People have a look on their face while playing video games because they f’ing NEED to be looking. Given that it’s pretty much the most important aspect of what they’re doing, you can expect it to be the most intense part.

Also, so…apparently having any national pride is evil as sunsin said?  Fuck that.  You’re fucking stupid.  There’s no reason to reply to shit like that with logic because it’s laughable. You’re a stupid fuck who is capable of no feelings outside of your stupid self-centered self.  That’s basically all you’re saying. So I’m pleased to leave it at that.

Also, if none have you have noticed yet, James Fallows owned all of you on this subject 24 hours before this post.

Also, if none have you have noticed yet, James Fallows owned all of you on this subject 24 hours before this post.

James Fallows?

The James Fallows who was a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter?

The James Fallows who said the all-volunteer army was doomed to failure, just before it won three wars in a row?

The James Fallows who said Japan was an irresistible economic powerhouse, months before it fell into an economic slump lasting decades, from which it still has not fully recovered?

When has that guy ever been right about anything?

Given that it’s pretty much the most important aspect of what they’re doing, you can expect it to be the most intense part.

Wait.  So we’re meant to believe that an activity where staring at a screen is held up as some sort of great feat of superhuman awesomeness is better than the athletic achievements displayed at the Olympics? 

Life pretty much blows chunks chez Andrew, doesn’t it?

Minor nitpick. Canadian equestrian Ian Millar competes in show jumping, not dressage.

(Sorry, equestrian obsess.. er… enthusiast here.)

And he rode the Best Horse Ever, three Olympics in a row.

Seriously, Big Ben has a good claim to the status of one of Canada’s best Olympic athletes.

As to the coverage: yes, CBC is pretty good, but they do focus relentlessly on the events Canadians compete in—although they’re happily covering athletics, which has few if any Canadians.

The Jamacians, on the other hand, are *awesome*. Just blazingly, delightfully, *awesome*.