Actually, at least John Tesh didn't go looking for drama where there wasn't any. I can't tell you how many times I yell at him to shut up when I watch gymnastics on NBC. I imagine that both Tim and Elfie are rolling their eyes as much as I am at his so-called "commentary." :rolleyes:

The opening ceremony itself was spectacular, and that little boy was too sweet, especially walking alongside Yao Min. However, in terms of the actual torch lighting, to me, it still doesn't hold a candle (pun not intended) to Barcelona in 1992.

Yes, you have it right.

Yeah, that was cool.

I think my personal favorite is still Lillehammer though.

And others wish there would be no commercials during (fill in the blank).

How do you (all) suppose that they recoup the hundreds of millions of dollars in rights fees, production costs, equipment purchase and rental, crews, satellite transmission, travel and all of the other associated costs?

Like it or not, television is a business.

I think for me the thing that really burned this year was that in combination with skipping through some of the countries, they outright insulted them or didn't even bother to announce their name for 2 seconds.

Grrr!

I hate this stupid tape delay crap we get on the West Coast. I'm up and excited to watch the prelims of the gymnastics competition but I can't b/c it's tape delayed. I'll get highlights sometime tomorrow. Instead, I'm continuously getting updates from a website since I can't find a live feed anywhere. I'm not computer savvy. :(

It appeared to me that they did their best to play, albeit very short, pieces of video of the teams that came in during commercial breaks as they returned from the commercial cutins.

Given my thoughts on the financial situation I commented on above, I don't know how much more they could have done.

But, my experience as a sports broadcaster is that no matter how something is handled on TV, somebody's going to be ticked off.

As a former colleague used to say, "They'd be mad if you hung 'em with a new rope." I don't know what more to say.

I didn't think Bob Costas and NBC were trying to insult the small nations as much as remind everyone over and over about the Olympic spirit. Most athletes have no shot at a medal but they compete because of what it means to them and their countries.

They brought up the swimmer from the teeny country that didn't have any competitive swimmers. Nine months before the 2004(?) Olympics he learned to swim. In competition he fell behind by almost an etire pool length. But he kept swimming and the competitors and audience cheered him on like he was going for first place.

That's the type of thing it's all about!

I remember this so vividly but I can't remember for the life of me what country he was from -any ideas?? It's been bugging me since the games started!

Eric Moussambani...I think.

You are correct. He was from Equatorial Guinea

And she starts out with a Silver Medal.

Outstanding.

I keep laughing that people are accusing her of doping.

I'm def. pulling for Shawn Johnson and Nastia L. in women's gymnastics and for men i'm def. pulling for Raj (he's AMAZING)!!!

NBC's medical expert, Dr. somebody, did a story on doping that played this afternoon. The USOC (or maybe the IOC) has begun a new program of voluntary urine and blood tests taken every week or two in order to help set up some kind of genetic profile to better enforce anti-doping in the future.

She is one of the volunteers.

I'm watching the gymnastics right now... supposedly the "competition age" is 16. Those Chinese girls look 9!

Great gymnastics work though

That's what she said in an interview. Michael Phelps is another volunteer.

The girl that fell off the bars is as much 16 as I am 29.
Ok, so I'm 29 and holding.

Bela Karolyi agrees with you.

China needs to do a better job keeping track of their forgery.


Those girls are NOT 16. Hell no. I wouldn't be surprised if come 2012, those same girls appear again but with their ages modified. :rolleyes:
Seriously. The age thing sucks but you can't prove their real ages if the government controls every aspect of their training.

about being on the west coast and not being able to watch gymnastics because of the delays have you tried nbcolympics.com? they have live feeds for basically all the sports (personally i'm watching it because they didn't really give the Romanians much gymnastics much coverage-even though it's clearly between U.S. and China i still like to see the other countries)...

Am I the only one that nearly lost it when Nastia fell during her dismount from the bars?? It also sucks about Sam P. not being able to contribute more than bars because of her ankle hopefully USA can pull it together.

And as far as China those girls are NOWHERE near 16.. my guess is that they're all between 9 and 14

I did see that too. Maybe he realizes that he is in the company of other types of athletes who also exhibit greatness in their respective sports.

The U.S. men got it together against the Dutch and tied 2-2, although they should've won. A tie or win for sure gets them through to the next round.

I found it interesting that powerhouse soccer-mad Brazil has never won an Olympic gold medal.

As for those Chinese girls, they are SO NOT 16. If they're 16, I'm 21. :p
It's pretty sad that they are that desperate to win a gold medal that they would push these children so hard. Look at a 17 year old gymnast from any other country & compare it to a 16 year old Chinese gymnast. Major differences.

Yeah I agree. I'm fairly sure that they restrict the girl's diets and such to help them stay small, which delays the onset of puberty (since you don't menstruate once you hit a certain low weight/body fat %), which stunts their growth and keeps them small.

the 400m freestyle relay was AMAZING. The french were caught talking smack, but the US boys rocked it out by .2 seconds, beating the world record by 4 seconds. Awesome!

LOL yes...I loved it!!! Shows what happens when you talk smack!

I actually meant to say to compare a 16 year old from any other county to a 16 year old from China. Still, the point is the same.

It's sad that they do these things to these poor girls just for the sake of winning.

whoohoo
that was a RACE!!!

that was sooooo awesome!!!!

That was amazing!!!! I don't even usually watch the swimming, but that is Olympic history right there! GO USA!

ACTUALLY... it was .08 of a second, and sort of luck, in regards to where the swimmers were in their stroke when they got to their board... but to watch that last second comeback... amazing!!!

That race was truly awesome!!!:D

Just found out that Barbara Bachman was downgraded to serious from critical - and that she in an AOII from U of Minnesota.

I'm just not getting any sleep.

So Excited!!! My friends Sally, Debby and Carrie are currently tied for 3rd with the Austrians with 6 races under their belts and 4 more to go! Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Word is that the conditions are dicey - very little wind with huge current so they sometimes feel they are going backwards, all it takes is making the wrong choice as to which side to go up and the entire fleet can get inverted - In the first race they went from 2nd at the 3rd mark to 14th by the finish.

AND YES that relay was so exciting!! My husband and I whooped so loud when they won that it scared my dogs to death!!!

I read this morning that her condition has improved, but I'm sure the rest of the country will still be praying for her and for her family. :(

We're six hours behind the East Coast, so it's hard as hell not to read the updates or pay attention to the tickers on the sports channels. Hell, we were watching the LLWS West Regionals and we knew about the 4x100 win 4 hours before it was aired here. :mad:

Putting all that political crap aside, I'm very proud of China and her people. They've been very supportive of athletes of all nations, not just their own, they should be commended for that.

Even my husband, who hates watching women's gymnastics said, "I don't for one second believe that these girls are 16. Not possible."

Total BS if you ask me...but hey, China, go ahead and falsify your stuff...:rolleyes:

For any gymnasts who don't medal, they can go and get jobs in Cirque du Soleil afterwards. :)