Beijing: 08-08-2008

[BetteDavisEyes]

I was annoyed at some stupid comment Bob Costas was making about one country (I forgot which one) that criticized NBC for cutting away when they came out at the last Olympics thus, their countrymen were unable to cheer for their athletes as they were announced b/c of a stupid commercial.

[ZTABullwinkle]

Originally Posted by breathesgelatin

This DOES bug.

I was bugged by a lot of the comments during the parade of nations.

For example, the announcer said at one point... "The Central African Republic is a republic in Central Africa" with little to no sense of irony. UM, WHAT?

There were a lot of comments that I perceived as demeaning made about smaller nations. It was really offensive to me. Some of the poorest commentating I've seen at an opening ceremony. On par with John Tesh commentating gymnastics at the Atlanta games... oh, the horror!

Ugh! I remember John Tesh. Unfortunately, Al Trautwig is no better! He is always looking for the drama. Gymnastics is drama-filled enough, no need to go hunting for it!

Originally Posted by BetteDavisEyes

I was annoyed at some stupid comment Bob Costas was making about one country (I forgot which one) that criticized NBC for cutting away when they came out at the last Olympics thus, their countrymen were unable to cheer for their athletes as they were announced b/c of a stupid commercial.

He was talking about Canada.

[RedefinedDiva]

Originally Posted by ZTABullwinkle

He was talking about Canada.

He was actually talking about a little country that comes immediately before or after Canada in alphabetical order. However, since China has no such thing as alphabetical order, the country came in a lot sooner. I can't remember the name of the country, but it was really small.

I remember visualizing people sitting around their TV sets, holding flags and waiting to see their countrymen, only to get a tiny snippet of them when NBC returned from commercials. Maybe I was being too sentimental or dramatic, but Bob Costas REPEATEDLY said himself that some of these people don't advance or even make it anywhere near getting metals. So, it's safe to presume that their country will never see them compete. The least they could do is show the folks entering Olympic Stadium waving their country's flag proudly. I don't know much about advertising dollars and all that good stuff, but I thought once or twice that NBC surely could have aired the Parade of Nations with no or limited interruption.

[DaffyKD]

Originally Posted by ZTABullwinkle

He was talking about Canada.

He was talking about the Cayman Islands who entered the stadium immediately behind Canada. They did cut to a commercial right after the Cayman Islands came in.

I wish they would quit doing commercials during the entrance of the countries. I love to see how all the countries dress and see the size of their teams, their timing makes it feel like some of these countries are not "worthy" of our note. As was mentioned several times, some countries have teams that know they basically have no chance of winning medals, so the entrance into the stadium is their shining moment. Why cut them out of that one small moment?

Well, off my soap box. I am really frustrated since the events are delayed almost a day here and they they call it "Live" coverage .

DaffyKD

[CutiePie2000]

Originally Posted by DaffyKD

He was talking about the Cayman Islands who entered the stadium immediately behind Canada. They did cut to a commercial right after the Cayman Islands came in.

Yes, you have it right.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by DaffyKD

I wish they would quit doing commercials during the entrance of the countries.

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.

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

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.

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by breathesgelatin

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.

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.