* After a week of the Beijing Games, I'm more convinced than ever that the saturation coverage - 18000 hours on 45 stations! - is one of the worst things that ever happened to the Olympics. The average viewer is left with the nightly coverage on NBC, and they're doing a horrendous job - just sucking the drama out of nearly every event they cover. And as far as NBC is concerned, there are only 5 sports being contested in this Olympics. It's a classic case of more is less - sure there is more to see if you have 18 hours a day to sit in front of your TV, but the magic of the games is a casualty as a result. In their nightly broadcasts, NBC isn't even trying to give viewers the full flavor of what is going on in Beijing - and the program (not to mention the viewer) suffers as a result.
* I really don't understand how Beach Volleyball became one of the handful of sports that was granted a pass to appear nightly on the NBC telecasts. Sure, I get that Walsh and May-Treanor have great bodies and all, and their story is somewhat compelling - although not as much as NBC would have us believe. And sure, these are great athletes - no argument there. But with all due respect to enthusiasts of the sport, it's boring - deadly boring. As far as I can tell, there are a limited number of possibilities on each play, and there isn't enough strategy involved in the game to make up for the monotony of the play. I love watching "regular" Volleyball, but have totally tuned out when the beach version comes on.
* Sports Illustrated has an incredible set of photos of Phelps' miracle finish up on SI.Com. It's one of the most amazing things you'll ever see - and underscores how miraculous the victory really was. Without today's technology, there's no question that the judges would have awarded the victory to Cavic. And no one would have been the wiser.
1 comment:
Wow, the frame-by-frame makes your head spin with amazement!
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