So I Like the Olympics!
If you asked 10 people before the Olympics whether or not they were going to watch, I will bet you 9 of them would have said no. The 10th one wouldn't have even responded; he or she would have just given you a look that said, "You're crazy." All we heard before this thing started was, "Nobody's going to watch the Olympics, it's all old-people stuff, they're just going to use it as an excuse to pump up patriotism and it's gonna be one big thing about 9-11" and on and on. Apparently, people had grown tired of tributes to the victims of September 11. This was shown when U2 performed at halftime of the Super Bowl, a moving tribute to the victims, very uplifting and heart warming, the message I got: "They didn't die in vain." The critics did not share my opinion; I saw days of vicious attacks saying that U2 was using the tragedy for their own gain, that they all went overboard, and best (or worst) of all, it was a disservice to the victims. So, I guess, we won't see any big memorial services or tributes come next September 11, as they would of course also be "a disservice to the victims". Anyway, I'm straying from the topic...
We all changed our minds when we saw the Opening Ceremonies last Friday night, or at least enough of us did that the thing got record high ratings. We saw the World Trade Center flag carried into the stadium, and we collectively held our tongues on whether or not it was appropriate, we just took it all in. And it was great, great spectacle, everything an opening ceremony usually is, we just need to be reminded of this every four years. Really, the cynicism of the Olympics came from the whole debacle from NBC's coverage of the Sydney Olympics two years earlier. The whole thing carried on tape delay because of the time difference, sports reporters (like me) gleefully giving out all the results long before the events landed on your TV set, the country as a whole just decided to watch something else, and it was as if the games never happened.
This time around, you know darn well they're going on. It's the Rock 'n Roll Olympics. Concerts every night with Barenaked Ladies, Dave Matthews, etc. All the new events added in recent years, many dealing with the "swifter" and "higher" part of the Olympic motto. We collectively turned on the freestyle moguls competition and felt all of our knees buckle as we said as one, "DAMN, that's gotta hurt!!!" It's no shock when practically every entry in the competition was introduced with their name, the country they represented, and the number of knee operations they've had. We heard all the stories about in addition to the luge, we now were treated to the skeleton, an event where you go 90 mph down an icy tunnel downhill, FACE FIRST. This was all capped by the ultimate for me: a pair of Olympic figure skaters performing their short program to, of all things, PINK FLOYD!!! THEY'RE SKATING TO PINK F---ING FLOYD!!! YESSSS!!! ROCK AND ROLL, DUDE!!!
However, this has not sat well with the older generation that was always satisfied with the simple majesty that is the Olympic Games. It was well known before the games started that NBC was going to try its best to sell the younger segment of the population on the Olympics, as Generation X pretty much looked at the event as a series of melodramatic stories about athletes overcoming horrible obstacles (like a hangnail or something) sandwiched around a lot of prissy figure skaters. Well, NBC has succeeded, the younger viewers love it, the ratings are up, the strategy has worked... which of course means the older viewers are PISSED. TV critics, who average in age a good 20 years or more older than NBC's target demo this time around, are furious, claiming that NBC has gone and made this a prime time version of ESPN's Winter X Games. Once again, this proves that any time something is changed to reflect a shift toward a younger audience (and with it, a bigger audience), older people are guaranteed to raise hell over it. Just look at, well, every programming move WSYR has made since, hell, probably since Curly Vadeboncouer was running the place.
And then there's the whole flap over the pairs figure skating. Just goes to show you we can't go more than a few years without a new skating controversy. This time, it's over the judging of the long program, where the Russian pair and the Canadian pair were the favorites for the gold. The viewing public, both in Salt Lake City, and across the country, had gone ga-ga over the Canadian couple; they're attractive, and pretty much from the moment they accidentally fell over bowing to the judges the other night and started cracking up laughing, they had our hearts. They skate a virtually flawless program, and they get... four 5.9s from the judges. Meanwhile, the Russians got seven 5.9s despite what commentators and analysts like Scott Hamilton (who, believe me, knows a mistake when he sees one) described as several small errors in their program. Well, the crowd reacted just like any sports crowd in these parts do whenever injustice arises. They booed like it was Philadelphia and Kobe Bryant just walked in the place (or Santa Claus, for that matter).
And what was the initial reaction of the international community? Nope, not that there may be something wrong with the judges, it's "HOW DARE THOSE BOORISH AMERICANS BOO!!! SOMEBODY OUGHTA KICK THOSE BEER-SWILLING HEATHENS OUT OF THERE!!! SEE IF WE EVER HAVE ANOTHER OLYMPICS IN YOUR BACKWATER COUNTRY AGAIN!!!" Then, they took a step back, collected their thoughts, and realized, "Oh wait, there may actually be a problem here." Call it the international version of the huge outcry that erupted after the Cleveland Browns fans did their thing a couple months back. The focus of this controversy pretty much lies on the French and Russian judges. The reasoning? Well, here is what I've deduced: the Russian judge is guilty for two reasons. First, the Russian judge ALWAYS scores funny. It's a running joke, whenever I go out with friends and they do something that we joke should be "scored", the line is always, "...but the Russian judge gave it a 5". Secondly, isn't it obvious... Russian judge, Russian skaters; doesn't take Boris and Natasha to figure that one out. And then there's the French judge. As far as I can tell on that one, that one is also because of two reasons. First, there's the whole Quebec thing. Second, the French hate us Americans, and since Canadians are practically Americans, they hate them too (call it guilt by association).
All I know is that when the ladies figure skating event comes, if that Russian skater, Slutovich or Slutski or whatever the "Slut"s name is, beats our darling Michelle Kwan, I'll be in front of my TV booing like you've never heard before. Hey, isn't it great that we're all rallying as a country for this? Isn't this what the Olympics is all about???
We all changed our minds when we saw the Opening Ceremonies last Friday night, or at least enough of us did that the thing got record high ratings. We saw the World Trade Center flag carried into the stadium, and we collectively held our tongues on whether or not it was appropriate, we just took it all in. And it was great, great spectacle, everything an opening ceremony usually is, we just need to be reminded of this every four years. Really, the cynicism of the Olympics came from the whole debacle from NBC's coverage of the Sydney Olympics two years earlier. The whole thing carried on tape delay because of the time difference, sports reporters (like me) gleefully giving out all the results long before the events landed on your TV set, the country as a whole just decided to watch something else, and it was as if the games never happened.
This time around, you know darn well they're going on. It's the Rock 'n Roll Olympics. Concerts every night with Barenaked Ladies, Dave Matthews, etc. All the new events added in recent years, many dealing with the "swifter" and "higher" part of the Olympic motto. We collectively turned on the freestyle moguls competition and felt all of our knees buckle as we said as one, "DAMN, that's gotta hurt!!!" It's no shock when practically every entry in the competition was introduced with their name, the country they represented, and the number of knee operations they've had. We heard all the stories about in addition to the luge, we now were treated to the skeleton, an event where you go 90 mph down an icy tunnel downhill, FACE FIRST. This was all capped by the ultimate for me: a pair of Olympic figure skaters performing their short program to, of all things, PINK FLOYD!!! THEY'RE SKATING TO PINK F---ING FLOYD!!! YESSSS!!! ROCK AND ROLL, DUDE!!!
However, this has not sat well with the older generation that was always satisfied with the simple majesty that is the Olympic Games. It was well known before the games started that NBC was going to try its best to sell the younger segment of the population on the Olympics, as Generation X pretty much looked at the event as a series of melodramatic stories about athletes overcoming horrible obstacles (like a hangnail or something) sandwiched around a lot of prissy figure skaters. Well, NBC has succeeded, the younger viewers love it, the ratings are up, the strategy has worked... which of course means the older viewers are PISSED. TV critics, who average in age a good 20 years or more older than NBC's target demo this time around, are furious, claiming that NBC has gone and made this a prime time version of ESPN's Winter X Games. Once again, this proves that any time something is changed to reflect a shift toward a younger audience (and with it, a bigger audience), older people are guaranteed to raise hell over it. Just look at, well, every programming move WSYR has made since, hell, probably since Curly Vadeboncouer was running the place.
And then there's the whole flap over the pairs figure skating. Just goes to show you we can't go more than a few years without a new skating controversy. This time, it's over the judging of the long program, where the Russian pair and the Canadian pair were the favorites for the gold. The viewing public, both in Salt Lake City, and across the country, had gone ga-ga over the Canadian couple; they're attractive, and pretty much from the moment they accidentally fell over bowing to the judges the other night and started cracking up laughing, they had our hearts. They skate a virtually flawless program, and they get... four 5.9s from the judges. Meanwhile, the Russians got seven 5.9s despite what commentators and analysts like Scott Hamilton (who, believe me, knows a mistake when he sees one) described as several small errors in their program. Well, the crowd reacted just like any sports crowd in these parts do whenever injustice arises. They booed like it was Philadelphia and Kobe Bryant just walked in the place (or Santa Claus, for that matter).
And what was the initial reaction of the international community? Nope, not that there may be something wrong with the judges, it's "HOW DARE THOSE BOORISH AMERICANS BOO!!! SOMEBODY OUGHTA KICK THOSE BEER-SWILLING HEATHENS OUT OF THERE!!! SEE IF WE EVER HAVE ANOTHER OLYMPICS IN YOUR BACKWATER COUNTRY AGAIN!!!" Then, they took a step back, collected their thoughts, and realized, "Oh wait, there may actually be a problem here." Call it the international version of the huge outcry that erupted after the Cleveland Browns fans did their thing a couple months back. The focus of this controversy pretty much lies on the French and Russian judges. The reasoning? Well, here is what I've deduced: the Russian judge is guilty for two reasons. First, the Russian judge ALWAYS scores funny. It's a running joke, whenever I go out with friends and they do something that we joke should be "scored", the line is always, "...but the Russian judge gave it a 5". Secondly, isn't it obvious... Russian judge, Russian skaters; doesn't take Boris and Natasha to figure that one out. And then there's the French judge. As far as I can tell on that one, that one is also because of two reasons. First, there's the whole Quebec thing. Second, the French hate us Americans, and since Canadians are practically Americans, they hate them too (call it guilt by association).
All I know is that when the ladies figure skating event comes, if that Russian skater, Slutovich or Slutski or whatever the "Slut"s name is, beats our darling Michelle Kwan, I'll be in front of my TV booing like you've never heard before. Hey, isn't it great that we're all rallying as a country for this? Isn't this what the Olympics is all about???
Labels: Olympics
posted by Dave | 11:48 PM
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