Olympic Review
It seems like it was just two weeks ago that I was sitting in my living room, kneeling in front of the TV like it was my master, watching the opening ceremonies for the 2006 Winter Olympics. I'd like to take a moment to air some things that have been on my mind since the start of the games.
- Neither NBC nor the IOC can determine what name I call a city. It's Turin, not Torino. I don't call Rome "Roma," I don't call Milan "Milano," I won't call Turin "Torino."
- The US medal count was down to 25, from the all-time high of 34 in the 2002 Salt Lake City games. You know what this means, right? We need to make up some new sports, STAT. We got all our snowboarding and freestyle skiing events added in the past two Olympics, but the world is catching up quickly (in those cases where they have not already passed us). My vote: the quadathalon. Cross country skiing, shooting, half-pipe snowboarding, and kicking a series of 40 yard field goals (in the snow).
- I think I know why Dick Button is such a sourpuss. I have a few theories, actually, but the primary one is revolves around him being mad that his name is Dick Button. I don't love the 200 hours of figure skating, but I can't NOT watch Olympic coverage. That is, I thought I couldn't not watch it. Until I heard Dick Button as the color analyst. For those outside of the country who didn't have to endure it, just imagine that every time a figure skater did anything, and old man came on the air saying some old man variation of "that sucked."
- While we're talking about figure skating, NBC should offer some Olympic alternative to figure skating on one of their other channels. They never spend 2+ hours of prime time coverage on any other
sportevent. - While we're still talking about figure skating, why is ice dancing an Olympic event? Ice dancing, as I understand it, takes the best parts of pairs and individual figure skating and removes them. No jumps, no throws. Just... dancing. On ice. Citius, altius, fortius. Groovius? There's nothing about dancing in the Olympic motto.
- I love Bob Costas. There's nothing else I have to say about that, really. Except that Jimmy Roberts is a close third behind Costas and Jeff Probst.
- I have no hard evidence to back this up, but I think Luciano Pavarotti is actually a mannequin. Did you see the close ups of him during the opening ceremonies? He's plastic. I much preferred Andrea Bocelli in the closing ceremonies. One of his songs (Con te Partiro) plays in Vegas during the water show at the Bellagio, so now every time I hear him sing, it reminds me of the trip to Vegas.
Comments
cadiz12 said:
okay omar, so i didn't really watch any of the olympics; but i was surrounded by people obsessed with them, so i feel like i got a healthy dose anyway. but i did catch opening and closing and will openly admit that Ricky Martin (sequined puerto-rican-flag tshirt and all) was the best part. and yeah, pavorotti seemed a little animatronic.
i don't have much to say about your other points, but i'm going to have to disagree with you on the first one. why should there be two names for cities? shouldn't it just be the name that the people who live there call it? why do english-speakers get to 'englishify' everything? because they can't be made to pronounce it in its original form? sure some people call it 'nueva york' but no one has alternative names for things the way english-speakers do. especially now, as the world is so much more interconnected. i just don't understand it.
Jym Ferrier
said:
I think you need to alter your quadathalon idea a bit. It would be way cooler to see someone in the halfpipe with cross country skis, a rifle strapped to their back, and a football in a little pouch. I'd even bother to watch that.
Onj said:
So yeah, Bob Costas can die at the hungry mouths of a thousand rats as they chew him into tiny little bits and this cannot happen soon enough for my liking… And that’s pretty much all I have to say about that.
As to our slipping in world dominance, I think the solution is pretty simple… Our president likes to war, so let’s let him have his wars, but lets be productive about it, lets take over countries that have good athletes. It’s like they say, “If you can’t beat them, take over their country and force them to play for you.” Sayings like that don’t stand the test of time for nothing.
Katie said:
I hope that comment doesn't reach the president, it may come under due consideration. I didn't watch the olympics... because I'm kind of lame. But I watched a bit of curling and that... well, that was so weird that I ended up changing the channel.
freetouch said:
how do you do? www.freetouch.com
Syar said:
I watched way less of the coverage than I wanted to because the downstairs TV didn't have a subscription to sports channels and therefore our cable company automatically *assumed* that we weren't into the winter olympics which as you've pointed out, isn't all about sports. that's discrimination against people who don't watch pool tournaments and golf 24/7! Discrimination I say!!
I totally agree with you on Mr Button. I've never heard of him, but the moment my eyes caught on to "I think I know why Dick Button is such a sourpuss." I thought, "Is it because of his stupid name?"
great minds, omar. great minds.
Becky said:
omar, omar. we're peas in a pod, the two of us. case in point:
1. "dick button" is only surpassed in hilarity by one other name, "peter boyle."
2. pavarotti's bottom teeth freak me out. i don't think his jaw is hinged properly to his face.
3. too much skating, not enough hockey! i would complain about the excessive curling coverage, but i actually got into it this time. now THAT'S a sport i could try. let the "athletes' keep the 50k, I'll take the sweeping game!
4. i'll knit you a quadathalon fanny pack. for the football and ammo.
5. go freetouch.com yourself
Glo said:
Okay. I probably shouldn't admit this - but I also don't get why any of the skating except speed skating is a sport. It's nice and all, but I just don't get the athleticism piece. Ballet isn't a sport - so why is ice skating?!
Jackie said:
OK so this is completely off topic, but since you have her website in your list on the side... Dooce.com hit her 5 year blog-iversary yesterday. So to celebrate, she opened comments. From 5:54pm yesterday to 9am this morning, she has gotten 739 comments so far... can you say holy crap? And these are not one-liners... people are going on for 3 or four paragraphs!
As a fellow blogger... does that have the power to make you humble?
Oh, and about the Olympics.. until they have an event like midget tossing or beer can crushing, I fail to see the entertainment value :P
seventeeen syllables said:
I spent one entire night last week trying to convince three guys at my house, husband included, that manly activities like baseball are not more sporty than figure skating while we all watched the billion hours of figure skating coverage (in which I decided that Sascha Cohen is overrated). Having spent many Sundays with these same jokers arguing about whether that really was a fumble according to the rulebook, or if that guy really did cross the line with both feet, etc., and entire summers debating whether that ump understood the definition of 'strike zone' I just want to give a shout-out to figure skating as a sport. (OK, maybe not ice dancing, but I'm on the fence there.)
Cate said:
Well, the thing about Pavarotti's jaw is that he's an opera singer. So, to other opera singers, his jaw looks just fine - nice and open and loose and without tension, the better for creating good sound and resonance and just letting that voice fly.
wendela said:
Like your pot o' gold and leprechaun, Omar. Hey, wait! Stop that vole! Now it's stealing gold! I'm betting it just figured you were too wrapped up in the whole Olympics hoopla to notice.
jasmine said:
see, i thought for sure that you'd try to golf in the snow...
very disappointed in you...
Lia said:
The reason figure skating gets so much coverage is that it is a normal person's favorite event. It's the only thing I am even slightly tempted to watch. Including the ice dancing.
Some people have no taste. (Obviously, I'm not referring to myself, so you must infer for yourself to whom I am refering.)
On the other hand, the whole medal count decrease was, indeed shameful. Here's to quadathalon!