Sochi Olympics

[Rommie]

Watching the opening ceremony live. Without giving anything away, there was a major malfunction within 10min.

This will be a fun one to watch at this rate!

[Thumper]

Fell asleep watching last night. I expect that pattern to continue for the next 2 weeks or so.

[FZR1KG]

Fell asleep watching last night. I expect that pattern to continue for the next 2 weeks or so.

Me too. But I wasn't watching anything.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Edit: Very slight spoilers for those watching later. Be warned.

.
.
.
.
.

I'm more put out by the imperialism and militarism. (Mentions of "Russian Empire" and literal goosestepping? Not okay.)

Not to mention the ridiculous whitewashing of Stalinist Soviet society. Yeesh.

[Rommie]

I really liked watching the BBC for this. When that all happened they just said "of course, this was the period in time when millions of people died in purges and starvation from collective farming in the countryside..."

[The Supreme Canuck]

The CBC said something similar, but a little less... brazen.

[Rommie]

TSC, my mom says the current Russian anthem is just the Communist Internationale with new words. How's that for brazen? :p

Actual quote from my life today:

"Well it was hard but luckily we got a gold, silver, and bronze today- all in the same competition. How's the US doing- I think you haven't win a medal yet?"

The US has won stuff btw just not in speedskating so it does not count.

[geonuc]

Saw a few women's figure skating short routines. The Canadian and Russian performances in particular were fabulous.

[gethen]

I loved the rendition of the Russian anthem by the men's choir. It was such a classic Russian arrangement and beautifully sung. So there!

I was annoyed today when watching some of the team figure skating. Plushenko, who has long dominated men's skating, turned in a beautiful, if flawed performance. While the ex-skaters who were commentating raved about his skill, technique, and career, the NBC commentator made some snide remark like, "if you don't mind his arrogance." That was so unnecessary. The ex-skaters quickly tried to cover by asserting that Plushenko had every right to feel superior to most other skaters and his confidence shouldn't be mistaken for arrogance.
The coverage is just too Ameri-centric at times for my taste.

[Rommie]

So it turns out my mom mixed up her old Commie songs and the current anthem is not the Communist Internationale- even better, it's the anthem from when Stalin was in charge because Putin wanted continuity for older generations and to inspire patriotism. So TSC, if you were disturbed by the symbolism of the goose-stepping...

And gethen, I totally agree about the US-centric stuff for coverage there- I remember it's gotten to the point where you're unlikely to hear at all about many incredible international athletes if they happen to choose a sport where the US is not a competitor. Interestingly enough for me, I've got Dutch, German, and English channels showing the Olympics in my apartment, so while I often can't understand the announcers I definitely get a broad spectrum of coverage! (Also it seems like most other countries just do a 1 hour recap at the end of the day of the best stuff that day, so guess I'm redoubling efforts to be home by 7pm so I don't miss things completely.)

[Thumper]

87MPH on a pair of skis and tights. Quote from Mrs. T, "I don't go 87MPH in my car!"

[Rommie]

Yeah, I realize I've gotten older because when I was younger I thought that was the coolest sport ever and really wanted to do it, now I just stare because it's impossible to believe these people don't crash and burn more.

Of course the fact that a few weekends ago they were doing a competition for pre-teens on the side of a slope I was skiing and I saw ski patrol tend to a girl who crashed into a barricade, so that might have something to do with it.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Rommie, if you want to actually watch the events the CBC has a number of live web streams. Canadian broadcasters are better about showing full events and athletes from other countries, though they're still a bit of a Canadian bias. You'll probably need to hit them with a proxy, though, since I don't think they're available outside of Canada.

[Rommie]

Thanks, but I'm ok without listening to the announcers- and BBC is doing alright.

Lots of cheering up and down the hall at work today, as the Dutch swept their second event (and are temporarily the leaders in the medal count!), even though they assured me it was highly unusual. Two of the three medal winners were twins, but I really had to feel for the guy who got silver within a hundredth of a second with his time- you could tell he was trying to smile, but I can't blame him.

[Rommie]

Also, btw, holy crap Canada has a lot of good people in a lot of sports! Not like you were ever slouches, but I'm guessing the kids trained for Vancouver are still in their prime for a lot of things.

[pumpkinpi]

Thanks, but I'm ok without listening to the announcers- and BBC is doing alright.

Lots of cheering up and down the hall at work today, as the Dutch swept their second event (and are temporarily the leaders in the medal count!), even though they assured me it was highly unusual. Two of the three medal winners were twins, but I really had to feel for the guy who got silver within a hundredth of a second with his time- you could tell he was trying to smile, but I can't blame him.

[The Supreme Canuck]

Rommie: Ah, gotcha - thought you were saying that the coverage you were watching only had recaps, not the full events.

Anyway, yes, Canada does very well at the Winter Games. Terrible at the Summer Games, but the Winter ones are ours. It's always kind of been that way, but in recent years it's been because of something called the "Own The Podium" program, which the government began to fund prior to the Vancouver games. More funding, and a shift in mindset from "Go have fun and do your best" to "Maybe we should try to win some of those medals." No joke - when the program and its shift in philosophy were announced, there was a lot of noise about how unsportsman-like and un-Canadian the idea that you should go with the mindset of trying to win a medal was. It was considered unseemly to actively want to beat other people at the Olympics. Of course that changed when Canadian athletes started to rack up medals in 2010.

And the program is working. The goal in Vancouver was to win the most gold medals. The Canadian team did that. This time around, the goal is to win both the most gold medals and the most medals overall. It looks like there's a pretty good chance of doing that, though there's strong competition in Norway and the US.

It's exciting, anyway, especially since Canada does so badly at the Summer Games.

[geonuc]

Also, btw, holy crap Canada has a lot of good people in a lot of sports! Not like you were ever slouches, but I'm guessing the kids trained for Vancouver are still in their prime for a lot of things.

No kidding. I think I'm in love with Kaetlyn Osmond after watching her performance. She's adorable and awesome!

[Thumper]

Terrible at the Summer Games, but the Winter ones are ours.

Hey, you had Ben Johnson......whoops, nevermind.

[Rommie]

Yeah, I've pretty much decided that if all the Dutch assure me "this isn't our strong event" in speed skating that just means they won't sweep the medals.

[Thumper]

I still think short track speed skating is like roller derby, and someone is going to lose a hand, but gosh it's exciting.

[Parrothead]

Here, I've been watching various events on CBC, Sportsnet and TSN. From what I have seen of NBC's coverage (going by the Buffalo) affiliate, they have a couple of hours coverage in the afternoon, primetime coverage and some overnight. I haven't looked how much of the overnight stuff is "live" as the nine hr time difference is just kicking in for morning events.

With the coverage we get, I still have had to resort to taping events like downhill skiing and a couple of others as they have started at 2am local time for me. Live coverage starts at midnight and carries through to the afternoon when it is getting late in Sochi, after that they air repeats and highlights. We did ourselves proud in moguls (both men and women).

Opening Ceremonies - they were carried live and then repeated at 2pm and 7pm.

I will assume NBC has some live coverage either streaming or via their sports network. I still don't understand why talk shows and soaps can't go on breaks for two weeks to allow for full network coverage stateside, they must be throwing a ton of cash around for the broadcast rights, but then short change people in giving minimal coverage.

[pumpkinpi]

My state has the 2nd highest number of olympians, after California!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahcgregg/wh ... c-athletes

[geonuc]

I've been watching the Olympics on up to three channels here in Atlanta. All day, there has been something showing on one or more of the channels. It's pretty awesome, actually. Except for the US bias in programming.

The biathlon today was very entertaining, and it wasn't about Americans.

[gethen]

At least from what I've seen of the NBC coverage on cable, they are not wasting half of their broadcast time doing detailed profiles of selected athletes instead of showing actual competition. In the past that's been my biggest complaint. Of course, we don't usually watch during prime time so I don't know what's happening then.