I Do Not Enjoy the Olympics Anymore
I watched a little bit of the Olympics from Athens last night before we tuned in to Six Feet Under. As it turn out, I do not enjoy watching the Olympics anymore. First, the horrific incompetence and corruption associated with everything the IOC has done since the SLC scandal broke has tainted the Olympic "brand" indelibly in my mind. Second, the volume of advertising and the way the coverage jumps from event to event makes paying attention to a single event that you're interested in basically impossible. Third, the sponsor whoring that dominates the commercial breaks is nauseating. Fourth, I find the life-story segments irritating ó I tuned in to watch athletic competition, not athlete biographies. Finally, I don't want to support the systematic transformation of perfectly normal teenagers into single-purpose, alien machines of physicality.
Comments
I agree with all your comments. I'll also add that, yes, I'm interested in knowning how the U.S. atheletes do in their respective events but NOT to the extent that I don't want to see the good performances by atheletes from other countries. Cover the event, dammit, not the "Americans appearing in the event."
Also, I find it continually frustrating to try and find a sport that I actually enjoy watching (say water polo or fencing or archery) shown at all on the various coverages in any kind of interesting matter.
I was watching Badminton last night, and marvel that something I play in a drunken stupor can be considered an olympic event. I appear to have much more fun, even though they are much better players, although I prefer a good volley...
I am thankful that I have the opportunity to watch CBC and get some real coverage (as opposed to the crap that NBC gives us - Bob Costas and his bad hair-piece...). The coverage might be Canadian-centric, but at least they cover the sports events...
I agree, I remember the good old days when Melankomas gouged young Thraneaus's eyes out in a three hour pankration bout. If only he were around these days to gouge out my eyes and stop me from watching Nothing But Commercials!
I agree on the bios. Awful. (I humbly offer: this bit of levity.)
In fact, the only reason I leave the Olympics on is to laugh at the announcers, who alternate between speculation about the intense pressure a given competitor is feeling and crowing about how the next volley/vault/swim is the most important thing in human history, only to be rendered utterly meaningless by the subsequent most important thing in human history.
I have found that daytime coverage is usually lighter on the hype than what one gets during primetime. Or, one can watch on Telemundo, which necessarily covers a largeer number of countries. I also have no idea how annoying the announcers might be, since I catch a couple words every minute or so.
I'm just waiting for coverage of women's (team) handball or the singles table tennis, like there was on SVT four years ago. . .
Just to further the props to the CBC - last night while making dinner they showed a great men's volleyball matchup between Brazil and Italy - #1 & #2 in the world... There was not one mention of team Canada or team USA during the entire match...
Support your local international television channels.
To be honest...I'm not sure I enjoy Six Feet Under anymore. Nate has got to stop crying every episode!