Archive for February, 2010

The Last Straw

By | February 28, 2010 | Olympics, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

I recently wrote about my dissatisfaction with NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I really and truly thought that I had gotten it out of my system.

Oh, how wrong I was.

So here I sit on the last morning of the games wondering if we’ll get ANY COVERAGE AT ALL. You see, according to the KNBC website and the listings guide on cable, Olympic coverage came on at 9 am. Really? Because all I’ve seen is Access Hollywood (rerun) and Monk (also a rerun.) The hockey game-GOLD MEDAL GAME AGAINST CANADA is supposed to be on, as well as a few other events that are having their final rounds today.

This is absolutely unacceptable, NBC. You say that your ratings are high? Honestly, it can only be because we have NO other options for viewing. Have you polled anyone lately? And, quite honestly, I think I’m done with you as a network, local and national. This has been the final straw.

Here’s how I think national Olympic coverage should look from you, NBC (and CBS, ABC, and FOX should take notice, should there be a change in networks for the next games. Please?!)

Morning show- Fine. Cute stories about athletes, whatever. Depending on the time zone of the actual games, I get this. (The morning crew has actually done a great job of interviewing the athletes.)

Just after the morning show: LIVE COVERAGE

Noon: 30 minutes of local news.

Afternoon: LIVE COVERAGE

5 or 6 pm: 30 minutes of local news, 30 minutes of national news.

Evening: LIVE COVERAGE

10 pm: 30 minutes of local news

THE END.

Seriously, it’s only two weeks out of every two years. There is nothing that can’t be put on hiatus for those two weeks. With everyone having digital television now, if a network or local affiliate feels the need to air their regular programming they can now create a digital 2.0 channel for those programs and leave the regular channel for people to find the coverage of the Olympics easily. If you really need your dose of pop culture and celebrity news there are plenty of other networks and online outlets for that.

Here on the west coast we have had to wait until 11-12 pm to watch the medal rounds and races. Why is this if we’re watching it taped? If we tape it to watch later, the morning shows ruin the results. Watching is just not the same if you already know the outcome.

As for the actual coverage? It, too, has been horrendous. Someone actually made a chart of the time that was dedicated to each category: advertising, special stories, Bob Costas, medal ceremonies, etc. Costas is getting more coverage than replays and medal ceremonies COMBINED. The Olympics are not about you, Bob, they’re about the athletes, their competition, their competitors, and their medals. Last night he actually said “If you’re in the central or mountain time zone you can figure it out for yourself,” which I found pretty lame. I tweeted “Bob Costas is a douche,” and I received the following reply from Glennia: @HeadlessMom Amen to that. A botoxed, toupee-wearing douche at that. #shutupcostas.

Really Bob? As the announcer it’s your JOB to be able to tell the viewers when their national coverage begins and we only have four time zones. I guess we’d really be in trouble if we had something like 11 like Russia does.

Thank goodness today is the last day. I honestly don’t think I could take much more. Here’s to a new network getting the rights for the next Olympic games. One that will commit to getting it right.

(Cross posted at The Adventures of the Headless Family and Inland Empire Family)

Olympic Parenting: Please Stick the Landing

By | February 28, 2010 | Olympics | 2 Comments

A guest post from Alison at Chatty Cricket.

I love the Olympics. So much.

I really was hell bent on writing about the drama that becomes the stuff of Legends at the Winter Olympics (Italian Ice Dancing Death stares in Torino! Jonny Moseley and his amazing Never Ending Dinner Roll! ALBERTO TOMBA). Like, remember last time when Lindsey Jacobellis decided to show off during her winning snowboard cross and then LOST her gold medal spot and OH MY GOD CHILD, what was WITH the HOT DOGGING?!  But as I’ve been watching the 2010 Winter Olympics lo these last two weeks, I’ve been stuck on exactly how to capture the drama. To do it justice. The legendary bitch face (Barbara Fusar-Poli, I’m looking at you. But now I’m looking away because YOU SCARE ME), the gold medal promise that never was (ahem, Bode Miller. Way to rebound there in Vancouver, dude), The Jamaican Bobsled team (you guys, Jamaican Me CRAZY. In a good way)…..and yet, despite all of this amazing material, the post wouldn’t come.

I think it’s because this year, with my three children and my fourth on the way, I cannot get past the Parent Factor. These Olympics in particular have been tugging at my heartstrings left and right. I find myself completely unable to stop watching these games AS A MOTHER. Perhaps it’s because of Proctor & Gamble and their salutations to all of the mothers (and fathers) out there who sacrificed, and encouraged, and supported on the way to helping their children reach their ultimate goals, or even just on the way to letting their kids have a whole bunch of fun playing the sports they love. At five o’clock in the morning. An hour away from the house. Uphill both ways. Maybe it’s because every time the Olympics are on, no matter what sport, my three year old grabs the nearest pirate sword/ruler/drumstick and ball/lego/magnet and starts a pickup game of hockey complete with an imaginary team of players that he encourages to “Skate faster buddy! you can do it” It could be that these Olympians keep getting younger and younger, while I stay exactly the same and do not age at all.

I’m not sure.

As the skiers wipe out, I think OH MY GOD, it is a good thing you are WEARING YOUR HELMET.

As the skaters twirl around backwards and do their loopty spins, I think, YOUNG LADY we need to get you more coverage if you are going to be skating ass first like that. And then I get teary and clappy when they finish their hard fought routines.

I hop up and down out of my seat cheering for Apolo Anton Ohno who may not be crossing the finish for gold, but is setting an Olympic record for medals won in a sport so volatile that even a skater at his level may not medal at all if it’s not his night. And then I think of his Dad who encouraged him to find a sport he loved, and who as a single parent raised a son so mature and determined and focused and GRACIOUS that it makes me hope that I can somehow raise children as grounded. His father must be so proud.

And then that makes me think about Shaun White who isn’t only a kick ass snowboard trickster, but an innovator. Did you know he built his own mad science lab of a half pipe in a secluded location so that he can get away from everyone and cook up all sorts of insane new tricks? I didn’t know that until the other night. And DAMN, but that’s impressive. He is 24 years old. At 24 years old I was someone’s lowly assistant flattered for the chance to share an idea in a client meeting. Shaun White is working on ways to revolutionize his sport. I’m impressed.

It takes a special parent to recognize a talent and a passion in a child and to help foster that interest into something that can be a life fulfilling experience. We get to see a lot of the best of that on display during the Olympics. It ALSO takes a pretty special parent to be able to help their children recognize their own particular strengths without blowing smoke, so to the parents of these elite athletes, I say kudos.

Also, could like a bunch of you get together and write a step by step guide to raising an incredibly confident and well grounded Olympian? Someone needs to balance the Lynne Spears book movement is what I’m saying.

Alison obsesses over parenting and sometimes what to cook and/or to do with the house at ChattyCricket. She has three kids aged 4 and under and is expecting her fourth in June, so you should cut her some slack because she is very tired and only sort of paying attention to what you are saying, you understand. Frankly, she can barely hear you over the yelling. Actually, can she talk to you when they go down for naps?

Final Olympic Men’s Figure Skating Thoughts

By | February 28, 2010 | Olympics, Uncategorized, Unsportmanlike Conduct | 1 Comment

About halfway through the men’s Olympic ice skating short program, my husband looked up from his laptop and said, “This is so subjective it’s not even funny.”

At the time, I argued that it wasn’t as subjective as he thought, since clearly the skaters are rated on required elements that definitely have a proper way to be performed. After a few days of thought, I concede that figure skating is quite subjective in comparison to many of the other winter sports. There’s not much need for opinion in speedskating or cross-country skiing, for instance. Apolo Ohno either crosses the line first or he doesn’t; Johnny Spillane either lays down the second-best finishing time or he doesn’t. This subjectivity combined with the new scoring system can make it hard for the average viewer to figure out what’s going on with the judging. I’m still trying to figure out how Johnny Weir placed behind both Patrick Chan and Stephane Lambiel.

I find I’m not much for the frippery and froufery of skating. Wave your arms around as gracefully as you want and bedazzle your shirt to within an inch of its life if you please, but I’m still going to find that I want to watch the jumpers and spinners. That said, I admit a little bit of presentation is really necessary. The guys who are only good jumpers do as little for me as the ones who are graceful as all get out but can’t land a lutz. My favorite skaters this year were France’s Florent Amodio and the Japanese trio of Daisuke Takahashi, Nobunari Oda, and Takahiko Kozuka. All four are compact, speedy jumpers with just the right amount of showmanship.

Of course, the big story now that it’s all over is silver medalist Evgeny Plushenko’s less-than-gracious behavior toward gold medalist Evan Lysacek. Now, there’s no doubt that Plushenko is one of the best jumpers in the sport, maybe even the best. He lands a quadruple toe loop in combination, which no other competitor did during this Olympics. Apparently Plushenko has complained that Lysacek won on artistic rather than athletic merits. Surprisingly, even though Lysacek’s program was much more fluid and heartfelt, the two contenders earned identical artistic marks in the long program.

evanlycasekevanlycasekTo my admittedly untrained eye, it seemed clear that Lysacek skated a superior program on the final night. His jumps were spot-on, his footwork and spins were precise, and he skated with passion. Plushenko, on the other hand, executed his jumps but didn’t seem to infuse his routine with any joy at all. Granted, there’s probably no mark for enthusiasm, but let’s be honest. In figure skating, showmanship counts nearly as much as being able to land a triple flip. If you go out onto the ice and skate like the medal is owed to you, don’t be surprised when it’s given to someone who skated instead like he wanted to win it on his own terms. For all his impressive and well-earned victories of the past, Plushenko showed a sad and distinct lack of sportsmanship in Vancouver – and that was before he awarded himself a platinum medal.

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If he does skate for gold again at the 2014 Games, let’s hope he brings a bit more humility and fire to the ice.

Velocibadgergirl’s skating experience is limited to doing a lot of rollerblading in middle school, being able to skate carefully around and around on an ice rink without falling down, and watching several Olympics’ worth of figure skating competitions (bouts? matches?). She lives in the Midwest with her husband, baby son, and handsome dog, and blogs at Pardon the Egg Salad.

Do You Believe in Unlikely (Hockey) Outcomes?!

By | February 28, 2010 | Hockey, Olympics | Comments Off

Tomorrow at 3:15 p.m. EST, the United States Olympic hockey team will take on the Canadian Olympic hockey team in the Gold Medal game. In case you didn’t know hockey in Canada is a BIG deal. It is the national sport. It is America’s baseball, basketball AND football, all wrapped into one. In Canada, they do not hope to win the gold medal, they expect it. 0303_large

Nay, they demand it, eh?

All the same, the U.S. hockey program seems to be improving. Team USA did defeat the Canadian national team in the World Junior championships in January. The U.S. did defeat the the Canadians in the preliminary rounds of these Olympics 5 – 3. And the U.S. is far past the days of fielding (icing?) a team of true amateurs, as in 1980. This year’s edition features an entire roster of all NHL players. This team is solid. Brian Burke assembled a lot of fresh faces for these Olympics, focusing on young, high-energy and smart hockey players complemented by a few unflappable Olympic veterans. The U.S. is definitely deserving of being in the Gold medal game.

But make no mistake; the Canadian team is stacked. It features scoring leaders up and down the roster, on every line. It’s so deep Team Canada benched perhaps the greatest goalie of all-time when he lost the aforementioned game against the US and have responded by playing better. They are angry about dropping a game to the U.S.. They are upset their Juniors muffed their championship. They are hungry to secure a Gold medal on Canadian ice. They will be ready and they will be frantic.

Can the U.S. win? Sure. It won’t be easy, but it wouldn’t be a miracle either.

It Sucks to Win Silver

By | February 26, 2010 | Hockey, Olympics, Women's Sports | 13 Comments
Photo by John Biehler

Photo by John Biehler

Yep, that’s what U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team captain Natalie Darwitz said when interviewed after her team lost to Canada in the gold medal game. I can sympathize with the sentiment. In Olympic hockey, you don’t win the silver, you lose the gold. I just wish she’d said that—”it sucks to lose the gold”, or just plain “it sucks to lose”—instead of “it sucks to win silver.” It feels… unsportsmanlike, somehow.

The game itself was a thriller, the exciting matchup hockey fans like me have been waiting for since the Games began. Canada and the U.S. are by far the strongest, fastest, most skilled teams in the world, and it showed on the ice last night. Even the refs couldn’t keep up with the speed and intensity of the game, missing several offsides calls and a few more serious ones as well. (The announcers chalked this up to the single-referee system, and the fact that the pool of competitive-level women referees is small. There’s more research and another post in there about why only women can ref women’s games—but calling offsides is the linesman’s responsibility, and there were two lines(wo)men at this game.)

Announcer A.J. Mleczko pointed out a few times that you wouldn’t be able to tell by watching this game that women’s hockey was non-checking, and she was right. It was intensely physical, and there were even a few punches thrown (though there were no gloves-off fights as in men’s hockey). There was more checking, both penalized and unpenalized, than I’ve ever seen in a women’s game before. I am not a fan of checking as it’s practiced on the men’s side and recently declined to join a women’s league that allowed checking, but honestly, the level of physicality in the U.S.-Canada matchup seemed appropriate for the skill level of the teams. If I could play that well and skate that hard, I wouldn’t mind going hard at an opponent or having an opponent come hard at me.

The disappointment of the evening for me (aside from the clunky pace of the bronze medal game, which I had planned to watch first but abandoned in the first period because I knew much better hockey was being played live) was that the U.S. didn’t manage to score any goals. Yes, they only lost by two—the smallest margin by far of any game Canada *or* the U.S. was involved in this tournament—but being shut out was a big, fat bummer. The U.S. women, used to being able to get traffic in front, make trick shots, and have passing lanes and players open at all times, ran into a disciplined Canadian defense—and a goalie with a seemingly magnetic glove—that kept almost everyone and everything out of the slot, even on a 5-on-3.

A.J. suggested that the American players stop shooting high on the glove side, which Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados totally had covered, but often that was the only shot available. When a low shot was possible, it was often blocked or otherwise turned aside, and there were few rebound opportunities.

Speaking of blocked shots, Julie Chu had several, including one where she knelt to block the shot, successfully blocked it, and then popped up, took the puck, and charged the other way. It was probably my favorite moment of the game. My favorite announcer comment—and I’m sorry to say that I can’t remember who made it—was, “wouldn’t you like to see a best-of-seven series with these two teams?”

OH YEAH.

In fact, until the rest of the world catches up, how about next Olympics we just have seven U.S.-Canada games to determine who gets the gold?

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