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Live from Rio!

Athena

By Athena
in 2016 Olympics

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Athena

Athena

Welcome to the Summer 2016 Olympics subforum!

Since we have this lovely subforum, we will be able to create more specialized topics. Everything should be able to fit somewhere, be it the wardrobe malfunction in the Opening Ceremony or how awful that toupee is on (insert sportcaster here).

If you want to discuss a sporting event or category that has no thread yet, please feel free to suggest it below and get ideas on titles from other posters and mods.

As always, be civil and enjoy yourselves. Happy posting!

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madhacker

madhacker

cool!!!  here's some ideas for topics:


High jump: eat your heart out Wonder Woman.....

Synchronized Swimming: Really?

Why isn't this an event at the Games? (sports like Skateboarding or Cliff Diving)

Synchronized Diving: Dou perfection

The Closing Ceremonies: see ya in Tokyo 2020!!

I'll come up for some more later...

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SnideAsides

SnideAsides

I've set up threads for every remaining sport (within reason; synch diving can go under diving, trampoline under gymnastics, etc) just so we had somewhere to discuss them; better thread title suggestions, and of course threads not directly related to sports, are both still welcome and encouraged. (I promise I usually don't post this much normally.)

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

Is there a "how to watch the Olympics" topic that I've missed? With current technology and connectivity, there are so many (official) possibilities beyond what NBC will offer in primetime: other cable channels, live streaming, etc. Maybe this thread is the one appropriate for that?

In particular, I'm recalling excellent wall-to-wall coverage from the BBC in 2012, knowledgeable and nonpartisan. Is there similar coverage this year? I was looking on the nbc site but not finding quite what I was looking for.

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Quof

Quof

For God's sake, is it too much to ask for a simple website that links to live standings/results for each sport?  I would like to see what's going on across the spectrum, to determine what might be interesting to watch, rather than flick back and forth between multiple channels to see different sports.  Even what appears to be the official website requires a lot of scrolling and following links to find results by sport.

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Brattinella

Brattinella

1 hour ago, Quof said:

For God's sake, is it too much to ask for a simple website that links to live standings/results for each sport?  I would like to see what's going on across the spectrum, to determine what might be interesting to watch, rather than flick back and forth between multiple channels to see different sports.  Even what appears to be the official website requires a lot of scrolling and following links to find results by sport.

I agree.  I don't like fussy websites like that, give me simple every time.

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MaryMitch

MaryMitch

(edited)

If you go to Google and enter "Olympic Games Rio 2016" some stats come up with a green header bar. If you click on the green bar you get various categories of results. I've found it useful today.

Edited to add: well, now the green header bar isn't coming up. I dunno...

Edited by MaryMitch
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GinnyMars

GinnyMars

Where do you guys keep up with the Games? I followed all things London on Buzzfeed, but it's a bit... Buzzfeedy. Yesterday I followed the women's road race (cycling) on Reddit, they had a great thread that aggregated a number of cool resources... But their gymnastics sub is less convenient. Any suggestions?

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ElDosEquis

ElDosEquis

One of the great things about the Games is all the people and countries you are introduced to.

During yesterday's coverage my wife and I had the TV on and I was websurfing, not really paying attention to what was on.

I hear my wife, during the rowing, say 'The Skantars........"

Hmm, the Skantars, the Skantars......

I have never heard of the Skantars! With more that 160 countries on the planet, there are a few that fly under the radar.....

The Skantars?

If they are rowing, they must be some kind of island group or nation.

I ask her WHERE the Skantars are and she says, "right there, on the screen".

 

Sure enough there are two guys in a white water canoe.......The SKANTAR BROTHERS.....

Boy, did I feel like a dick.....

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blueray

blueray

(edited)

NBC is making it really hard to watch. With the ridiculous amount of commercials and the annoying interviews. Like yesterday the gymnastic team was being interviewed and the the interviewer asked the group if it would have been better to be from another country when it is easier to make the team. The group just stared at her awkwardly as it was a stupid question to ask them. Plus it was weird to interview them while they showed the medial ceremony.

Edited by blueray
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ElDosEquis

ElDosEquis

3 hours ago, blueray said:

NBC is making it really hard to watch. With the ridiculous amount of commercials and the annoying interviews. Like yesterday the gymnastic team was being interviewed and the the interviewer asked the group if it would have been better to be from another country when it is easier to make the team. The group just stared at her awkwardly as it was a stupid question to ask them. Plus it was weird to interview them while they showed the medial ceremony.

Well, one thing that you have to remember is the age, sport and maturity level of most of these athletes.

I don't expect them to be bright, concise or able to put together a sentence without giggling.

The worst part of the interview was playing the medal ceremony while the watched - I am sure they were glad someone was able to take video and photos of them during the Games, kinda hard to take selfies of yourself while competing?

I laughed at the commentator that said their uniforms/leotards or whatever they are cost 1200 dollars.

It then hit me that this is just a beauty show without the beauty, just the talent?

They are a talented group of ladies - I wonder which one will cure cancer, end world hunger or become president?

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SoCal Mema

SoCal Mema

1 hour ago, ElDosEquis said:

Well, one thing that you have to remember is the age, sport and maturity level of most of these athletes.

I don't expect them to be bright, concise or able to put together a sentence without giggling.

The worst part of the interview was playing the medal ceremony while the watched - I am sure they were glad someone was able to take video and photos of them during the Games, kinda hard to take selfies of yourself while competing?

I laughed at the commentator that said their uniforms/leotards or whatever they are cost 1200 dollars.

It then hit me that this is just a beauty show without the beauty, just the talent?

They are a talented group of ladies - I wonder which one will cure cancer, end world hunger or become president?

Even some of the seasoned sports folks (Michele Tafoya...giving you the side eye) are asking the most ridiculous questions.  "What did you want to do in the water today?" Ummm...race maybe?  How does it feel standing on the podium?  What were your goals in Rio?  I could go on ad nauseam.

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Ohwell

Ohwell

I'm sorry.  I suppose Brazil is a nice country despite the poverty, but I am just not that interested in this Olympics and I am not interested in Brazil.  I haven't felt that way about an Olympics since Atlanta in '96.  

I'm sick of Michael Phelps and I'm even getting sick of the American gymnasts, bless their hearts.  I'm happy they all won medals, but I'm sick of looking at them. 

Surprisingly, the only sport that's interested me so far has been rugby, which I've rarely watched before.  The only other events I'm looking forward to are in track & field.

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BitterApple

BitterApple

1 hour ago, Ohwell said:

I'm sorry.  I suppose Brazil is a nice country despite the poverty, but I am just not that interested in this Olympics and I am not interested in Brazil.  I haven't felt that way about an Olympics since Atlanta in '96.  

I'm sick of Michael Phelps and I'm even getting sick of the American gymnasts, bless their hearts.  I'm happy they all won medals, but I'm sick of looking at them. 

Surprisingly, the only sport that's interested me so far has been rugby, which I've rarely watched before.  The only other events I'm looking forward to are in track & field.

This year's games have been excruciating to watch. I didn't think NBC's coverage could get any worse after the London games, but they've managed to outdo themselves in 2016. Between the delays, not showing premiere events live, not showing premiere events because Americans aren't the front runners, the endless puff pieces and long commercial blocks, it's been a shit show. I love the ladies gymnastics team, but the whole thing is kind of underwhelming when the field is the US and Everyone Else. The over emphasis on Phelps is beyond ridiculous. You'd swear he's the only athlete competing.

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Rinaldo

Rinaldo

(edited)

One really nice thing about the online streaming of events by nbcolympics, for those with access to it, is the replay available for all the past events. The playback bar (the timeline that always runs along the bottom of an online video) is pre-marked with certain start points -- the beginning of a match or event, the start of a medal ceremony. And if you hover your cursor over that vertical line, a label appears to tell you what is beginning there ("Men's 81kg Medal Ceremony"). Pretty neat, and an advance over even the excellent 2012 online capabilities.

A more pervasive nice thing, of course, is the absence of the NBC TV nonsense. Just the action, with good commentary.

Later addendum: I now find that not every Replay stream has the hatch marks. But some do.

Edited by Rinaldo
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marketdoctor

marketdoctor

Quote

This year's games have been excruciating to watch. I didn't think NBC's coverage could get any worse after the London games, but they've managed to outdo themselves in 2016.

That's what gets me--not that the coverage is bad, or even that it's worse, but that the learning curve is a flat line.  Some things get better (the online coverage is getting there); others are worse (tape delay of an event from two hours ago, so you show it at 10 instead of 8 PM?).  

Every four years for at least the past 20, there's been a cycle:

Ratings drop.

NBC asks "what could we do to increase ratings?"

Everyone over the age of ten says "show more LIVE EVENTS...LIVE!" 

NBC decides that what we really want to see more stories, background, US athletes coming in 17th place, etc.  Meanwhile the Star-Spangled Banner is playing in the background, from the medal ceremony right after someone in a sport they didn't think we'd do well in wins a gold medal. 

Ratings drop more.  Remaining viewers decide to record it, figuring that if it's not live anyway, at least they can skip the commercials and the interview with Micheal Phelp's dentist's cat.*  NBC officials blame the Internet for reporting news that NBC won't.

(Sometimes) NBC adds more commercials to meet contracts with advertisers.  NBC blames time conflicts, although they occasionally show live events in the middle of the night, since there's little risk--and they get the best overnight ratings in NBC history.

Otherwise, it's back to "ratings drop."

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