**The Winter Olympics**

haffajappa

YES! Thank you Maelle!


ahem.. ok now back to pretending i'm not watching the olympics.

Lizard

norm wrote:

the ioc needs to get a life :roll:

Quick has been told to cover up the message "Support our Troops" on his patriotic-themed mask since the IOC considers it political propaganda.

Miller says he will contest the IOC's decision to make him remove the tribute to his cousin.

.......

I keep reading the IOC as TenClub!! :wave:

haffajappa

norm wrote:

the ioc needs to get a life :roll:

It appears the International Olympic Committee isn't a big fan of individual expression -- at least when it comes to hockey.

Each of Team USA's three goalies, including Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, has been told by Olympic officials to cover messages on their masks.

Quick has been told to cover up the message "Support our Troops" on his patriotic-themed mask since the IOC considers it political propaganda.

Goalie Ryan Miller, who will start Tuesday in Team USA's Olympic opener against Switzerland, has been told to cover up his "Miller Time" slogan since the IOC deemed it too close to advertising. In addition, the IOC told Miller to cover up the words "Matt Man" on his helmet, which is a tribute to his cousin who died of cancer in 2007.

Miller says he will contest the IOC's decision to make him remove the tribute to his cousin.

And finally, Tim Thomas has been asked to cover up the initials of his three children painted on his helmet.

Curiously, the IOC didn't feel the depiction of a buffed-out Uncle Sam on Miller's mask was propaganda.

Olympic officials did inform the teams beforehand of its mask standards, but they should just make all the goalies wear Dominik Hasek-style cage masks if they're going to snuff out all the creativity. Personalized hockey masks are just as much a part of hockey as sequins are to figure skating.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympic ... er-up.html

hate to break it to you but thats what the olympics has been all about.
you can't do this you can't do that you can't go here you cant walk there you can't wear this you can't name your burgers burgers blah blah

you know not only are they giving you parking tickets for being in designated VANOC zones but they're also going to give demerits on your licence? just for inconveniencing VANOC in their olympic-only vehicle lanes :roll: i understand the tickets but demerits?

norm

haffajappa wrote:

hate to break it to you but thats what the olympics has been all about.
you can't do this you can't do that you can't go here you cant walk there you can't wear this you can't name your burgers burgers blah blah

you know not only are they giving you parking tickets for being in designated VANOC zones but they're also going to give demerits on your licence? just for inconveniencing VANOC in their olympic-only vehicle lanes :roll: i understand the tickets but demerits?

oh i know...this one just struck me as particularly absurd

haffajappa

norm wrote:

haffajappa wrote:

hate to break it to you but thats what the olympics has been all about.
you can't do this you can't do that you can't go here you cant walk there you can't wear this you can't name your burgers burgers blah blah

you know not only are they giving you parking tickets for being in designated VANOC zones but they're also going to give demerits on your licence? just for inconveniencing VANOC in their olympic-only vehicle lanes :roll: i understand the tickets but demerits?

oh i know...this one just struck me as particularly absurd

yeah... most definitely absurd!
ESPECIALLY the tribute thing, that's terrible.

Steve Dunne

I think by the end of the Olympics Jeremy Roenick will take a swing at Mike Millbury in the announcer's booth. Holy Christ those guys sound like an old married couple!!!

polaris_x

wow ... this downhill ski racing is absolutely nuts ...

neilybabes86

this curling is killing me

polaris_x

neilybabes86 wrote:

this curling is killing me

watch the downhill skiing now if killing is not a good thing

smarchee

nothing worse for prime-time olympics options:

1 - curling
2 - figure skating

oy, pass

Arcticangel

Tonight is going to be the night to watch... Davis, Ohno, Vonn, and White... what a killer prime time line up.

haffajappa

I wonder if Cypress will keep the stands for that halfpipe there...

Cliffy6745

Nice gold for Shani Davis.

norm

AMEN!!!


News & Views: NBC takes gold in advertising overkill

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
We interrupt this commercial announcement for an Olympic broadcast.

Granted, that's probably an exaggeration. But you can't blame NBC's prime-time viewers for thinking they're spending more time on breaks than they are on skis, skates and snowboards combined.

Yet what can a cash-strapped NBC do? In hindsight, the network clearly bid too much to broadcast these Winter Games, a money-losing mistake for which it, and viewers, are now paying. Still, as long as America puts its Olympic broadcasts in the hands of free enterprise, and as long as the International Olympic Committee insists on getting roughly half its broadcast money from the American bid alone, we're going to find ourselves in this ad-crazed fix — particularly when a bad economy reduces the amount NBC can charge for what it gets.

Economics are also why the major events you do see — like Lindsey Vonn's gold-medal ski run Wednesday — are confined to prime time, even if that requires ditching "live" for tape (as it always does on the West Coast). Ad rates are highest in prime time, which means the network needs as many viewers there as it can possibly gather. It can't afford to diminish that audience by letting you watch, or worse, record, big events in the afternoon.

Breaks and tape, that's the game NBC is stuck playing; no sense trying to change the rules in the middle. But we can ask for a few tweaks:

•Divorce the Ref Considering that NBC has already said it's going to lose money on these games, we can't begrudge the network any ads it can sell. What grates are those incessant in-house promos for The Marriage Ref, Parenthood and The Celebrity Apprentice, among others. NBC has run so many of them so often, it's beginning to feel like we've already seen the shows and we're just waiting for the cancellation notices.

•Drop theDragon Never mind that those animated Viking-Olympic spots aren't funny, or that poor Bob Costas seems to cringe every time he has to introduce one. They're ads. Air them as ads, or don't air them at all.

•A little less Triumph of the Human Spirit. When we're back from a break, how about taking us to an event and skipping some of the profiles, particularly as NBC has returned to the sob-sister attitude it had ditched after Sydney. There's no doubt that many of the athletes have had to overcome adversity, but every setback isn't a tragedy — and tragedies are hardly the sole province of star athletes. If we can appreciate the Super Bowl without knowing every problem endured by every player, odds are we can do the same at the Olympics.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television ... 8_ST_N.htm

Enkidu

Thanks for posting that, Norm. I was in my office today and saw online that Lindsey Vonn had won the downhill and I thought, great, that'll be fun to watch tonight.

Then I remembered. NBC. The Jay Leno network. The network that somehow hasn't figured out people watch things LIVE these days. I realize it's primetime, but does the coverage have to be this terrible? Will us folk on the west coast we see Lindsey Vonn win tonight at nine-thirty? Shanni Davis at midnight? It's absurd.

I agree with everything in that article, those godawful Viking ads, the NBC shows that look horrible (I'd heard Parenthood was pretty good, but after all the promos, I'll never fucking watch it).

Somebody, talk me down. I need a drink.

norm

Enkidu wrote:

Thanks for posting that, Norm. I was in my office today and saw online that Lindsey Vonn had won the downhill and I thought, great, that'll be fun to watch tonight.

Then I remembered. NBC. The Jay Leno network. The network that somehow hasn't figured out people watch things LIVE these days. I realize it's primetime, but does the coverage have to be this terrible? Will us folk on the west coast we see Lindsey Vonn win tonight at nine-thirty? Shanni Davis at midnight? It's absurd.

I agree with everything in that article, those godawful Viking ads, the NBC shows that look horrible (I'd heard Parenthood was pretty good, but after all the promos, I'll never fucking watch it).

Somebody, talk me down. I need a drink.

well i get nbc from new york so i just watched Lindsey's run and it is aired at 9:30


but these commercial breaks are insane...they start the men's halfpipe...one guy goes down and BAM commercial...what's the point of even watching? :roll:

norm

it's crazy how much higher shawn white was compared to the other riders

mickeyrat

norm wrote:

it's crazy how much higher shawn white was compared to the other riders

it's the killer bud he gets!!!!

norm

mickeyrat wrote:

norm wrote:

it's crazy how much higher shawn white was compared to the other riders

it's the killer bud he gets!!!!

yeah i knew that was a good setup for weed jokes :P

81

Bob Costas could ruin beer.