London 2012 Summer Olympics

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Just finished watching the Gold medal match in Men's Archery. It came down to the final archer for Italy needing a 10 (bullseye) to win. He did it. That's clutch.

Oh and NBC's online platform is great. I'm using the iPad app to watch a replay of the much loved Dressage competition (well technically the first day of Eventing). I need to check out the actual website now.
 
I watched archery too. Really quite interesting.
Wozniacki is playing against a Brit right now on Bravo.
I love her, so I have to pull against the home team.

Also- I'm Team Lochte.
I'm sick of Michael "personality like a loaf of butterfaced bread" Phelps.
He needs to be taken down a few pegs.
 
Just finished watching the Gold medal match in Men's Archery. It came down to the final archer for Italy needing a 10 (bullseye) to win. He did it. That's clutch.

Oh and NBC's online platform is great. I'm using the iPad app to watch a replay of the much loved Dressage competition (well technically the first day of Eventing). I need to check out the actual website now.

The one round of archery I was able to see was pretty amazing. Japan coming back to beat India. It was quite impressive.
 
The Foxtel coverage is great, Axver. They can't be too patriotic because they don't have the rights to the Aussies Go For Gold events like the swimming, because 9 have priority.

Foxtel are endeavouring to show competitions live and in full, which is all I ask for from an Olympic broadcaster. I just assume that Channel Nine will mimic what Channel Seven always did, and just replay the same Aussie gold medal wins over and over. Replaying Aussie medals and bad sporting montages when there is live competition going on somewhere in the city, is disgraceful.

Opening Ceremony was fun to watch Probably on par with Athens and a fair bit behind Beijing for mine. The music soundtrack was amazing (of course) and the staging was very clever (loved the grassy hill). I just feel completely let down by the cauldron lighting by a bunch of anonymous youngsters who may or may not become top athletes. Disappointing. And what are they gonna do, extinguish the flame so that they can move the flame off the middle of the athletics field? Kind of defeats the purpose of a flame if you're gonna put the thing out, doesn't it?
 
and the staging was very clever (loved the grassy hill).


am i a bad american for not knowing glastonbury tor was a thing? cause i was like 'what's that hill doing there?'. they mentioned it on the broadcast and i had to google it.
 
I really didn't know much about Glastonbury itself, other than it was a place, and they had a big music festival there.

Thanks to U2's little ditty about it, I learned a little more about it, and then on one of the Palladia airings of the festival, the camera would occasionally pan to the distance, where the hill stood. You could tell there was something on top of it, but the camera never got close enough to see what it was. (is it a shrine or something?)
 
I'm quite heartened to see this is not just a US-only affliction. Heh.

Haha. Commentary from Australia's commercial networks is some of the worst in the world (and, funnily enough, from the ABC and SBS it's some of the best, but they don't have the rights this time around). Judging by all the streams I've watched online over the last few years, it doesn't really matter what sporting event it is either. Aussie rugby commentary is my biggest pet peeve, since it manages to make obviously biased Kiwi or South African commentary look perfectly level-headed. The commercial Aussie networks don't call events; they call Aussie competitors.

It's worse for these Olympics because last time, SBS got some of the coverage and it was just wonderful. Having to watch Channel 9 is a massive comedown.

And I'm ragingly guilty of this. For 2 weeks I want The USA to win everything, everywhere, at all times, constantly and mercilessly.

And then I go back to normal.

:lol: Obviously I'm right behind any New Zealand competitor, but honestly, I'm more in it for intense and exciting contests between quality athletes. I'm not that concerned about country of origin ... or maybe it's just that with New Zealand not exactly in everything, you get more used to being neutral.

Foxtel are endeavouring to show competitions live and in full, which is all I ask for from an Olympic broadcaster. I just assume that Channel Nine will mimic what Channel Seven always did, and just replay the same Aussie gold medal wins over and over. Replaying Aussie medals and bad sporting montages when there is live competition going on somewhere in the city, is disgraceful.

Pretty much that's what Nine's already doing. I suffered through some excruciatingly long puff piece about Australia's swimmers and about Michael Phelps last night when they could've been showing, well, anything that was actually happening.
 
I root for Phelps because I root for greatness, but, he is so devoid of personality that it makes it a challenge. The big bonus prize for when he does not medal looks like it'll be less coverage of his Mom and sisters. Every cloud (atlas) has a silver lining.

NBC does a lot right and a lot wrong. This is an insanely huge undertaking and they'll never make everyone happy. Their apps and streaming options so far have been fantastic, I think, so, this is a step in the right direction from them. Also, I seem to be the last guy who actually likes Bob Costas. I think he makes a hard job look effortless. This goes for his anchor duties during the games, I won't even bother to comment on the Opening Ceremony, which more and more is less about the athletes and more about showmanship. Lastly, Meredith Vieira is annoying is hell.
 
surprisingly bad swim by Phelps. his time at trials (4:07) would have won him the silver easily. the 400IM is the hardest event in swimming, you can't fake it, and missing 2.5 years of solid training catches up to you. i just hope there's not more going on here -- he's still a huge favorite in the fly and in 2 of the 3 relays. speed is easier to come by than endurance, particularly as one ages. we'll see what happens.

Lochte looked fantastic. his work ethic has paid off and he earned this.

hate to say this, but the women's 400 IM was disheartening. and i promise this is not sour grapes at the US getting the silver. the 16-year old chinese girl -- Ye Shiwen -- had a faster final 50 split than Lochte and her final 100 was almost as fast.

regard ... final 100 free splits in the 400 IM:

Ye Shiwen (CHN) 58.68
Beisel (USA) 1:02.33
Xuanxu (CHN) 1:01.58
Hosszu (HUN) 1:02.66
Hannah (GBR) 1:02.97
Rice (AUS) 1:03.98
Leverenz (USA) 1:04.45
Garcia (ESP) 102.91

Men
Lochte (USA) 58.65
Pereira (BRA) 59.70
Hagino (JPN) 58.20
Phelps (USA) 58.32
Le Clos (RSA) 59.15
Horihata (JPN) 57.58
Fraser-Holmes (AUS) 58.13
Marin (ITA) 100.12

that simply doesn't happen. ever. in any event in swimming. i hope i'm wrong, but given Chinese doping issues in the 1990s and their questionable tactics regarding, say, the ages of female gymnasts, well ... one is skeptical. i suppose it would be great if it were real, her final 100 was shocking and beautiful and she blew by the other women as if they were floating in a bathtub.

yes, we do get privileged to once-in-a-generation time warp athletes (Phelps, Janet Evans, Mary T. Meagher, Ian Thorpe, Spitz), but ... just, well, i'm uncomfortable with it is all.
 
I root for Phelps because I root for greatness, but, he is so devoid of personality that it makes it a challenge. The big bonus prize for when he does not medal looks like it'll be less coverage of his Mom and sisters. Every cloud (atlas) has a silver lining.

NBC does a lot right and a lot wrong. This is an insanely huge undertaking and they'll never make everyone happy. Their apps and streaming options so far have been fantastic, I think, so, this is a step in the right direction from them. Also, I seem to be the last guy who actually likes Bob Costas. I think he makes a hard job look effortless. This goes for his anchor duties during the games, I won't even bother to comment on the Opening Ceremony, which more and more is less about the athletes and more about showmanship. Lastly, Meredith Vieira is annoying is hell.

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I like Bob Costas too.
 
The siren song of the Olympics and the fun of this thread in the past summoned me back.

Hope you get to watch tonight.

I'm walking a tightrope between watching certain streamed events but staying ignorant of results so the primetime coverage on NBC is new to me. It entails laying off the internetz most of the day, which is fairly easy to do....next week, while at work, though, combined with being on the west coast, will prove much harder to remain spoiler free. I'm likely gonna get up super early to watch USA v France in men's hoops. I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD.
 
I wish the world badminton federation (whatever it's called) had let our team stick with the Black Cocks name!

Hope the Black Sticks can hold on to this lead. It's time for revenge after Australia beat us to the Commonwealth Games gold in a penalty shoot-out. Turns out we're ranked higher in the world than the Aussie team. Who knew!
 
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