I am FED up with "Americanized" Olympics!!

[dougal55]

Hi all!

I have been watching some of the Winter Olympics here and I want to say this.....

I am fed up with the attitude shown by the American TV networks at Salt Lake! It seems to me that they are intent in saying "Zoom in tight on the American bronze medallist, who CARES who won?!?". I have seen those kind of images on TV here in Britain. Its utterly shameful, unfair and over the top patriotism! There's no excuse for that kind of thing!

And you know what else Im thinking? I think its high time that the North Americans stop bidding for any more Olympic Games (winter or summer) for at least 20 years! 20 years!

Why? Because you have had too much Olympics in the last 30 years!!! Lets recall where it has been.....lets start off with Canada in 1976 at Montreal, then to LA in 1984, Lake Placid also in 1984, Calgary in 1988, Atlanta in 1996, and finally Salt Lake City this year. So all in all, North Americans had 6 Olympics of the last 13 Olympics! Thats too much! Give someone else a turn!

Actually Im kinda real glad that the next 3 Olympics are gonna be held outside North America! (Athens 2004, Turin 2006, and Beijing 2008).

Apart from that, its great to see some great moments like that lucky Aussie winning gold in speed skating when 4 guys in front of him all fell! A superb and hilarious moment to watch! And for me as a Brit, it was brilliant to see 4 Scottish lassies win gold in curling which included a win against world champions on the way to their win against the Swiss in the final with one last stone!

OK Ive said it now.......

dougal

 

[Bonochick]

Quick...somebody mention something about U2 before this thread gets moved.

------------------
"Hallelujah, Heaven's white rose,
The doors you open...I just can't close..."

 

[sharky]

while I agree that at times the Olympics were heavy on America, if you were watching American feeds, you get American stuff. I'm sure if there were BBC reporters with cameras, they would be focusing on the Brits that won a silver and not a gold medalists.

Oh, and the U.S. and Canada are two distinct cultures. Don't lump them together-- Canadians have a complex about that for good reason.

 

[sharky]

Describing the Canadians as Americans is like saying U2 is British. Just because Britain and Ireland are next to each other does not mean its the same.


[This message has been edited by sharky (edited 02-25-2002).]

 

[V Nura]

can't believe I wasteed my time to read this post...or reply to it

 

[sulawesigirl4]

ummm....yeah. And if you were watching Russian TV, would you be upset if they zoomed in on Russian athletes?

I'm sorry, but any country that is hosting the Games tends to (i know it's a shock) root for their home team!

 

[oktobergirl]

Whatever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[kobayashi]

you are all right in that the network broadcasting to home caters to where ever 'home' is, but the american's do go overboard. this degree of overboardness(i'm making words now!) is to be expected, imo, given the elevated levels of patriotism present in the US against anywhere else.

it makes for some bad coverage if you're not an american looking to shed a tear but i understand why they do it.

it's all about gettin' eyeballs.

oh and this should really be in the new sports forum, 'put 'em under pressure'

[This message has been edited by kobayashi (edited 02-25-2002).]

 

[elevatedmole]

Originally posted by Arun V:
can't believe I wasteed my time to read this post...or reply to it

Ditto.

First: I am sick of America getting all the coverage here as well -- I want to see the teams/the athletes who have talent. But whatever, there are lots of people out here in America who want to see all the American athletes.

Second: the Aussie speedskaing wasn't very funny IMO.

Third: You're gonna face the wrath of Sicy.

Edit: stupid grammar

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"You must not look down on someone just 'cos they are 14 years old. When I was that age I listened to the music of John Lennon and it changed my way of seeing things, so I'm just glad that 14 year olds are coming to see U2 rather than group X." - Bono, 1988


[This message has been edited by elevatedmole (edited 02-25-2002).]

 

[The_Sweetest_Thing]

Originally posted by sharky:


Oh, and the U.S. and Canada are two distinct cultures. Don't lump them together-- Canadians have a complex about that for good reason.

Oh yeah. Don't be saying us Canuks are Americans now. We'll get angry and beat you with hockey sticks. We DO have a complex, eh?

--------
I mean, okay. I got the NBC feed, and the CBC feed (uh, American and Canadian TV feeds on the Olympics). NBC showed more Americans, CBC more Canadians. This is because of patriotism. Every home country likes to see their home athletes.

If America overdoes it slightly it's because
a) They are THE most patriotic country (melting pot). Besides, it's about time they gave their winter athletes support.
b) The Olympics were IN America, for god's sake.

 

[sharky]

sweetest thing-- don't be sending the mounties after me now eh?

I just meant that people have a tendency to think of North America as one bing country north of the Mexican border. I'm from Detroit so that even irks me a bit. Canada is different!

and I will admit that the CBC's coverage of the Olympics is quite superior to NBC. I wish I could get the CBC in NYC.

 

[spinninghead77]

Originally posted by The_Sweetest_Thing:
Oh yeah. Don't be saying us Canuks are Americans now. We'll get angry and beat you with hockey sticks. We DO have a complex, eh?

... and not just regular hockey sticks, but gold medal winning hockey sticks!!!

 

[MissZooropa]

I'm glad we had our own coverage of the games on most events and showed Sweden interests, fun moments and historic moments, no matter what country involved.

And US and Canada are not the same, that's for sure.

The speedskating was funny because of his history of bad luck. He should have been dead, twice, by now. It was like he was paid back with all the luck he got now.

 

[The_Sweetest_Thing]

Originally posted by MissZooropa:
The speedskating was funny because of his history of bad luck. He should have been dead, twice, by now. It was like he was paid back with all the luck he got now.

Who's this that you're talking about?

 

[dougal55]

Miss Zooropa's talking about Steve Bradbury of Australia who had won their first ever Winter Olympics gold medal in the event!!

dougal

 

[dougal55]

And another thing....

Steve once had an accident which nearly killed him....he had a skate cut through his leg and he lost 4 litres of blood and required 111 stitches too! He also fractured his neck three years ago so yeah he should have been dead twice! But now look at him.. a gold medal winner!

dougal

 

[MissZooropa]

Originally posted by dougal55:
And another thing....

Steve once had an accident which nearly killed him....he had a skate cut through his leg and he lost 4 litres of blood and required 111 stitches too! He also fractured his neck three years ago so yeah he should have been dead twice! But now look at him.. a gold medal winner!

dougal

This is what I wrote nad posted but the thread got closed before I finished.
Thanks Dougal.

 

[zooropamanda]

Give us a break on the speed skating thing will you please?
He was the only man in the race who was left standing. He was the one who crossed the line first. He won.
Your silver medal speedskater didn't seem to have a problem with it.
Bradbury will always be a champion in my eyes.
Its called spirit.

 

[sulawesigirl4]

ummm, manda, I don't think anyone in this thread was knocking your speedskater. I may have misread, but it seemed to me people are saying it was cool he won because he had really put in his time, etc.

 

[Clark W. Griswold Jr]

Hey dougie,

Here, I found some friends for you to piss and moan with:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/winterolympics2002/hi/english/bbc_coverage/newsid_1840000/1840045.stm

Nice try you little whiner...

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

haha!!!! I find some of those comments very, very comical!!!!

The 2 most recurring examples of American "patriotism" involve the Pelletier-Sale skating ordeal and the fix to have the Americans and Canadians in the final....well, the last time I spoke to an American, their patriotism didn't extend northwards to include Canada!
And the same goes for us!

That's absolutely absurd...ridiculous to imply there's some kind of conspiracy or that there's some kind of "North American" identity thing going on here, interfering with the Olympic results!

 

[zooropamanda]

Julie can i complain to u that I didn't like the fact they used bands from the 70's and 80's in the closing ceremony?
We all blame Canada right?

BTW, I want to come to Canada on my next trip overseas.

 

[The_Sweetest_Thing]

Originally posted by zooropamanda:
Julie can i complain to u that I didn't like the fact they used bands from the 70's and 80's in the closing ceremony?
We all blame Canada right?

BTW, I want to come to Canada on my next trip overseas.

Blame Canada, blame Canada...( a la South Park)
We always get a bad rap.

And for the record, I want to go to OZ on MY next trip overseas!

(Where in Canada were you thinking?)

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

She's coming to Ottawa actually to visit me!
She heard the ratio of men to women is like 8-1!!!!!!

 

[zooropamanda]

IT IS????????

Holy mother!

Sydney is like the opposite. All single girls!

Yes I want to go visit all my lovely Canadian friends and go visit some people I met while holidaying in Italy last year who live in Vancouver. They described it so beautifully. I can't wait to go!

 

[TylerDurden]

Originally posted by zooropamanda:

Sydney is like the opposite. All single girls!

Hey?!?! Do we live in the same Sydney? Maybe it's that way in the Southern end of town....
*heads back to Carmens*

 

[kobayashi]

Originally posted by ladywithspinninghead:

She's coming to Ottawa actually to visit me!
She heard the ratio of men to women is like 8-1!!!!!!

she's lying. i live here too and it's about 17 women to 1 guy

 

[zoomerang II]

Originally posted by zooropamanda:
IT IS????????

Holy mother!

Sydney is like the opposite. All single girls!

wtf? I must have been hanging out in the wrong part of town.

*Sydney starts to weigh in in long term plans*

 

[V Nura]

Time to start warming up the cricket skills

Sydney here I come!

 

[zooropamanda]

Tyler are you kidding me?
Its a fact! There have been studies done. Single women far outweigh single men.
Why do you think they have those comps on the radio to raffle off women on dates lol

Arun, you couldn't handle Sydney women

oh and Tyles...Carmen's ...um...LOL!!!