Michelle Kwan withdraws from Oylmpics

[alex trevino]

Very disappointing I was really rooting for her.

[cincinnati chili]

I'm curious if the snowstorm in the Northeast corridor is going to drastically help NBC's ratings. I never have time to stay home and watch TV anymore, but there was no way I was going outside today.

[MWM]

Too bad. I can't stand figure skating, but I've always had a small crush on Michelle Kwan. I've always thought her to be an all around beautiful person.

[RedsBaron]

The Olympics are so tough. One chance every four years to win a gold medal, and the career of a skater is so short. Kwan won a ton of titles, and did win silver and bronze medals in prior Olympics, but she will never have the gold. A shame.

[TeamBoone]

She was nothing but class throughout the press conference. What a disappointment this has to be for her.

She should have taken home gold in 2002.

[MWM]

The Olympics are so tough. One chance every four years to win a gold medal, and the career of a skater is so short. Kwan won a ton of titles, and did win silver and bronze medals in prior Olympics, but she will never have the gold. A shame.

Especially since she got screwed 1998. And Kerrigan was screwed in 1994. The "sport" lost a lot of credibility in my eyes with those two decisions. Both times they went to the media darlings and not the rightful owners, IMO. That's primarily why I've never been able to get behind any sort of competitions whcih the winner is determined by judges.

[Red in Chicago]

obviously, this won't be popular on this board, but i think it was a crap move for her to be there in the first place...she had to know she would not be competitive this time around, yet she kept someone else from being there for the opening ceremonies...some people just don't know when to let go and her time was up long ago...

[vaticanplum]

obviously, this won't be popular on this board, but i think it was a crap move for her to be there in the first place...she had to know she would not be competitive this time around, yet she kept someone else from being there for the opening ceremonies...some people just don't know when to let go and her time was up long ago...

This is what the media has been playing up for the last several months and the public seems to have latched onto it when the fact is that it is simply not true. I am, confidently/embarrassingly, as obsessed with figure skating as I am with baseball, I used to skate myself, and she absolutely had the tools to be competitive this year had it not been for the injuries. ****skaya, the Russian, is easily the favorite, but Michelle probably stood the best chance of the Americans. Emily Hughes, who is taking her place, just doesn't have the stuff yet, and Cohen is well-known for being a serious choker in competition.

There's no proof that Emily Hughes would have gone to the Opening Ceremonies even if she had been there. And Kwan, lest we forget, was an alternate herself in 1994, in the same exact position. I don't remember this backlash then.

edit: Oh my Lord this board censors the Russian's name. That is fabulous.

[KronoRed]

I have a hard time taking this sport serious since it's based on judges, last night I watched the pairs and found the Russians to be pretty avg while at least 2 other couples were better, who got the best marks? the Russians of course because they always do, short of falling on their butts they will win gold.

Sad for Kwan, but one heck of a career regardless.

[M2]

I'm curious if the snowstorm in the Northeast corridor is going to drastically help NBC's ratings. I never have time to stay home and watch TV anymore, but there was no way I was going outside today.

Great day for sledding.

vaticanplum, iirc there was a wee bit of controversy over women's figure skating in 1994 with a few people insisting maybe one of the entrants didn't deserve to be there.

[vaticanplum]

Great day for sledding.

vaticanplum, iirc there was a wee bit of controversy over women's figure skating in 1994 with a few people insisting maybe one of the entrants didn't deserve to be there.

Ok, full-fledged geekdom impending: there was some controversy over that team, but that was largely over the pairs competition -- many people felt that the teams that earned their spots at the National Championships (which is how the US Olympic figure skating team is determined) weren't the ones who deserved to go. But there wasn't much issue over the women's team. The Americans had two women's spots that year instead of three, due to Kerrigan's poor performance at the World Championships the year before (this is how the number of spots is determined). Kerrigan got whacked in the knee, Tonya Harding finished first and Kwan was second. So Harding got to go automatically, but the second spot was given to Kerrigan who could not compete at the Nationals. (Harding was eventually stripped of her title after the Olympics when all the stuff went down, but the title was left vacant, not handed to Kwan.)

I think your point is that a lot of people thought Tonya harding didn't deserve to be there, which is fair, but the way it works in skating is that the winner of the Nationals has an automatic Olympic spot, period. Barring legal circumstances, of course, but with Harding that all wasn't determined until after the Olympics.

So Michelle Kwan was in Lillehammer as an alternate and would have taken over for Kerrigan had she proven too injured to compete. She was on standby just as Hughes was. No argument there, due to, you know, the whacked knee and all. And there's no question that Michelle Kwan is a thousand times better skater than kerrigan (who, all told, was very weak in the history of US Skating.)

REMEMBER, DISCLAIMER: I used to skate and I still choreograph for kids when I'm really hard up for money. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I LOVE BASEBALL ANY LESS.

[M2]

Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan started the east coast vs. west coast wars of the '90s. Tupac and Biggie were just collateral damage.

[pedro]

Apparently Tonya used to frequent a bar about a mile from my house called Sewicky's Addition, it's a pretty shady place, even by my standards. For a time a few years ago she lived next door to a friend of mine as well. He claims that screaming was not an infrequent occurence within her household.

[NJReds]

I'm curious if the snowstorm in the Northeast corridor is going to drastically help NBC's ratings. I never have time to stay home and watch TV anymore, but there was no way I was going outside today.

I'd would've helped if they hadn't waited until 3 p.m. to televise something besides women's hockey. No live coverage on a Sunday. Then when they do come on they show 2 minutes of action...2 mintues of commercials...rinse and repeat.

NBC has made the Olympics almost unwatchable.

[KronoRed]

NBC has made the Olympics almost unwatchable.
..and they are getting worse each time.

[Danny Serafini]

I'm lucky that I live close enough to Canada to get CBC, they're much better than NBC. Unfortunately I think this is CBC's last Olympics, and the new Canadian host is a channel I don't get.

[M2]

Actually, I thought NBC did a decent job yesterday. Got to see downhill, snowboarding, ski jumping, short track, long track and luge. I would have liked to see more of the downhill and ski jumping, but there certainly seemed to be a steady stream of actual sports.

[NJReds]

Actually, I thought NBC did a decent job yesterday. Got to see downhill, snowboarding, ski jumping, short track, long track and luge. I would have liked to see more of the downhill and ski jumping, but there certainly seemed to be a steady stream of actual sports.

I would've liked to have seen a steady stream of live sports.

They had live coverage today on USA. Seems a natural to have live coverage on a Sunday.

[Danny Serafini]

NBC's event coverage wasn't bad, now that they've stopped being so overnationalistic and show non-U. S. athletes and sports on occaision. But when I can watch an event on CBC 7 hours before NBC bothers to get around to it there's not much incentive to watch NBC.

[Yachtzee]

At least they've gotten away from the overly sentimental back-story vignettes. I hate those. I think it was '94 where CBS just went over the top with them.

[TeamBoone]

I'd would've helped if they hadn't waited until 3 p.m. to televise something besides women's hockey. No live coverage on a Sunday. Then when they do come on they show 2 minutes of action...2 mintues of commercials...rinse and repeat.

NBC has made the Olympics almost unwatchable.

I'm enjoying the coverage a lot.

[Chip R]

I heard there was talk about Kwan doing TV commentary for the skating now that she's out but it looks like that's not the case.

[NJReds]

I heard there was talk about Kwan doing TV commentary for the skating now that she's out but it looks like that's not the case.

I read that she turned down the offer because she didn't want to be a distraction.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/torino/2006-02-13-kwan-nbc_x.htm

[KronoRed]

I'm enjoying the coverage a lot.
Just don't make the mistake of going to any news site because all the coverage is tape delayed ;)

[M2]

Just don't make the mistake of going to any news site because all the coverage is tape delayed ;)


The biggest, most-often-forgotten-that-it-was-a-tape-delay tape delay in Olympic history was the U.S. hockey team vs. the Russians in 1980. Everyone knew who won by the time it aired in primetime.

[KronoRed]

True, but that was before sport sites and news sites that we go to hourly, back then if you wanted to avoid hearing it, it was easier just don't watch the news ;)

Now..I head to ESPN for a baseball check and I see the winners at the top of the screen, no way to avoid that :dunno:

[M2]

True, but that was before sport sites and news sites that we go to hourly, back then if you wanted to avoid hearing it, it was easier just don't watch the news ;)

Now..I head to ESPN for a baseball check and I see the winners at the top of the screen, no way to avoid that :dunno:

Well now it's flat out impossible, though the 1980 game proved unavoidable. My family tried radio silence, but my grandmother called and my mother answered because she's biologically incapable of letting a phone ring. Even if she hadn't answered and then responded (sheepishly) "Oh ... that's ... great," Jim McKay's quick intro before they aired the game was done in front of pack of folks chanting "U-S-A, U-S-A!" That pretty well tipped you off if had managed to steer clear of anything broadcast over the airwaves up until that moment.

[creek14]

NBC has made the Olympics almost unwatchable.
Amen!

[TeamBoone]

I swear that most on here can never find the good in anything.

In our small world, it's impossible to keep things under wraps... I don't have a problem. I just don't go to the news sites or watch the news until later.

How would you guys suggest they air the games to make them better, especially during the week when people work. I'm sure the NBC execs would love to hear your suggestions.

[KronoRed]

Air them live on at least 1 of the 5 channels they have them going on, and not just hockey and curling.

Drop the personal stories to maybe 1 a night.

[NJReds]

I swear that most on here can never find the good in anything.

In our small world, it's impossible to keep things under wraps... I don't have a problem. I just don't go to the news sites or watch the news until later.

How would you guys suggest they air the games to make them better, especially during the week when people work. I'm sure the NBC execs would love to hear your suggestions.

I did send my comments to NBC. There's no excuse on a Sunday for not showing any live coverage except for women's hockey. They didn't show anything until 3:30 p.m., and there were more commercials then action.

It's not about whether or not I know the results that I have a problem with. I had a problem Sunday knowing that many events were ongoing live, and I had to wait all day to see anything because NBC wanted to prepackage everything with 500 commercial breaks.

However, I thought they did a great job last night, though. Particularly with the figure skating pairs. I'm not a huge figure skating fan, but they kept my interest and the background stories were short and extremely well done.

[TeamBoone]

Is there 5 or 6 hours difference between "here" and "there"?

I'm not sure when they start the various games each day, but even if they started live coverage at 7 AM EST, it would already be at least noon there. Afternoon programmming, beginning at 12 PM EST, it would be 5 or 6 PM there. And I've not even considered how early coverage would begin on the west coast.

I guess I'm just not seeing how they can telecast much of anything live that happens during the day in Italy, even on the weekend.

I do agree there are a whole lot of commercials. And I've noticed (with all programming, not just the olympics) that the commercial breaks become longer and longer all the time.