2010 Winter Olympics Thread

[improbus]

I was really disappointed that they only showed 5 downhill runs. Boo NBC. The really don't do the proper justice to the sport. It is the most exciting minute and a half in sports and they covered it in two segments. Very sad.

[improbus]

I haven't watched much of the games but I did see the men's downhill skiing last night. I have skied before, which helped leave me in absolute awe of the skill and speed of the competitors. Simply amazing.

They should add a few "NASCAR" cameras to the downhill to capture the speed. I want to see a true horizontal shot that gives you an image of both the speed of the skiier as well as the pitch of the slope. The camera angles they do use don't give you a true image of the danger.

[Roy Tucker]

That's fantastic! What did you think of the competition? I'm curious as an avid skating fan what you, a casual viewer, thought about everything.

My friends skated great again last night and got another personal best score! I am SO PROUD of them for doing so well in their first big competition. Their second to last lift (the one handed one) got the highest element score of ALL the pairs which is a really big deal for them. I wish more pairs had skated clean (bummed for the German team who I adore but didn't have their best performance last night) but overall it was a pretty good competition.

I enjoyed it.

I felt bad for the pairs where someone fell on a jump. I realize some of the jumps/spins/whatever are very difficult, but I wondered why falling seemed so common? Don't they practice these things endlessly? There were few pairs that skated cleanly.

I actually thought the second Chinese pair skated a better long program. But they were pretty far back from the short program.

I didn't realize the first Chinese pair was as old as they were. What made that team was the guy was an excellent and lyrical skater. The other guys in the competition seemed there just to do the heavy lifting and a prop for the female skater. But their interaction was truly as one.

I felt bad for the German and Russian pairs. They kinda fell apart. I think it would be enormously difficult to screw up at the beginning of the program and then try to pull it together and go on. It was funny when the camera zoomed in on the Canadian woman right as they were done and she went "dammit".

So your friends are Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwig? I thought they were good. Although the top 4 pairs really are head and shoulders above the rest.

And Dick Button is a hoot.

[Chip R]

I was really disappointed that they only showed 5 downhill runs. Boo NBC. The really don't do the proper justice to the sport. It is the most exciting minute and a half in sports and they covered it in two segments. Very sad.

I know. I was looking forward to that and it was over almost as soon as it started.

[Eric_the_Red]

Curling is on USA network!

[bucksfan2]

I was really disappointed that they only showed 5 downhill runs. Boo NBC. The really don't do the proper justice to the sport. It is the most exciting minute and a half in sports and they covered it in two segments. Very sad.

I agree, but NBC is also in a tough spot. The Mens downhill began at 12:30 and on my way home from work at 3 you already knew who won the medals. They did hold it back for primetime, which I thought was a good idea, but there is only so much you can show.

Its a shame that NBC didn't show that live on one of their networks.

[Gallen5862]

USA Womens Curling team just lost by a hair with the measuring device.

[BuckeyeRed27]

USA Womens Curling team just lost by a hair with the measuring device.

I was watching that. I'm no curling expert but that was about as thrilling/shocking as you can get. Pretty big choke by the USA. They were up 4-0 after 4 ends.

[SunDeck]

I agree, but NBC is also in a tough spot. The Mens downhill began at 12:30 and on my way home from work at 3 you already knew who won the medals. They did hold it back for primetime, which I thought was a good idea, but there is only so much you can show.

Its a shame that NBC didn't show that live on one of their networks.

Yet they show gazillions of snowboard cross qualifying rounds. I like watching those plenty, but I also think they are short changing the downhill and probably some other events to appeal to the snowboard demographic.
Even so, I'm pretty torqued to see what Shawn White brings to the half pipe.
[my nine year old made me type that]

[bucksfan2]

Yet they show gazillions of snowboard cross qualifying rounds. I like watching those plenty, but I also think they are short changing the downhill and probably some other events to appeal to the snowboard demographic.
Even so, I'm pretty torqued to see what Shawn White brings to the half pipe.
[my nine year old made me type that]

I love watching the alpine skiing events. Being a skiier I can understand more the actual kind of talent it truly takes to go balls to the wall down a course like that. However in just watching the snowboard cross I can see where it is much more entertaining for the common viewer. I also think PTI had a debate about a USA hockey game being pushed off NBC in favor of some kind of ice skating. Its more about television ratings than anything else.

[HeatherC1212]

The skiing events are all messed up right now due to the weather conditions in Vancouver. That men's downhill was supposed to be in primetime one night (Sunday?) so when it got rescheduled, it messed up things with NBC. I think they're doing the best they can with events and the random issues that keep happening (WTH was up with the ice the other night during the speedskating?! ) and I'm just enjoying whatever they show me each evening. Some things they're doing pretty well (trying to show the skating and other marquee events live if possible) and others they're not but it's still enjoyable to watch, at least for me. I'm looking forward to a skating free night tonight since I really need to get sleep and should be able to go to bed early tonight for once, LOL

[bucksfan2]

The skiing events are all messed up right now due to the weather conditions in Vancouver. That men's downhill was supposed to be in primetime one night (Sunday?) so when it got rescheduled, it messed up things with NBC. I think they're doing the best they can with events and the random issues that keep happening (WTH was up with the ice the other night during the speedskating?! ) and I'm just enjoying whatever they show me each evening. Some things they're doing pretty well (trying to show the skating and other marquee events live if possible) and others they're not but it's still enjoyable to watch, at least for me. I'm looking forward to a skating free night tonight since I really need to get sleep and should be able to go to bed early tonight for once, LOL

The Mens Downhill was supposed to be shown on Sat night in primetime. Stupid Canadian Weather!!!!

[SunDeck]

I love watching the alpine skiing events. Being a skiier I can understand more the actual kind of talent it truly takes to go balls to the wall down a course like that. However in just watching the snowboard cross I can see where it is much more entertaining for the common viewer. I also think PTI had a debate about a USA hockey game being pushed off NBC in favor of some kind of ice skating. Its more about television ratings than anything else.

As a fellow life long skier, I agree. Unfortunately, it is very hard to convey the vertical nature of the downhill on TV, which makes downhill look flat sometimes. It's hard to convey a mile and a half black diamond, solid ice with blind turns, through gates at 80mph.

I miss the days of Wide World of Sports when you could count on alpine events on Saturdays in the Winter.

[Hoosier Red]

As a fellow life long skier, I agree. Unfortunately, it is very hard to convey the vertical nature of the downhill on TV, which makes downhill look flat sometimes. It's hard to convey a mile and a half black diamond, solid ice with blind turns, through gates at 80mph.

I miss the days of Wide World of Sports when you could count on alpine events on Saturdays in the Winter.

The other problem with skiing, luge, bobsled, etc is that because they're all going down the hill one at a time, you can't get a feel for who's doing better than the others. Imagine watching the 100 meter dash one at a time.

One thing I've liked is when the TV people put a graphic up for what the lead time's line was down the mountain.

[SunDeck]

The other problem with skiing, luge, bobsled, etc is that because they're all going down the hill one at a time, you can't get a feel for who's doing better than the others. Imagine watching the 100 meter dash one at a time.

One thing I've liked is when the TV people put a graphic up for what the lead time's line was down the mountain.

I agree and I really like the overlays they do that show skiers side by side. Or maybe that's what you mean. But I wish they'd just show more shots from the side of the course, like they did with the mogul runs earlier in the week. Those shots were dramatic.