Please Show Us The Athletes Competing, Instead Of The Announcers Talking
February 12, 2010 Download | Duration: 00:03:30
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Twelve years ago I covered the Winter Olympics in Nagano. It was exhausting – and exhilarating.
Every day, right in front of me, I got to savor the skill and the speed of the skiers and the snowboarders, the hockey players and the figure skaters. But what I remember most is the energy generated by the athletes and the audience, who seemed to feed off each other. I didn’t get to merely see it. I got to feel it – an experience shared with thousands of people from around the world, right as it happened.
So that’s why I was stunned when I called my friends back home, breathless about the drama stirring all around me, only to learn they had no idea what I was talking about. They weren’t impressed by the Nagano Olympics, or the coverage of it – take your pick. And that’s when I realized the Olympics I was experiencing had nothing to do with the one they were watching – or not watching at all. (Nagano had the lowest ratings in 30 years.)
Now I realize TV can’t compete with being there, especially 12 time zones away. But it can come a lot closer than it usually does. American networks spend so much money on the Olympics -- 2.3 billion dollars for the rights alone this year – they feel compelled to protect their investment with too many safe, soft feature stories filmed months before the Games even begin.
Yes, I’m talking about those ubiquitous “Up Close and Personal” segments, about the cross-country skier from Eveleth, Minnesota, who became world class fast while being chased by dogs on his after-school paper route. And that’d be a fine story – if it didn’t keep us from watching the former paper boy competing in “The Actual Olympics” segments.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation does much better, with much less. Or they did, until they lost the Canadian rights to CTV. And that’s a crying shame, because the CBC consistently showed you the most interesting athletes, even if they weren’t Americans, and they showed them competing, live.
Why does that matter? Because sports is one of the few things on TV nobody knows how it’s going to turn out. You just can’t get you a preview of tonight’s game. So when we see a classic competition unfolding before our very eyes, we become participants in that event. We share it with family, friends, even strangers – or tell them, Awww, man! Ya missed it! And we remember it forever.
I’ll never forget watching the ’76 Winter Olympics on a school night with my brother and my dad. We saw skier after skier cut the leading time, until the last skier, world champion Franz Klammer, came flying over the hill in his skin-tight yellow suit in a reckless attempt to claim his title – and he did it. We jumped and cheered as if we were there – and we were, in our living room, sharing it with millions of people around the world.
The list is long. Think of Tonya and Nancy, right down to Tonya’s broken skate lace. Or speed skater Dan Jansen’s repeated heartbreaks before winning the gold. Or the Miracle on Ice medal ceremony, when captain Mike Eruzione spontaneously called his teammates up to the medal stand with him, and they all managed to fit, just barely – a scene no one who saw it can ever forget.
If you witnessed those events, when they happened, you’re probably nodding right now. It’s something we share, because, “We were there.”
And that’s why I wish NBC would be kind enough to get the heck out of the way, and let us watch the athletes, not the announcers, do what they’ve been preparing to do for years.
Only that way can we have a few more memories.
Copyright © 2010, Michigan Radio
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnubacon
That's why I will watch Olympic coverage on CBC.
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Mark,
Unfortunately, that's why you USED to watch Olympic coverage on the CBC. As reported in the story, CBC was outbid for the Canadian rights by an outfit called CTV. Which, sad to say, I don't believe we can get here in Michigan through normal cable. (Someone please tell me I'm wrong on the latter, because I bet it's still better than NBC.)
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Mark.
-John
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John, you are spot on with this commentary. At times, the soft features seem to diminish the hard work and practice the athletes have done to just get the opportunity to compete on a world stage. I support your call for more live action with athletes and less soft features.
I enjoyed a similar jumping out of your chair experience during the 2008 Summer Olympics when Jason Lezak swam the anchor leg of the 4X100 medley relay, shattering the individual world freestyle record. But he did not receive individual recognition for that accomplishment because it was a relay event. After the race, all the media attention was on Michael Phelps and his march to gold medals. In a quieter, non-Michael Phelps moment, a television reporter interviewed Lezak after the race. The reporter asked Lezak what his motivation was for his world record performance, his answer was priceless-- he simply said "my team". For me, that was a classic Olympic moment.
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I couldn't agree with your more, CBC’s coverage has always been better and I will miss their broadcasts. I have read that NBC plans to carry 800 hours of coverage this time, more then ever before. Hopefully that means more live coverage and not more feel good stories! By the way, note to NBC, it make me feel good to see MORE LIVE COVERAGE!!!!
As for the Olympics, I love the Olympics, both summer and winter for that matter. The competition is great and the country pride awesome. Yet, I’m always surprised to hear sports talk radio hosts bagging on the Olympics. As if these are second-rate athletes and that they don’t matter. God forbid if it is not Football or Basketball, they don’t know how to process it. I’ve thought about this trying to understand why that would be, and the only thing I can come up with is that they don’t know how to criticize these sports and the athletes participating in them, therefore they must somehow be beneath to our mainstream sports and thus are irrelevant. Similar to soccer, we don’t watch it, don’t really understand it, therefore it is a lousy sport.
I can’t wait for the Olympics to start – GO USA!!!!
Ty Tessmer
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Great post this week. To bring it back to just a week ago, I think focusing on the Super Bowl, the game itself, and not the fans or players families, and not a lot of constant sideline shots of players on the bench (although there were a few), is exactly what CBS did right inn their coverage. I don't know how many big games I've watched where they are always going to the sideline reporter, or showing shots of some family members because they went through some personal tribulations.
I can't speak for everyone, but I'm watching to see the game itself and really have little interest in the side stories, and I thought the coverage of the Super Bowl did an excellent job of focusing on the athletic event itself and not a lot of the peripherals, one can but hope that NBC will do the same thing with the Olympics.
p.s. finally got around to reading Bo's Lasting Lesson's, it was a great read, I cannot recommend it enough.
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Tonight, will will be subjected to enough Bob Costas rambling to make us vomit. Fortunately NBC has been getting better about showing complete coverage on USA, Universal, and MSNBC. Also www.channelsurfing.net may be an option too.
I'm glad you wrote about this; for years I have loved the Olympics and despised NBC. I kept quiet because I thought I was the only one.
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I'm glad that someone with a bigger megaphone than mine has voiced my huge dissatisfaction with NBC's "coverage" of the games. Actually, the competition will begin today, but I am confident that what you write re: Nagano and tv's failure to capture the emotions generated by the events applies equally to its misrepresentation of the emotions of competitors and spectators at the Vancouver games. Please, limit commentators to no more than 1/5 of air time. Reports at the site of an event can have more air time, if they focus on NOW and forget the "upcoming" and the hype. The beauty of sports is obscured by the banality of sports commentators. Sell goods; I accept commercials as the price I must pay to see the athletes compete. But don't lose the events in a snow-storm of blather and hype.
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agree
cut the talk by talking heads and SHOW the real thing in real time
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John:
Great post and right on point! A good commentator is like a good referee…They go unnoticed and allow the spotlight to be on the competition. Unfortunately, much like all of sports, the networks are grossly overpaying their lead commentators and for some odd reason the producers feel they are the reason we tune in and overdose us with them. However, in reality they are why we hit the “last channel” button on our remotes. As sports fans we tune in to simply watch the competition and let’s hope NBC and others get the message to stick to the KISS principle and “keep it simple”.
Jim
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Ive watched some Olympics this time around, but not a lot, as usual I see too much of NBC trying to make their newscasters celebrities rather then unbiased commentators. So...again, I don't watch and find other things to do.
Also, I don't like the Olympic Hockey format, its just the NHL, re-juggled, I would rather watch junior players not yet famous make a name for themselves.
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