NBC Olympic Coverage

[VideoGameCritic]

I spent the weekend at the house of some relatives and they had the Olympics on for much of the time. I'm starting to see what NBC (or "Peacock" or whatever) is taking some flak for their coverage. It's not very good.

In terms of graphics, NBC is definitely taking a minimalist approach. If you drop in on the middle of an event you probably will have no idea what you are watching. For example I was watching tennis today. Later I found out it was the gold-medal men's finals. Considering we all have big HDTVs now, you'd think they could squeeze this info in somewhere.

The countries are identified using cryptic three-letter abbreviations. Outside of "USA" not many are obvious to the casual viewer. Case in point: ROC. Would you believe that's Russia? If the sound is turned down, you could tune in on an event for a half an hour and have no idea what countries were competing.

Next, I don't think many Americans even know what a lot of these sports ARE. Maybe display something in the corner that you're watching handball or field hockey or whatever so we know. And please specify men's or women's. I was watching some women's ping pong matches this morning and a lot of those players looked like dudes!

Thoughts?

[Matchstick]

I kinda tuned out of the Olympics once they threatened to drop wrestling. So, let me get this straight - the oldest Olympic event, dating back close to 3000 years, gets dropped, yet Golf, Handball, and Skateboarding are OK?? Yeah, right!!

Sure, that proposed change never went through, but the damage was done. I don't think the modern Olympic organizers really know what they're doing. Why are some of these sports Olympic events in the first place? Does anybody really get up at 3AM to watch Olympic Badminton??

As a lifelong skateboarder, I should love that event getting added to the Olympics, right? I hate it. I don't even think of it as a "sport," despite actively taking part in it. Something about skating has always been rooted in counterculture, going against the grain. But shoehorning Skateboarding into the Olympics? I dunno. I don't really see that pairing well against the Javelin and Discus events. The X Games exist for a reason!

Myself, I'm more of a fan of the Winter Olympics. I played hockey. I still regularly ice skate. I love to ski. I like to think I'm pretty good at all three - then I see Olympic athletes compete, and I feel so small. But that's the fun of it, seeing athletes compete in a sport that I play, at a level I could never hope to match.

Personally, I find nearly every Winter Olympics event interesting, but the Summer Games? Aside from the Track and Field events, and some of the indoor events like Fencing, Weightlifting, or Boxing, I'm just not interested. The Summer Games feel so bloated, anymore.

[Zack Burner]

Some of the events in the Olympics are eyebrow raising.....Beach Volleyball? Some pervert would be more interested in the girls in bikinis than on the athleticism. Golf? That's more intellectual than athletic. Equestrian? That's more the horse than the rider. What really irks me the most, is when an athlete hogs all the medals for one country without giving other countries a chance. That's very unfair if you ask me especially for some like Dressel who I feel is severely over-rated. I always cheer for a country that makes history when they get a medal for their country for the first time in an event, such as recently when Turkey got a medal in Archery, a Tunisian man getting a medal in swimming, and a Ugandan winning the 10,000m run. I root for other countries besides the USA, like Japan, Greece, Jamaica, Kenya, and more. I'm still perplexed how the Russian Olympic Committee is on this one, even though they're not really supposed to be there due to some incident which I won't mention here.

[Atariboy]

I don't know why else one would watch beach volleyball if it's not to see the cute girls in bikinis.

[SuperiorShark]

I'm surprised that anybody in the western hemisphere would be even watching the Olympics considering that all of the events are on at 3 in the morning.

[goldenband]

The countries are identified using cryptic three-letter abbreviations. Outside of "USA" not many are obvious to the casual viewer. Case in point: ROC. Would you believe that's Russia?

They're playing under the ROC abbreviation because Russia was banned from the Olympics (they were accused of state-sponsored doping), but Russian athletes are allowed to compete as neutral participants under the name "Russian Olympic Committee".

[matmico399]

I tuned in a few times and caught some good events. However every darn time I turn it on it seems to be swimming. I am so sick of swimming.

[Zack Burner]

I tuned in a few times and caught some good events. However every darn time I turn it on it seems to be swimming. I am so sick of swimming.

I used to be a competitive swimmer, so I'm not so sick of it, though I am sick of seeing Dressel win all the time, except for that one relay, serves him right. He needs to learn some humility. I was happy when Tunisia and Hong Kong won their medals. Now it's on to Track and Field, and then Gymnastics. Let's just hope Simone does well in her one sole event after her incident of "twisties" as she calls it. I managed to catch Archery and Fencing as well, I'm grateful Turkey won Gold in the former and us USA won Bronze in the latter.

[VideoGameCritic]

Zach -
If you think golf is not athletic you've obviously never played the sport. I used to play. In order to hit that ball straight and sure, you need to use every muscle in your entire body. It requires perfect form and is a heck of a lot harder than it looks. Take a novice out to a driving range and he'd be lucky to make contact must less hit a decent shot.
VGC

[Atariboy]

The first time I played real golf, I was in my early 20's and my arms and shoulders ached for what seemed like days afterwards.

Someone that has never played golf (or like I was and only had ever played miniature golf) don't appreciate the physical nature of golf until they actually try it.