08-11-2008, 02:05 AM
The Olympics are simultaneously the best and worst event in the world. They're over-commercialized, bloated, and an opportunity for national ego stroking. But the athletes are amazing, and some great moments come out of the most obscure sports. My home country of New Zealand is strong in sailing and equestrian, two sports you wouldn't normally put at the top of your list for inclusion.
For the last two Olympics I lived in Canada where I had the opportunity to compare the television coverage of NBC and CBC. I pity the Americans out of range of Canadian broadcasts, because NBC's coverage royally sucked. They showed almost nothing live. The coverage focused on the "glamour" events (swimming, gymastics, track and field), and the coverage seemed to be split equally between actual footage of a sporting event and dewy-eyed tearjerker emotional profiles (what one columnist likes to call "Big Detroit Auto Maker Olympic Moments").
With current coverage I've seen in New Zealand, if there isn't an event featuring one of our own athletes for broadcast, they'll find something else interesting to show, rather than resort to endless interviews and profiles. Hey, its a Team Handball game between France and Angola! Look, its the women's Sabre gold medal match!
The thing about the "minor" sports is that some of them make absorbing television (think Curling during the Winter Olympics, which is otherwise a non-sport outside of Canada as far as the media goes), while some sports only a purist could love. (Like Fencing - its the kind of sport that on paper should be cool, but darned if I can tell who scored and who didn't during the milliseconds each point seems to last).
I love the obscure sports for giving some fleeting recognition to the people who toil away in anonymity for 3 years and 50 weeks between events.
For the last two Olympics I lived in Canada where I had the opportunity to compare the television coverage of NBC and CBC. I pity the Americans out of range of Canadian broadcasts, because NBC's coverage royally sucked. They showed almost nothing live. The coverage focused on the "glamour" events (swimming, gymastics, track and field), and the coverage seemed to be split equally between actual footage of a sporting event and dewy-eyed tearjerker emotional profiles (what one columnist likes to call "Big Detroit Auto Maker Olympic Moments").
With current coverage I've seen in New Zealand, if there isn't an event featuring one of our own athletes for broadcast, they'll find something else interesting to show, rather than resort to endless interviews and profiles. Hey, its a Team Handball game between France and Angola! Look, its the women's Sabre gold medal match!
The thing about the "minor" sports is that some of them make absorbing television (think Curling during the Winter Olympics, which is otherwise a non-sport outside of Canada as far as the media goes), while some sports only a purist could love. (Like Fencing - its the kind of sport that on paper should be cool, but darned if I can tell who scored and who didn't during the milliseconds each point seems to last).
I love the obscure sports for giving some fleeting recognition to the people who toil away in anonymity for 3 years and 50 weeks between events.