Olympics 2016

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Williebee

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The Kosovan athlete in the Judo has won her country's first Olympic medal! She was in bits, bless her.

This is such a terrific story.

We don't have cable or satellite TV at home. I tried to do a streaming package through the local cable company (Charter/Spectrum). [ETA: To clarify.] I get my internet from them. BUT, It isn't available in my town unless I (also) take a television package and put in a digital receiver. Sling TV was another option, and said they include NBC. They do, if you are in Chicago. That is the only collection of zip codes in Illinois that is allowed NBC. Nevermind that I'm closer to four other major cities than I am to Chicago.
Sling does have four/five of the "minor" channels in the NBC conglomerate. They sometimes have coverage available. They won't get any of the major events.

I could always do a proxy and pretend I'm in Australia, though. :)
 
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mirandashell

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It's a damn shame you can't get the BBC Coverage through BBC America. Actually.... the BBC should sell a package through them. They'd make a fortune.
 

Helix

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*checks telelvision guide* FTA on Channel 7 here. I now have the schedule for the Refugee Team and I plan to watch as many of those events as I can.
 

ElaineA

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GAH! I missed the Women's Rugby final! We watched the semi today between NZ and GB (whoa! they HIT). I didn't realize there'd be another game today. (Or maybe we were getting it all delayed. I can't figure any of the programming out.)
 

cornflake

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Random question if anyone has any experience with competitive swimming:

Why are the best swimmers placed on the inside? Does it reduce the waves affecting you? It'd seem like the far outside, with only one swimmer adjacent, would be better for that, but maybe it's unbalanced somehow. Is it because it affords a better view of the field?

Just curiosity and god knows the NBC announcers never say anything useful (though at least they keep Al "was it the wax, the skis, or your heart," Trautwig away from the swimming) and cornflakes don't have a lot of experience in this area.
 

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Judging by the coverage I'm seeing in Canada (CBC, NBC, TSN1 and TSN2) the main criteria for getting your sport televised is that the athletes wear bathing suits, skimpy bikinis, or something tightfitting. It's been swimming, beach volleyball and gymnastics. Oh, and bike road-racing and, today, whoopee, rowing.
Apparently somewhere in Brazil the equestrian end of things is going on, but apparently the horse being almost naked doesn't count: absolutely no coverage, although the Internet suggests there has been a spectacular crash in the Cross-Country. Maybe Ian Miller's (jumping) retirement has disheartened the producers?
I can't think of the last time I saw archery or fencing.
On the other hand, Ron McLean is doing the studio commentary for the CBC show, a capable, experienced hockey commentator with a mild, pleasant presence. It's Canadian-centric, but not obsessively so.
And, yes, the Brazilian crowds are excellent: if no Brazilians are competing, they gallantly leap in to cheer others on!

I've been watching online, Frimble, at http://olympics.cbc.ca/schedules/overview.html - you can catch a lot of the less prominent sports that way, often without commentary or other nonsense. And you can go back and watch stuff if you missed it, too. Not perfect, but I'm liking it a lot better than leaving myself in the hands of the TV programmers!
 

Vampirequeen

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I seem to have missed most of the stuff that everyone is complaining about, but that could be because I flick from one channel to the next whenever one channel goes on commercial. I'm still baffled by the fact that Michael Phelps is still participating because I swear I remember hearing that he retired after the last Olympics. I never realized that fencing could be so fun to watch. Also, I don't know if this is just because I'm from Connecticut, but when I was talking to my parents about the US women's basketball team yesterday, I almost referred to them as UCONN. When I told my parents that I had to remember not to call them that, they both said that the teams are pretty much the same since the US women's team is coached by UCONN's women's basketball coach and most of the players came from UCONN.
 

robeiae

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I seem to have missed most of the stuff that everyone is complaining about, but that could be because I flick from one channel to the next whenever one channel goes on commercial.
Me too. I've enjoyed a number of different events, on different NBC channels. And when I was watching the cycling road race, I used the free streaming (available for all events) to keep track of what wasn't being covered. But the TV coverage for the cycling was pretty good; the network cut back to the race at all of the right times, imo.

All in all, I find the coverage excellent so far (aside from the opening ceremonies and the typically vapid commentary).
 

Sunflowerrei

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If you turn the sound down on the NBC commentary, it goes a lot better. I caught a little bit of rowing yesterday on NBC Sports, I think, and I've been watching the swimming every night and a bit of the gymnastics. It's typically American-centric, so my Japanese mother is trying to find Japanese TV coverage online to watch more of Japan's athletes.
 

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I thought I hated the commentary and was relieved to find the commentary-free versions for a lot of the sports online. But then there was a tense end-of-game today in soccer (Canada beat Germany, yay!) and I don't really follow soccer and wasn't quite sure what was going on and I was dying for an obnoxious commentator to come on explain the situation to me. I guess I'm just one of those people who's never happy!
 

kuwisdelu

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I'm not really watching yet, but it sounds like NBC is doing a terrible job.

I hope it shapes up by the time the track events start and for the marathons.

But American commentators tend to suck at commenting on running events... argh.

Is there BBC coverage of the Olympics in the US?
 

dolores haze

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Watched the women's team gymnastics last night. The US team were superb. NBC hardly showed any of the other competitors, though. One Brazilian (who was adorable), one Brit (mostly to see if she fell on her face again), one Russian, and a handful of Chinese, especially if they were messing up. It looked more like an exhibition than a competition. More time was given to the US competitors as they waited for their scores than the other nation's performances.

Now that enough US players have been knocked out of the tennis, other nationalities have been getting some airtime. High points for me: The Brazilian, Belluci, beating the Uruguan, Cuevas, in front of an insane home crowd (play had to be stopped when a fight broke out in the stands); and the Brit, Jo Konta beating the tough-as-nails Russian, Kuznetsova. I'm still kind of gobsmacked at the sight of a sobbing Djokovic (world #1) exiting the arena after being beaten in the first round by the Argentinian, Del Potro, who is making an inspirational comeback after years of injuries and surgeries.
 

Vampirequeen

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Wait, tennis? There are 3 or 4 channels showing the Olympics and I haven't seen tennis on any of them. Is it during a specific time slot?
 

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I love that Rugby 7s has been added to the Olympics. It's providing me with a great distraction at the moment.

Anyone see that Japan have been up to their old tricks again? This time instead of humbling South Africa, they beat New Zealand. I love watching those guys.
 

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Ooh no ouch. Lifter just dislocated his elbow. He actually screamed when he did it. Ooh no.

Hope he will be all right.
 

mirandashell

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I have just seen a bloke that weighs less than 77kg lift 214kgs over his head. TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN KILOGRAMS.

That is amazing. No-one thought he would do it. But he did. Astonishing. I love the Olympic Games.
 

mirandashell

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that is someone who weighs just under 170 pounds has lifted 472 pounds over his head and held it there.

That is just astounding.
 

Snowstorm

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Bloody hell. Phelps is a machine.

I saw the video snippet of him crawling out of the pool after his second gold-medal winning race in one day. He was so exhausted it seemed that he almost needed help to get out. I thought, "He is not an animal. He is a human being!"
 

Helix

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I saw the video snippet of him crawling out of the pool after his second gold-medal winning race in one day. He was so exhausted it seemed that he almost needed help to get out. I thought, "He is not an animal. He is a human being!"

I'm amazed any of those swimmers can even talk at the end of their races. But there's always someone sticking a microphone in their faces and they are always obliging.
 
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