2022 Winter Olympics

[Jimbo]

Already started earlier in the week.

 

Former Badger Brianna Decker out for the tournament after one game.

 

Caught some of the OC live Friday morning.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

This is definitely the worst time zone for the Olympics. Just really hard when most live events are happening between about 7pm and 7am. You catch some early events in primetime, but all the main action is middle of the night.

 

I do enjoy biathlon and cross-country skiing a lot. And curling, in addition to hockey and speed skating.

[nodakfan17]

[sarcasm]Skiing with guns? That should be a podium sweep for the USA.[/sarcasm]

[Jimbo]

[sarcasm]Skiing with guns? That should be a podium sweep for the USA.[/sarcasm]

 

Skis, not pick up trucks.

[nodakfan17]

Jokes aside, I really do enjoy the Olympics - especially the winter games where the scenery tends to be prettier. The world just feels a little smaller and less complicated for 2 weeks. They take me back to my childhood where we only had network TV and live sports at night was a treat.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Jokes aside, I really do enjoy the Olympics - especially the winter games where the scenery tends to be prettier. The world just feels a little smaller and less complicated for 2 weeks. They take me back to my childhood where we only had network TV and live sports at night was a treat.

 

The Men's 5000 m speedskating final was really, really cool. Swedish skater (big favorite) looked pretty out of it, and then pulled out the fastest lap of the day to win gold against a Dutch athlete (who looked just absolutely crushed).

 

About as good as just pure athletic competition gets from an all around perspective. Really fun race.

[Jimbo]

Jokes aside, I really do enjoy the Olympics - especially the winter games where the scenery tends to be prettier. The world just feels a little smaller and less complicated for 2 weeks. They take me back to my childhood where we only had network TV and live sports at night was a treat.

 

The Men's 5000 m speedskating final was really, really cool. Swedish skater (big favorite) looked pretty out of it, and then pulled out the fastest lap of the day to win gold against a Dutch athlete (who looked just absolutely crushed).

 

About as good as just pure athletic competition gets from an all around perspective. Really fun race.

 

Just finished watching it now. Doing the math in my head, he was virtually 15 yards behind with one lap to go.

 

One thing about Winter vs Summer is just the fact of fewer sports to follow.

[thebruce44]

I ski raced growing up and love all of the alpine events in the Olympics. However, so far I am pretty disappointed. First, the men's downhill was delayed (not exactly anyone's fault), but NBCs coverage last night was brutal to try to follow. Once Mikaela Shiffrin fell, they sort of moved on to other things. When they finally got to the men's downhill, it was too late for me to even watch. Maybe I missed something and was watching the wrong channel? The descriptions of what sports they are actually going to show doesn't always seem to line up with the actual coverage.

 

Finally, the hill itself and the snow conditions are a joke. It looks like China just bulldozed a course into the side of a mountain and then threw ice on top of it.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Jokes aside, I really do enjoy the Olympics - especially the winter games where the scenery tends to be prettier. The world just feels a little smaller and less complicated for 2 weeks. They take me back to my childhood where we only had network TV and live sports at night was a treat.

 

The Men's 5000 m speedskating final was really, really cool. Swedish skater (big favorite) looked pretty out of it, and then pulled out the fastest lap of the day to win gold against a Dutch athlete (who looked just absolutely crushed).

 

About as good as just pure athletic competition gets from an all around perspective. Really fun race.

 

Just finished watching it now. Doing the math in my head, he was virtually 15 yards behind with one lap to go.

 

One thing about Winter vs Summer is just the fact of fewer sports to follow.

 

Yeah, I find Winter just more manageable from a viewing perspective. I agree that primetime coverage has been jumpy. USA has all-day replays, which is nice, I think.

[PeaveyFury]

I too found the coverage a bit odd. I know NBC is all over having this streaming nonstop on Peacock, but it took me a day to realize that even the daytime coverage this weekend were replays, with replays of replays aired during primetime with a few live items mixed in. I know the time difference is really hard for live events, but they had the same issue with Tokyo just 7 months ago and it feels like they handled the coverage better.

 

Perhaps it'll improve as more sports are up and running, but it has felt off.

[Samurai Bucky]

We setup YoutubeTV to record all olympic coverage. It grabs whatever it can from the the multiple Olympic channels. Not sure if I missed anything, yet. Plenty of Curling, women's hockey, luge and snowboarding so far.

[nate82]

I haven't watched the Olympics since like the late 90's as it is a complete snoooze fest.

[LouisEly]

Finally, the hill itself and the snow conditions are a joke. It looks like China just bulldozed a course into the side of a mountain and then threw ice on top of it.

They did. The mountain only gets about a foot of snow a year.

 

And they knew this back in 2015:

https://snowbrains.com/2022-beijing-olympic-mountain-venues-average-2-snow-depth-in-winter/

[homer]

Interesting article/interview about why the Olympics have really fallen by the wayside the last 20 years or so:

 

https://davidepstein.bulletin.com/the-olympics-have-an-integrity-problem-here-s-how-to-fix-it/

 

Eleven cities bid for the 2004 Summer Games; 10 bid for the 2008 Games; 9 for the 2012 Games; 7 for the 2016 Games; and 6 for the 2020 Games. Only two cities — L.A. and Paris — ended up bidding for the 2024 Games, and they both won. Paris got 2024; L.A. got a $180 million advance from the International Olympic Committee as an inducement to take the 2028 Games, which the city hadn’t even bid on. Suddenly, it seemed like the IOC had to recruit host cities rather than the reverse. For the 2032 Games, there wasn’t even a typical bidding process; the IOC just chose Brisbane, Australia.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Finally, the hill itself and the snow conditions are a joke. It looks like China just bulldozed a course into the side of a mountain and then threw ice on top of it.

They did. The mountain only gets about a foot of snow a year.

 

And they knew this back in 2015:

https://snowbrains.com/2022-beijing-olympic-mountain-venues-average-2-snow-depth-in-winter/

 

Even in typical snow-havens, artificial snow is made and applied to many of the courses because Olympic-level skiers feel like it's more consistent to race on....however it breaks down and becomes treacherous when subjected to temps above freezing faster than natural snow. Beijing has never been an area that maintains temps well below freezing and they typically don't get alot of snow in the mountains they are using for the ski events - so as soon as they were named a host city people knew this was going to happen.

 

Agreed with Homer's post above - hosting the Olympics in this day and age seems more like a burden than a benefit to cities/countries, and the interest in doing so has dried up. To me, my interest in the Olympics in general has waned considerably and that seemed to begin around the same time pro athletes crossed over to play on national teams for the big team sports (basketball, hockey, etc.). Doping ruined most of track and field for me, too. It also doesn't help that the IOC as a group are some kind of awful.

 

I've always thought the Winter Olympics were the more viewer-friendly events to broadcast, because there are fewer events and most of them are people hurtling down mountains and ice tracks at insane speeds or doing crazy acrobatics on ice skates. Curling is also weirdly entertaining to watch on television. However, I think the push to increase the overall # of events has forced broadcast networks to limit how much time they dedicate to televising each of them, and the broadcasts have morphed into more of a highlight reel show that doesn't let the viewer settle in to watch something for an extended period of time - that is definitely the case for when the events happen on the other side of the world and there's a time zone lag.

[bjkrautk]

I've always thought the Winter Olympics were the more viewer-friendly events to broadcast, because there are fewer events and most of them are people hurtling down mountains and ice tracks at insane speeds or doing crazy acrobatics on ice skates. Curling is also weirdly entertaining to watch on television. However, I think the push to increase the overall # of events has forced broadcast networks to limit how much time they dedicate to televising each of them, and the broadcasts have morphed into more of a highlight reel show that doesn't let the viewer settle in to watch something for an extended period of time - that is definitely the case for when the events happen on the other side of the world and there's a time zone lag.

 

It's also not helped by a broadcaster that used to devote three or more full-time networks to covering the games (the "Olympics Triplecast" of decades ago), scaling back to one full-time channel (USA), with one more during prime time and late night (NBC), as part of a strategy to steer traffic to its new streaming platform. NBC Sports Network folded at the start of the year, niche sports do not seem to be airing on CNBC like they have in prior games, and NBC has an "Olympic Channel" that is only airing highlights rather than actual competitive events.

 

Aside from Curling, I'll probably end up sticking to NBC proper, since I anticipate the prime-time coverage will have the anticipated *stars* of the games. I'm not paying for Peacock just to watch things which would have been on cable in prior years.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I've always thought the Winter Olympics were the more viewer-friendly events to broadcast, because there are fewer events and most of them are people hurtling down mountains and ice tracks at insane speeds or doing crazy acrobatics on ice skates. Curling is also weirdly entertaining to watch on television. However, I think the push to increase the overall # of events has forced broadcast networks to limit how much time they dedicate to televising each of them, and the broadcasts have morphed into more of a highlight reel show that doesn't let the viewer settle in to watch something for an extended period of time - that is definitely the case for when the events happen on the other side of the world and there's a time zone lag.

 

It's also not helped by a broadcaster that used to devote three or more full-time networks to covering the games (the "Olympics Triplecast" of decades ago), scaling back to one full-time channel (USA), with one more during prime time and late night (NBC), as part of a strategy to steer traffic to its new streaming platform. NBC Sports Network folded at the start of the year, niche sports do not seem to be airing on CNBC like they have in prior games, and NBC has an "Olympic Channel" that is only airing highlights rather than actual competitive events.

 

Aside from Curling, I'll probably end up sticking to NBC proper, since I anticipate the prime-time coverage will have the anticipated *stars* of the games. I'm not paying for Peacock just to watch things which would have been on cable in prior years.

 

Agreed on all the streaming service/app nonsense - those things were supposed to supplement TV broadcast capabilities and be used by people who prefer that option. Instead, it's turned into a "buy our app/service in order to watch the content we paid dearly for the rights to" - and the Olympics just don't move the needle enough to make the masses register and watch. Because it's so segmented, there's no way to pull off a good broadcast because the primetime/late night shows on TV can't draw from everything in order to preserve an incentive to pay for Peacock.

[Underachiever]

I've always thought the Winter Olympics were the more viewer-friendly events to broadcast, because there are fewer events and most of them are people hurtling down mountains and ice tracks at insane speeds or doing crazy acrobatics on ice skates.

I watch live sports. It's what I do. I don't like the Winter Games. My dislike stems from the fact that rarely do competitors face off. Watching anonymous, helmeted competitors do near-identical runs down a mountain, bobsled track, or luge track, is just not fun for me. Give me track and field where the first person to the tape gets the gold. Now, side by side downhill? Sign me up to watch! But when the gold-winning time is 1:41.35, and the pathetic loser who takes silver lolligags across the line .077 seconds later, it's not compelling for me as a viewer. Give me hockey, speed skating, curling, where your performance has an effect on an opponent.

 

In case not obvious, the "pathetic loser" comment is a joke. These people train so hard and lose by the equivalent of a hiccup.

[nodakfan17]

I’m working at the office today. We usually have CNBC on a large screen with the TV on mute. At 4:00 pm, curling came on CNBC instead of the usual post-market wrap-up show. If given the choice between working or watching curling, most people will choose to watch curling.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I currently have Covid and am in quarantine. I won't watch any of the winter Olympics this year, and China can implode like an atom bomb.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I haven't watched the Olympics since like the late 90's as it is a complete snoooze fest.

 

I've always found the winter games particularly snoozy. It always sort of felt like a bunch of things that are all the same with a minor variation. There are only so many ways I can care about going down a slope.

 

Summer isn't a whole lot better but there's usually some good swimming and the gymnastics can be kinda fun to track. I'm with you overall though. I stopped caring after high school.

 

I will say I am really looking forward to the World Cup running over the holidays this year. That will be cool.

[nate82]

 

Summer isn't a whole lot better but there's usually some good swimming and the gymnastics can be kinda fun to track. I'm with you overall though. I stopped caring after high school.

 

I will say I am really looking forward to the World Cup running over the holidays this year. That will be cool.

 

I just can't get into soccer at all, I just can't. Now I wish Lacrosse would become more popular that is fun to watch! If Lacrosse returns to the Olympics in 2024 I might watch that other than basketball.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I haven't watched the Olympics since like the late 90's as it is a complete snoooze fest.

 

I've always found the winter games particularly snoozy. It always sort of felt like a bunch of things that are all the same with a minor variation. There are only so many ways I can care about going down a slope.

 

Summer isn't a whole lot better but there's usually some good swimming and the gymnastics can be kinda fun to track. I'm with you overall though. I stopped caring after high school.

 

I will say I am really looking forward to the World Cup running over the holidays this year. That will be cool.

 

Olympic hockey is fantastic and probably the best team sport in summer or winter Olympics to watch....to me the speed ski and skating sports that are timed or in the case of short track against competitors are much more entertaining than watching people run as fast as they can in a lane or around an oval...or swim in a pool for that matter.

 

Gymnastics in summer = figure skating in the winter....ok and fun to watch at times as long as it's only once every 4 years.

 

Summer Olympics have way too many events that are just terrible for TV - basically half of them could just be grouped into "exercise".

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

NBC cursing out loud as Shiffrin skis out again.

 

I feel for her because she's an incredible athlete, but US skiers seem to have a poor hype to impact ratio fairly often. Hope she can rebound for her final three events. Though it looks like she might be hurt?

 

The bronze medal from Jessie Diggins was cool. The sprint is a fun event in Nordic.

[CheezWizHed]

I've always found the winter games particularly snoozy. It always sort of felt like a bunch of things that are all the same with a minor variation. There are only so many ways I can care about going down a slope.

 

I still don't understand the difference between Super G and Downhill. I think I figured it out once and it didn't stick. Evidently not a big enough deal for me to remember. I do like watching it though.

 

They need to cut back on the amount of different events with people doing flips and racing at the same time. I like the artistic flip/skill type events...and I like the racing events. Mixing the two seems weird.