Comments on: Bringing The World Together? Yeah, Right

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:50:25 +0000

agreed, Elliot — alternate tracks would be kind of cool. or, for that matter, it would be cool to set your own filters for what info you want to receive: nationalist, sob stories, dark horses, etc.

By: Elliot

Elliot — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:13:21 +0000

Up here in Michigan, we get the Canadian coverage on CBC which has allowed me to do some comparative viewing. From what I saw/heard, the Canadian announcers covered more events in which Canadians were competing, leading to coverage of more esoteric sports. They also pulled for their athletes in a slightly downtrodden, “good show, even though we finished 7th” way. The coverage was more fun, jokier, and less maudlin than American coverage.

I can’t get too mad at NBC b/c they offered announcer-less online coverage of many events, although as much as I love to complain about biased announcers, I prefer them to having no announcers at all. If ever there was an event crying out for alternate announcing soundtracks available streaming online, this would’ve been it.

By: Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:00:39 +0000

Sam,
From what I have seen of other countries’ coverage, they both do and don’t suffer from the same problem. Yes, they root for their own, and so they can be just as nauseating. But just as I noted that NBC was often at its best when there was no American in serious contention for the gold medal, few other countries are as competitive in as many sports as are the U.S, so their broadcasters are allowed the time to tell stories about athletes from other countries, and to root for those athletes. In other words, few other countries can use the narrative hook of “will we win?” so they actually have to get inventive and find other hooks, many of which are more in keeping with the supposed spirit of the games than the spectacle of seeing other countries’ citizens smashed to a pulp by one’s own country’s citizens.

By: Sam Ford

Sam Ford — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:47:38 +0000

Hey Jon, have you seen any reports from other countries as far as how the commentators covered the Olympics? I have often wondered if most countries have commentators who “pull” for the local team. It was always the difference, for me, of watching regionally produced college basketball games in the Kentucky area, and watching one on the national stage, with more agnostic commentators who weren’t subtly or overtly pulling for a team…

On another front, while I managed to almost completely avoid the Olympics, I got stuck watching them one evening, long enough to see Michael Phelps’ “ultimate triumph.” I was amazed by the “insightful” commentary added. As one U.S. swimmer said something to another, a commentator said, “She’s a chatty Cathy…” Informative, eh?