Olympics – Regular Guy

Do the Olympics Have Sports Anymore?

brian — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 14:21:27 +0000

I’m sure everyone has heard the news by now. Due to a knee injury, marketing plans for NBC’s coverage of the upcoming Winter Olympics are up in the air. This knee injury may prevent millions of Americans from watching the Games.

Well, that’s the version I gleaned from my online interactions. In reality, American skiing star Lindsey Vonn announced she couldn’t ski next month at the Olympics because of an injury to her knee.

But why worry about the health and dreams of an athlete when we can talk about marketing plans and commercials?

I know that makes me sound curmudgeonly, but if it’s curmudgeonly to actually care about the sports more than the ratings, I’ll wear that badge with honor.

These days, I occupy a strange niche of sports fans. The sports themselves mean more to me than any of the stuff which goes on around them. The television networks, however, have little time for my kind because we’re a dying breed.

I do feel bad that Vonn won’t be able to ski in the Olympics, but this notion that she will kill the way NBC promotes the competition is just silly. Instead of breathless promo after breathless promo about her, we’ll have anguished profile after anguished profile about how her dreams have been dashed.

While that stuff is going on, people like me will be screaming at the television, “There are actual sports happening right now! Show them to me!”

Crazy, right?

Despite the fact that television coverage of the Olympics does everything it can to show us as little actual competition as possible, I remain entranced by the spectacle. As a kid, I dreamed of one day wrestling in front of the whole world on that stage.

Back then, Bruce Jenner ended up on the Wheaties box after he won his event. The post-game plans for athletes these days come way before anyone steps on the medal stand and sometimes don’t even reflect who won the competition.

Things have improved a little bit with the ability for NBC to stream sports online. Folks like me can tune into the things they love to watch that way and leave the “Today Show” treatment to the prime time program aimed at people who may not care who wins or loses.

I should learn to appreciate this development. I can plan my own schedule instead of sitting through teaser after teaser for something they will only show in a heavily-edited package at 10:50 p.m. That kind of stuff happens far too often these days.

So while NBC frets over how to re-frame the storylines they pre-determined months ago, I will scour the Internet for the best time to catch some curling action or live coverage of biathlon, one of those sports that continues to fascinate me.

As long as they don’t try and compare someone who hurts themselves to Lindsey Vonn, I’ll be OK. I don’t have anything against her. I just want to focus on the things that actually happen at the Olympics. I’m a weirdo like that.

Save Olympic Wrestling

brian — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:40:16 +0000

I have had the good fortune to take some really cool trips in my life. When I think back over them, one stands out in particular.

In 1984, I went to Los Angeles with two of my brothers to see the Olympics. Back then, a 16-year-old had a chance to get pretty good Olympic tickets with his two older brothers without breaking the bank.

We found lodging with a sibling of a family friend, managed to get tickets to three of the six freestyle wrestling sessions in the ticket lottery and figured we would just wing it for the rest of our time at the Games.

I will never forget seeing Randy Lewis execute some wacky reach-back throw in his gold medal match or hearing the scream of the Turkish competitor as American Mark Schultz used what was later ruled an illegal hold to break the Turk’s arm. As a young wrestler, I thought I had found heaven even though the Russians and many other top wrestling nations boycotted the Games.

Now we have to wonder if future generations of wrestlers will get a chance to experience the same thing, either in person or on television. The executive board of the International Olympic Committee decided to drop wrestling as a “core sport” starting in 2020.

The upshot is that wrestling will have to fight its way back into that year’s program as well as every other future Olympics. That is, if the IOC doesn’t come to its senses and reverse course.

The whole thing makes no sense to me. On a micro level, I react as a wrestler, as someone who has gained so much from the sport. I couldn’t imagine being who I am today without those long workouts, the painful weight cutting, the friendships forged on long rides crammed into cars, vans and even lounging on buses.

But as a sports fan, I recoil at the whole notion of limiting participation in the Olympics. Some people reacted to the wrestling news by picking the sport they find less worthy and making fun of that. I refuse to do that.

Sure, you may find the idea of table tennis or rhythmic gymnastics or modern pentathlon taking up room on the Olympic program silly, but the people who excel in those sports work their butts off too. They have suffered and sacrificed to get to the top of their game. Why punish them?

I know the Olympics have developed into a huge commercial and political organism. Those Olympics I attended probably represented one of the last ones that people could enjoy simply for the sports. My brothers and I walked up to the gate of a field hockey triple header, bought tickets for less than $5 each and sat in the front row.

Now, you need to plan months ahead of time just to get to any event. I don’t blame the inclusion of pro athletes. I don’t really blame anyone. Times change.

But that’s no reason to start telling people their sport doesn’t have enough TV viewers or doesn’t fit the Olympic ideal to fit some randomly-determined number of “core” sports. Aspects of the Olympics may have changed, but the notion of athletes testing themselves against the best in their sport shouldn’t apply to a select few.

The Olympics need more sports, not fewer. I’ll always believe that whether wrestling gets back in the Games or not.

My primer on Olympic Freestyle Wrestling

brian — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:39:56 +0000

Since I follow international wrestling, some people have asked me about my thoughts on the Olympic competition. Men’s freestyle, which starts tomorrow, is the area where I pay the most attention so I thought I’d put together a little primer on our US team. The ceiling is the highest I think a guy can place. The expected is self-explanatory. Some of this is hard because there is a blind draw and the only wrestlers eligible for the bronze medals (two in each weight) are guys who lose to the finalists so luck plays a big part of this. The 121 and 163 pound draws have already been released.

121 lbs. – Sam Hazewinkel: Haze will wrestle tomorrow and has a tough bout with a 2011 world bronze medalist from Kazakhstan last year right off the bat. I expected Nick Simmons, fifth in world last year, to take this weight, but Haze beat him at Trials. He won a couple of matches at the World Cup, but that wasn’t against the top guys. He was a Greco specialist until a few years ago. Ceiling: Fifth Place. Expected: No medal.

132 lbs. – Coleman Scott: This weight is one we should always do well in, but have only medaled in once since they went to the existing seven-weight system in 2002. Scott has been a standout since his high school days in western PA, but faces a difficult weight including Russia’s Besik Kudukhov, a multiple world champ, and Puerto Rico’s Franklin Gomez, who finished second to Kudukhov at worlds last year, but beat him in a match this year this year. Ironically, Scott’s only NCAA title came in a weight where Gomez was seeded first, but he was upset before the finals. I have irrational confidence in Scott, depending on the draw. Ceiling: Silver medal. Expected: Fifth Place.

145.5 lbs. – Jared Frayer: On paper, you should not expect much from Frayer. Another weight where we should reallye xcel, but no one really steps forward is left to this 33-year-old who has been on the fringes of the World team, but never broken through. The difference between him and a guy like Hazewinkel is tht Frayer has shown the ability to score points in bunches, especially off throws. I’m prepared for him to struggle, but know he can break through in a heartbeat. Ceiling: Bronze medal. Expected: No medal.

163 lbs. – Jordan Burroughs: It’s hard to believe that before last year’s World Championships, Burroughs did not have a freestyle background. Then he ran through that tournament, including a tough three-period win over defending champ Dennis Tsargush from Russia. Burroughs has an interesting draw with many of his top competitors in the same half of his bracket, but they will have to battle each other to see who reaches the semi. With his big smile and explosive double leg, Burroughs is poised to be a star this weekend. Ceiling: Gold medal. Expected: Gold medal.

185 lbs. – Jake Herbert: Full of personality, Herbert has seen all ends of the spectrum. Three years ago, he was second in the world. Two years ago, he had a brutal draw, losing to the eventual bronze medalist in the first round who lost to the eventual silver medalist the next round. Last year, former Olympic champ Cael Sanderson came out of retirement and beat Jake in World trials (then finished fifth in the world). He can beat anyone, but will the planets align to let him? Ceiling: Gold medal. Expected: Bronze medal.

211.5 lbs. – Jake Varner: This is where I really have high hopes. Varner was third at worlds last year and seems to be primed for a run. He trains with Sanderson, who has coached the last two NCAA Championship teams, and I just feel like he’ll be the solid, no-nonsense guy who will really frustrate the veterans here. At worlds, he got a pin in the wrestlebacks and beat a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in three periods after losing the first one. Plus, he will wrestle on the last day so if we do well prior, he seems like the kind to feed off that. Ceiling: Gold medal. Expected: Silver or bronze medal.

264.5 lbs. – Tervel Dlagnev: Like the guys in the previous two weights, Tervel has been there. He was third three years ago and made the semis last year before ending up fifth. At that event, he beat two-time Olympic and two-time World gold medalist Artur Taymazov from Uzbekistan so he can hang with the big boys. Once again, it comes down to the draw, but we have traditionally done well in this weight. Ceiling: Gold medal. Expected: Bronze medal.

I am pretty optimistic in this assessment, I know. The draws will be huge, but I think our guys have trained well for this event. We tend to compete better when the competition is closer to home so hopefully London will be friendly.

Things I Hate About the Olympic Live Stream

brian — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:39:49 +0000

The events are delayed by enough time that it’s impossible to be on Twitter at the same time without possibly seeing a score ahead of time
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There are no listings directly below the player most times. When they are there, they do not automatically update, meaning you need to refresh to see what has started, thereby launching a commercial on your channel
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When you go from the regular player to full screen, it jumps back about 10 seconds and then sometimes jumps ahead 10 more so you miss something.
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That stupid player thing on the side which makes starting a second feed is the only way to switch without getting a commercial. Of course that probably leads to …
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No way of the network simulcasts giving you a hint what is on at that point
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Olympic Obsession

brian — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:05:14 +0000

I think my obsession started with the “Guinness Book of World Records.” We always had one lying around the house when I was a kid so you could check the distance of the longest grape toss which someone caught in their mouth.

The book also had lists of Olympic medalists in every sport. I used to study those lists and dream of my own Olympic glory. That’s how I ended up writing a sixth-grade essay about how I would defeat Roman Dmitriev, the Russian lightweight wrestler, to win my first gold medal in 1984.

Instead, I ended up in the seats at those Olympics watching with my two brothers. Dmitriev didn’t make it either because of the Soviet boycott, so I guess he gets half the blame for me not having my Olympic moment at 16. He had also retired at that point, but that’s extraneous to my fantasies.

I bring all this up because the 2012 Summer Olympics start this weekend. That means I feel a little distracted pretty much all the time. I don’t just get obsessed with who will win the wrestling competition. I get into pretty much everything.

Back in 1992 when NBC unveiled the much-maligned Triple Cast pay-per-view concept – they showed live footage on three channels for those crazy enough to pay – I might have been one of the first people to sign up.

We’re starting to get all the things that geek me out about the Olympics for free, mostly online. I don’t regret paying $100 bucks or so to watch wrestling preliminaries in the early morning back then, but am glad that I can get them much easier these days.

While I totally understand the great emotion associated with the Olympics, I try to avoid the schmaltzy coverage as much as I can. I’m a sucker for most of the stories, but I don’t need them once the actual competition starts.

I understand why the networks put together those kinds of packages though. The audience for the “Up Close and Personal” approach far outnumbers the people who will watch rowing heats without any real interest in rowing (that’s me).

That’s why I don’t get the furor over trying to keep results quiet before the prime-time broadcast. First of all, it’s pretty much impossible in this day and age. Secondly, if the majority of the viewers really based their interest solely on who won and who lost, they would have been clamoring for something like the Triple cast a long time ago instead of ignoring it and making the package a huge failure.

We all can enjoy the Olympics however we want. If you only want to see the highlights, enjoy the nightly coverage with the stories. If you want to sneak a peek at as many preliminary competitions as possible as they happen, you know how I feel.

That just means I have to figure out a way to fit my job, my family and the Olympics into the next few weeks. I really hope those first two understand my dilemma.

Getting Closer

brian — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:01:37 +0000

Sometimes, a milestone comes and goes with very little notice. That’s what happened a couple of weeks ago when we passed the 100 days mark before the beginning of the Olympic Games this summer.

I saw a brief mention of this news on Twitter or Facebook, but just went about my business. A few days later, I started to realize I should have paid more attention.

One hundred days until I can pretty much fill 24 hours with sports, both popular and obscure. Of course, I can kind of pull that off now with all the cable channels and online options available, but that’s not as much fun as the Olympics.

I think I fall into that age bracket which really has a special connection to the Olympics. I was 11 when the U.S. hockey team pulled off the Miracle on Ice in the winter of 1980. The Lake Placid Games also had Eric Heiden’s speedskating domination.

Back then, we didn’t care if the events took place during the day and ran on TV in the evening. Complaints about “spoilers” didn’t rank up there with systematic torture of innocent people in our culture for some people. Sure, some people knew we beat the Russians before ABC showed the game, but no one knew any better.

Then, right as we came off that high, we found out the U.S. would boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow. For a kid who would turn 12 that summer, it just made no sense. I could have totally walked away from the Olympics, but a fortuitous event happened.

The Summer Olympics came to Los Angeles in 1984, and I got to go. Two of my brothers and I went out there for about a week. We initially bought tickets for wrestling, but also got a chance to see baseball, field hockey and soccer.

Those Olympics also suffered from a boycott by the Soviet bloc, but this didn’t matter to my teenage self because the U.S. had the chance to win all kinds of medals, some of them in person. I was hooked.

I don’t get into the Winter Olympics as much as I do the Summer Games (well, except for my quadrennial fascination with curling) so I only get to feel this excitement every four years.

Along with the 100-day milestone, I also found out that every event would stream live on the Internet, something which excited me way too much.

I watch the Olympics for the sports, not the feature stories. I understand why broadcasters like NBC spend enormous amounts of time creating a narrative and delaying coverage to maximize viewers. I just want them to present the games the way I want to see them.

That’s why I was one of the few people who really loved the “Triple Play” pay-per-view channels offered in 1992. Others can see the story of how some athlete grew up in a rough neighborhood. I want to see every wrestling match, the preliminaries of the archery competition and random team handball matches when I’m getting ready for work.

Less than 100 days to go. I can’t wait.

Final Words

brian — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:17:29 +0000

I already vented about the whole Olympics situation. I don’t intend to re-hash every thing because I think I have accepted the fact that things probably won’t change.

First off, the ratings kicked ass. Most people really got into the Games and that’s all NBC wants. They don’t see a need for a creative solution that I would like because they got a lot of eyeballs. Innovation isn’t rewarded in that industry so I’ll just pipe down about what will make me happy.

Secondly, the next Games will pretty much require tape-delay because Sochi, Russia, is eight hours ahead of New York. Think it was bad knowing that the ski race at 2 p.m. Eastern (11 a.m. Pacific) didn’t air for six more hours? That same 11 a.m. local time start in Sochi translates to 3 a.m. in New York. Good luck having some sort of afternoon coverage of that event in the states.

A primetime start in Sochi means we’re just getting ready for lunch. That will give some hockey games a chance to garner a decent audience, especially if whoever holds the rights continues to provide an online option. But that also means figure skating will be packaged much more than usual. I don’t even want to know what might happen on the west coast, which had tape-delay for almost everything even though the Games were just up the road.

Some of this could change if ESPN/ABC gets the rights, but even though I know they will provide more live options if they get the Games, they will still have to have some sort of effort to reach the Olympic-only fans through tape-delay. It’s just inevitable.

I just hope whoever gets the rights does a better job with the lifestyle portion of the coverage everyone feels compelled to do. Why the hell was Mary Carillo traipsing all over Canada as if it were some strange and mystical foreign land we had no knowledge of? It’s Canada. We know they have Mounties and lumberjacks and dog sleds.

A Tale of Two Tubbys

brian — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:40:56 +0000

When you watch competitions like the Olympics, you really can’t expect to see a little bit of yourself in the athletes. The closest I have ever gotten was watching a guy who knocked the snot out of me in a high school wrestling tournament win bronze 15 years later in Sydney.

Usually, we watch people so accomplished we have trouble making a connection. They are incredibly flexible and talented and fit. But every once in a while, we get a chance to see someone just like us competing.

This time we got two of them, and they ended the Games with very different stories. Steve Holcomb gave portly guys everywhere a chance to cheer while John Shuster reminded us that bartending Olympic champions generally only happen in the movies.

Holcomb drove the four-man bobsled team to a performance we all should remember even as we’re trying to blot the image of Holcomb – all 5-10, 231 of him- iin a skin-tight racing suit from our mind.

He did not look like an elite athlete, but he doesn’t need to when his most important skill is driving the sled. He does that better than anyone, setting the Whisler track record twice on the way to the gold. Gravity from his body type may have a little to do with that, but who am I to argue.

We wish we had such fond memories of Shuster, who has a bronze medal from his effort in the 2006 Games. The difference between that time and the past two weeks was that the Minnesota bartender was a cog in the 2006 team, but the leader of the most recent team.

I’m not trying to rag on Shuster too much because he’s not some stooge who just took up the sport, but the reality is that he really didn’t have what it took to lead a team on such a big stage. If he had missed one or two crucial shots, we could just look the other way. But he missed most of them, giving tubby guys who like to serve and drink beer a bad name. Maybe he needed a brew handy during the competition.

The end result is that US Curling will probably look to change the way they choose the Olympic team – to be fair this is probably a good idea since Shuster’s team clinched its spot a year before the Games with an upset win at the trials after losing three games in the preliminary round of the trials and edging the favorites by one point in the finals. So tubby guys may actually give way to athletes.

The good news is that Canada won the gold with a skip who looks like Ned Ryerson, so we can probably rest assured that some subset of goofy men will rule the day in the sport somehow.

It Had to Be Him

brian — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:20:54 +0000

I will knock out a few post-Olympic posts today to wrap up the Games.

I did not need any more reasons to hate Sidney Crosby. I think he’s an entitled little prima donna punk who plays for a team I have enjoyed loathing for a good 20-some years now. Then he had to go score the winning goal in the gold medal Olympic hockey game yesterday.

A little more hate is always good though, especially in hockey.

Yeah, I hear you Pittsburgh fans. He has been on the Stanley Cup and Olympic champions in the past year. Very nice, but I think the other guys on those teams did a lot more than Crosby in many of the decisive moments.

That’s why the winning goal irks me so much. He was a non-entity in the game for so long. I really didn’t want Canada to win, but will have to hear forever now about Crosby playing the hero when he really just decided to show up for one very alert play at the right time. That’s not heroic. That’s fortunate.

The Pens fans have also already started on the “where was Alex Ovechkin” stuff. First of all, he’s not American so he isn’t germane to yesterday’s game. Yes, the Russians did lose to Canada, but neither Ovie or Crosby played a big role in that game. I don’t see a direct correlation to the US game.

I don’t care how many plaudits Crosby gains, I’ll never, ever think of him the same way as Ovechkin. One has fun playing hockey. The other expects everyone to kiss his butt for being ordained a superstar before he played. Ovie isn’t perfect, but at least he generally shares his joy with the fans instead of expecting the fans (and the players) to show why they deserve his attention like Crosby does.

I would have been a little upset regardless of who scored the winning goal, but that punk decides to show up for one play to take my irrational hate up another ten notches. What did I do to deserve this?

Converted

brian — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:15:56 +0000

I truly intended to write more about the Olympics, but work and some sinus problems kinda, sorta got in the way. I ended up crashing early a bunch this past week, but caught up with the action I cared about on my Tivo.

The last time I wrote about the Games, I professed my new-found love for snowboard cross. This development has helped me make a 180 on a passionate opinion I brought into the games: my hatred for short-track speed skating.

I really didn’t like the sport for a few reasons. First off, I see it as a bastardization of an existing sport to help certain countries win more medals. Secondly, I find it pretty tedious for most of the race until the action picks up. Sadly, that often lets the judges get involved.

I still have a little bit of a problem with the second issue. However, comparing the two sports gives me a better appreciation of short-track because at least skaters have a better chance of catching up than those who fall behind in snowboard cross. So the fact that there is bumping and judging at least means the action is frenetic.

The first point also kind of faded in my mind because I see this happening all over the games, particularly in the skiing arena. While the US does not completely dominate the new skiing and snowboarding events, they are clearly byproducts of American attempts to change the sport. So why should I worry about the South Koreans and Chinese (and Americans) pushing short track to the forefront so they can win some medals?

In the end, I think I was just bothered by Apolo Anton Ohno’s soul patch. That thing has to go.