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August 16, 2004

Olympically Boring

So far this year, I've not watched one second of the Olympics. I haven't read about it, listened to it - nothing. Don't know who's competing even.

It'd seem I'm not alone:

If you've watched any of the events on television except for swimming, maybe, you've seen the vast stadiums totally empty. The report talks about how they've sold about half of all the tickets available and a women's basketball game yesterday where there were only 300 people in attendance in a stadium which seats 13,000. It's really sad.

But for some unknown reason, the report didn't mention the *price* of the tickets as the principal problem. Look online and you'll see that the price for events are incredibly expensive. €10 being the lowest, €20 being average and for the Men's gymnastics, there are only €120 and €200 seats available. This is ridiculous.

I'm a conservative, but the commercialization of the games is abhorrent. I'm an American nationalist, but the jingoism and America-centeredness of our media coverage boggles me. I've done sports broadcasting and know its difficulties, but the mediocrity of NBC's coverage astounds me.

I may try to miss the whole thing.

Posted by Mitch at August 16, 2004 05:01 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I've been watching a lot. Well, I watched a lot yesterday. That's because I didn't want to go anywhere; I haven't had a solid, do-nothing day at home in a while. So I watched Swimming, Gymnastics, Rowing, Women's Beach Volleyball, Men's Volleyball, Men's Basketball.

We watched Gymnastics with the 2-year-old. She loved the jumps, tumbles, flips, etc. I used to swim so watching that is enjoyable for me. My new idea, I need some investors, is to launch a new cable sports channel: WBV TV, Women's Beach Volleyball. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Note to self: Do not use Carl Pohlad's marketing plan.

But yeah, the emptyness of stadiums surprised me. For recent Winter Games on this continent, I had great dreams and desires to drive out and watch; I'm just not loaded with money and time right now.

Posted by: Shawn Sarazin at August 16, 2004 08:41 AM

There are three factors involved in the reasons why most of the stands have been empty (one factor was temporary):

1) Sunday was a major religious holy day (The Assumption of the Virgin Mary) in Orthodox (as well as Catholic) teachings. Many Greeks on Sunday were observing the holy day.

2) Many Greeks (I've heard) believe that the olny legitimate Olympic sports are those that are traditional/authentic.

3) Many people (Greeks and non-Greeks) have avoided the Olympics due to concerns about potential terrorist attacks.

Posted by: Trubador at August 16, 2004 11:58 AM

I'm wondering if the reason I have no enthusiasm at all for this year's Olympics is becase this is the first year I've completely avoided the Media and the networks. After all, the Bigs aren't just selling biased political news, but all kinds of Olympics-related advertisement as well.

I missed all of that hyping of the product, and consequently I don't feel as if I'm missing anything right now as I completely avoid whatever the hell's going on in Greece.

Posted by: ccwbass at August 16, 2004 01:38 PM

I've been watching the Olympics because my wife is an Olympics nut. She likes winter better than summer, however.

Couric just about made me barf during the opening ceremonies. Plus, I know I'm in the minority when I say I actually wanted to hear Bjork sing, but those two dolts kept talking during her performance.

I may have been hallucinating (sleep deprivation will do that) but I think I overheard a GWB ad that references the Olympics: "This Olympics, there are two more nations..." something or other.

I actually found myself watching soccer^Wfootball -- it's badass that Iraq is 2-0 so far.

Posted by: Kris at August 16, 2004 03:15 PM
hi