Any chance someone has found a link to re watch it online for those of us that did not get a chance to watch?

I am looking but cannot find

thanks for any help

Now, I'm a Boston fan but I have to agree with NYFan on this one!

Too much of the random fat/rich people, and not enough about the people who had to fight... like the cancer lady or the dude with no legs (who is a veteran, btw).

I also agree with the fact-checking... it's obvious that all of the large media outlets have their priorities wrapped up in growing the ratings for shows like Biggest LOSER(s), not exemplifying heros like the veteran, or epic comeback efforts like Rinny's run, or simply getting stats correct.

To be fair, I did enjoy the swim shots and the slow-mo bike shots.

---

-Eric
---
"The Fit Shall Inherit the Earth" -Endurance Conspiracy

I don't disagree with you on the old guys...but one could argue that the "Julie Moss" video was the turning point in the sport. A year from now, if you ask a causual viewer of our sport, they won't remember that Jule Dibbens came off the bike first. But they will remember the guy crashing into and breaking the traffic barrier.

---

"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Everyone's a damn expert.

What's most disappointing is that each year people tune in expecting not to be disappointed.

"the beatings will continue until morale improves"

Season is over, time to rest. healing or put in base work.

---

Such a Bad Runner

I concur. I felt really inspired by the restaurant guy who obviously has tons of money and time to train. It's really motivating to see someone with so much in their favor accomplish that.

Seriously though, anyone hear some of the music from "Drive" in there? I thought that was cool. I kept waiting for Ryan Gosling to show up in a scorpion jacket and beat up restaurant guy.

It wasn't surprising considering the amount of subtle product placement they were showing.

I thought the show was terrific. I have been to the BI several times, and for 90 minutes on a big screen HDTV it's as close as you can get to being there without the slight odor of sulfur in the air.

What was right: seeing in HD just how banged-up Chrissie was going into the race; how much pain Julie Dibens was enduring on a run she must have known was doomed from inception; Lieto realizing his opp may have come and gone without success.

Super bonus: seeing Natascha finish one more time. She wins like a champion, she finishes 14th like a champion.

They gave the celebs and the human-interest stories a few minutes. Not bad, not oppressive.

As for Road ID and Ford, in the era of TiVo and DVRs, that is a fact of life if you want companies to continue sponsoring these shows. No ad sales = no broadcast. WTC probably didn't make very much on this to begin with, and considering they only bought 90 minutes on NBC instead of 120 tells me sponsors are not lining up to pay for this show.

The old-guy show was a little creepy. I wish some voice in those guys' heads had told them just walk it in. I winced when the dude took out the barrier, or stumbled like a drunk onto the median on Palani Rd and nearly face-planted into those spectators. Back in 2005 McKeague showed that it was possible for an octogenarian to finish IMH, now we had half a dozen or so going the distance. Ten more years it might even be routine.

If you didn't like the show, then move along (Army-Navy was wrapping up on CBS).

I thought the show was very good. I usually hate the human interest stories, but the woman battling cancer really got me choked up. Knowing how painful an IM is, the idea that someone has something else going on in their life that is so bad that they are really greatful for the time out on the IM course is very inspiring. Training for an IM while getting chemo - that is really hard-core.

Plus the show is for a mass TV audience - I don't think people want to see the story of the 35-year-old "age-grouper" who works as a triathlon coach and finishes in 9:30. Those of us on slowtwitch might be interested in how that person trains, etc., but the millions of people that will potentially watch on NBC - not so much.

I also think this is what everyone hates about the IM coverage on NBC (and I am guilty of it also):
We do IM's, we want everyone to think it is really, really crazy and really, really hard and that only nut jobs do it. The IM broadcast shows normal people, old people, and somewhat overweight people doing it. So we are worried that people will watch on NBC and think what we do is not so special.
The reality is that IM (and triathlon in general) is hard, but normal people can do it. The show was an entertaining hour and a half; we should get over the other stuff and be glad it was on TV.

I enjoyed Cody Westheimer's coverage of the event a lot more than NBC's. Better music, too, which he wrote himself. For those of you who missed that thread on October, here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_wk8E9Qe6s
Maybe NBC needs to hire him.

Don't stress too much. If he had fallen and broken his hip they would have just edited it out or never covered him at all.

Honestly, I am amazed that they let the guy continue after he had been down so many times. Scared me. However, he looked pretty good standing up on stage getting his umeke bowl the next day.

---

----------------------------
Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

Almost as brutal as listening to Katherine Switzer do NYC Marathon coverage.

I had taped every Kona broadcast from 1988 to last year but, in suffering through the RoadID infomercial that was the coverage last year, I said that was it. Based on the comments, looks like I didn't miss much. Thanks for the input.

+1

Good point. But the old guy falling over was 'acting' and awkward to watch.

What you said. Every year people have complaints.

---

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I have the same gripes about not covering more of the race as others but the biggest disappointment was a failure to capture how close Crowie was to not getting the Kona record. I watched it online in October and it was nail-biting to see him grab a flag and look like maybe he didn't realize he could capture the record and hope for him to kick it into another gear. They did show it but thought it was a missed opportunity not to make it more of a storyline and make a bigger deal of him getting it.

I will say the swim coverage was the best I've seen.

Anyone else cringe at the spectator/volunteer stepping all over the wheel he dropped when the one old guy fell into him?

What you said. I think the coverage sucked if you are in the sport already. But my kids were motivated by it and the stories of amputees and cancer victims were used to further ingrain in them that ANYTHING is possible. Later that evening my wife and I attended a couple of Christmas parties and a few folks that watched the NBC coverage came up to me this year with a deeper understanding of the commitment it takes and how inspirational the stories were. So net net - the coverage was good for our sport IMO and I think it helped promote it to a wider audience than the pros and wanna-be pros on this board. If you are already doing the IMs, then yea - the coverage sucked. My personal take away of the day - Chrissie Wellington is an android from another planet. I knew she was banged up but seeing her wounds up close in HD was quite motivational to me. Talk about HTFU..she has to be a robot.

Our broadcast is really the day of when we all watch it live for numerous hours, which we should never complain about. We should appreciate the Ironmanlive.com/Universal Sports broadcast!

  

Good catch. I thought the very same thing when I hear that Julie Dibbens won the Prime. I know that one does have to finish the race to get the prime, so I believe it was a gaff in the broadcast. Same thing with her bike course record. It was wiped off when she DNF’d.
I TiVo’d the broadcast like always and fast forward through all the human interest nonsense. I just watched the race itself and found it to be a decent broadcast if you do that.

My wife and watched the webcast and then watched the NBC show. Other than the obvious Ford and Road ID product placement, our major issue is that it did not tell the story. It did not attempt to communicate the suspense of whether Craig Alexander would break the course record as his hamstrings cramped. Then, the coverage described Chrissie as dominating and powerful, but did not communicate her obvious pain and suffering or how hard she had to fight for her win.