I totally agree. They pull the same crap in figure skating.

If I wanted to watch "American Anthem" I'd have rented it. The Olympics are about competing, not about prancing around like ice capades on carpet.

Meanwhile ... where can I find me some velodrome coverage?

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No sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter!

yes yes a thousand times YES. the rant I went on last nite when I tuned in to find this blatant gymnast-ego-masturbation reality-TV-viewer-friendly TRIPE on my set surely will get me in trouble when the kids hit preschool...they heard way too many bad words.



what other sport (besides figure skating/ice dancing, naturally) does something like this? personally, if the pistol and rifle teams do a post-event Annie Oakley wannabe session I'd probably tune in...but this gymnasty stuff is just killing me.

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Carl Matson

I agree 100% here.

HOWEVER - there is a very *simple_explanation* for this :

(hasn't everyone heard ?)

NBC has recently been renamed
"The Gymnastics Channel"

I'll definitely second that. What a waste. And, worse, I had run out of my recorded events before IT was over!!!!!!

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_________________
Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

I bet none of us would complain if the women were all naked ..



Oh shit....wait...are they not all 12 or something like that? Am I going to prison now?

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I'm with you, but had a different take on the whole thing. They could have saved us all a bunch of time and just handed out the medals they way they were going to anyway regardless of who tripped and fell onto the judges table. Then, do a single night performance. Heck, move them to a tent just outside of town, only then we'd compare them to Cirq d Sole (sp?) and no one would watch the amature hour. If it's performance art, let us just call it that and be done. If it is competitive athletics, then make it objective. Somersaults until everyone pukes out. Ironcross until the last guy drops. Cartwheels over the marathon course. Something quantifiable.

   

NBC has recently been renamed
"The Gymnastics Channel"

I thought that's what they already are. The only change to this is during the Winter Olympic Games, NBC becomes the Figure Skating Channel!!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

There may be a message here with all the air-time and emphasis on Gymnastics. Clearly, the US is doing well in gymnastics. There may be a connection between the huge coverage the Gymnastics gets on NBC, and has received at past Olympic games and the performance of the US Gymnasts. Perhaps distance running in the US could be the beneficiary of this same treatment. The USTF, should lobby NBC BIG TIME for huge coverage in the middle and long distance running events for the next two Olympic games. Then by 2012 and beyond, the US will be rivaling Ethiopia and Kenya for middle and long distance running supremecy!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Its about ratings. Non-traditional sports watchers will watch gymnastics (same with figure skating).

The Canadian station is great. All the major events are shown by 10:00, and you they show more countries. While you watched that CBC was showing super slow motion of the hurdler biting it.

I changed the channel when the "gymnastics Gala" was on -- it was the ultimate in waste of time!!!

Figure skating is also a waste of time.

Are we going to have touring Gymnasts in "Gymcapades" ???

I have an idea!!!!!!! Gymnastics can be like American Idol!!! They can do thier routine and everyone will vote for who they thought was the best - then the next night they can revel who won and they can do a "special" performance.

I tuned in about half way through it as I was channel surfing and I said to the GF, "what dumb ass commercial is this?" It looked like a commercial for something more than anything else.

M~

"Are we going to have touring Gymnasts in "Gymcapades" ??? "

They've been doing a Tour of Champions for years, and always make a lot of money on it. Parents will take their 8 year old girls to see anything.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

waste of time.

They cut from the Madison and Kiren in the Velodrome on the BBC to get excited about some jumped up suit in a top hat on a horse, that is dancing, get this, DANCING to F**king music.

What type of sport is this?

To add insult to injury, the horse that was dancing had just come back from a suspension for testing positive for dope.

A doping horse, what in gods name have the olympics come to,a doped up horse dancing with some jumped up suit in a top hat beating the 200 lap madison for air time...............

Even my Gran was pissed that she had to watch the horse, at least there was drama on the track............

You gotta ask yourself, what's the % of the American viewing audience that is into watching bikes go around in circles? Even though we understand and like it, probably most people don't.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Of course, I would love to see a post competition women's beach volleyball gala. Ratings will plummet without Keri Walsh on TV.

I bet it's higher than you think....Think NASCAR...Basically the same thing. Hell, just put a bunch of stickers on the cyclists, sell beer, allow betting......

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TheBikeRacer.com

The things is, those people already have NACAR. Velodrome is slower, less noisy, there are less flaming explosions and the guys don't have as many stickers on them. It would be like going from Crack to Caffeine. Just not the same high.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

To really appeal to the North American (NASCAR-type) audience you need to throw in a few more riders on the track and make it full contact (don't they do this in Japan?). Now throw in beer and t-shirts and cheerleaders and we could be onto something.

I guess I've never caught the Gymnastics Gala since this is the first I've heard of it. It sounds about as riveting as Ice Capades ... guess that's why I've never seen one of those either.

I was going to say "Olympic Trampolining". I saw them setting up for the event and I thought a game of "Slam Ball" was about to breakout. I don't want to complain about an event that someone spent a lot of time training for .... but if trampolining is in the Olympics, what "sport" can they really keep out? what's next, "Hopscotch", "Rope Skipping", 4-square", etc.

The Olympics should stop fooling around and get with the program and make DodgeBall an Olympic event (like the old stand-up video game).

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --