Just wonderin’…
Spot
No not a spawn. He is Satan.
Ric
Agreed. I wonder if he writes that drivel that spews from his pie-hole, or if he is just reading that crap that some other demon-spawn wrote.
Spot
He edits the copy, and reads it.
He has awesome pipes, so get used to him covering it and the tour. I like his work.
I cannot stand the melodrama…I have never understood why perfectly good sporting events have to be turned into “human interest stories”…from the Olympics to cycling to triathlon, it’s always the same. I wonder what would happen if they tried this shit with the NFL…
Spot
“Lava, it sounds hot…and it is hot.”
Someone signed off on that beauty. Trautwig needs ol’ gunny to whip him into shape:
**Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: **I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be sir. Do you maggots understand that?
Trautwig: Sir, yes sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Bullshit I can’t hear you. Sound off like you got a pair.
Trautwig: SIR, YES SIR!
I cannot stand the melodrama…I have never understood why perfectly good sporting events have to be turned into “human interest stories”…from the Olympics to cycling to triathlon, it’s always the same. I wonder what would happen if they tried this shit with the NFL…
I’m with you. I used to love watching the Olympics, but now they’re spending so much time on the human interest stories that it’s ruining the coverage. I did better this year with NBC/Kona. I saw about 3 minutes of it before turning it off(enough to want to tape Al Trautwig’s mouth shut). In that 3 minutes, I probably winced 5 times.
I guess some people enjoy it, but it’s certainly not my cup of tea.
I wonder what would happen if they tried this shit with the NFL…
As if the NFL presentations and pre-game shows don’t include “back ground information” on the athletes. Half of the reason for weatchng is to know who to root for and who to root against.
Unlike the NFL, triathlon by itself, isn’t interesting TV. An NFL is a much more EXCITING event than Ironman racing. An 8-hour race is detined to be slow-moving and repetitive.
I don’t think, in terms of television viewing, triathlon REALLY want to get involved in comparisons of triathlon v. other sports (other sports that are actually shown on major networks, not offshoots that only exist in some markets and/or channels 100+).
Exciting to do, boring to watch.
I saw a triahtlon event once, not sure what it was, but it was Oly distance and featured a “drafting legal” type of racing on the bike section that made it highly interesting to watch. Plus, due to the shorter distances, the finish was actually exciting in terms of being a contested race.
Yep, 1+30 into a 2 hour show, and the pros were done with…the last half hour was mind-numbing feel-good drool-inducing crapola…
Spot
Well NBC is the worst offender. It goes back to when they first handed over a bazillion bucks to the IOC to buy up the next 30 years of Olympics broadcasting. They were very clear on their strategy. A)When games were in different time zones, they would show them "plausibly live,’ and B)the assumption was that men would already be watching, the human interest stories would be what got the women to watch as well.
It takes away my enjoyment of viewing(but mercifully with CBC I have not been subjected to it as much), but from their business point of view, it does work. I have worked in largely female populated workplaces the last several years, and whenever there was some type of event, they never talk to me the next day about “the guy/girl who finished third.” They do however talk about “the girl who had to take care of her sick mother while she trained.”
It sucks, definitely.
(but mercifully with CBC I have not been subjected to it as much),
Exactly what I was thinking when I read about Olympic coverage above. Living in a border city, just across from Windsor, if I want to see something like Olympics or whatever I always tune to CBC because they mostly ignore that schlock crap that has become a hallmark of NBC’s useless presentations.
Heh… what gets funny is when Al does the Tour coverage with Bob Roll and asks him a bunch of questions. It is interesting for people that don’t understand the sport, since he covers some bases, but there is at the same time a bunch of crap coming out.
I cannot stand the melodrama…I have never understood why perfectly good sporting events have to be turned into “human interest stories”…from the Olympics to cycling to triathlon, it’s always the same. I wonder what would happen if they tried this shit with the NFL…
Spot
It’s very simple: americans are not allowed to watch endurance sports. If there is to be an endurance event shown on american television, it must be changed to a human interest story, because, as stated above, americans are not allowed to watch endurance sports.
-C
I thought all American sports were endurance sports, they seem to go on for hours with all the stopping for tv breaks. I usually fall asleep if I go in person…
NBC should do an experiment one year: one broadcast simply as a sporting event, and one as they do it now.
Any guesses on which one gets the higher ratings—or the accolades?
I thought all American sports were endurance sports, they seem to go on for hours with all the stopping for tv breaks. I usually fall asleep if I go in person…
Endurance for the spectators, yes.
Well obviously the poor players are so fit that they have to have a rest every 5 minutes after all their exertions 
.
First of all, if there is that stuff in the NFL (or MLB, or the NBA), it is minimal. Second of all, once the game starts, there is no more of that crap. Lastly, I’m not asking for 9 hours of live coverage…all I’m asking for is that out of a 2-hour show, they use most of that 2 hours to show the actual race.
Spot
"I cannot stand the melodrama…I have never understood why perfectly good sporting events have to be turned into “human interest stories”…from the Olympics to cycling to triathlon, it’s always the same. I wonder what would happen if they tried this shit with the NFL… "
They do that “shit” in the NFL. In fact, I’m watching 2 hours of special interest crap for the heisman right now.
Also, football takes place in 10 seconds with a 40 second break between plays. Awesome. I love football. I love(d) to play and watch.
If they just showed 2 hours of IM w/o the stories it would get pulled off the air at the half-way mark becuase of the poor ratings. All of the triathletes in the USA couldn’t fill the Indy 500 let alone make it on the radar of a TV executive.
Anyway, watch it on IMLIVE…it was good this year. All 9 hours of it.
Accolades is easy. The current format. Like someone mentioned elsewhere, there is the prerequisite challenged athlete coverage to be eligible for an award.
Ratings is a tougher call. I remember someone posting that in 2005 there were something like 100,000 triathlon finishes recorded in the US. Considering how many of those were multiple finishes by one athlete, you don’t really have the kinds of numbers to justify network television airtime. Now that is your hardcore audience possibly. Maybe there is a little bit more beyond that, but really, you need to draw a bigger audience. You would get good ST viewership, but overall numbers? While I would love to see a better presentation, I don’t think it’s going to happen.