Just a reminder. Stop surfing, start watching, then come back later and complain about it.
As someone that is new to the sport, I needed to see that. I thought it was awesome. The bit about the Hoyt’s (SP?) had me choking back tears the whole time.
I plan on watching the second part that is specifically about this year’s Kona Ironman.
I agree that it is great for those new to the sport and who don’t know the history of Ironman. Can’t wait for part 2. My friend Betts and I even made the background in one of the body marking shots. 
When I see something like that about the Hoyt’s,its hard for me to think of it becoming soley a race. As in the threads where some say “Its the world championship” it should be only qualifiers.No lottery ect… Please I do not mean to start another flame war.Its just things like that show that it is so much more than “sport”.
Outside of the 1999 coverage, this pre-race history lesson might have been the best hour of production in a long time. Looking forward to later tonight.
I hoping this means tonight’s coverage will focus on the race since they already got in the human interest stories.
That Dave/Mark coverage was great! Wish I had seen that race.
I agree, I thought the part with the father and son team was very touching. The son was so happy when the were crossing the finish line, that was pretty cool.
…ditto… that Hoyt story is just unbelievable… it puts a lot of things into perspective in my opinion. I remember seeing them at a triathlon some 18 yrs. ago… I was in awe! … and from what I saw on TV, their equipment they use now is way better than what I saw back then… Homemade front carring basket for the bike… a not so stable raft… and a regular wheel chair only slightly modified. I was (and am) impressed beyond comprehension.
Joe Moya
well, so far I’ve gotta eat my words. The first hour was very, very good. Probably the only thing they really could have done to make it better, would be show a few more hightech bikes. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to satisfy my bike lust elsewere.
Gotta go, here comes the main event.
I’m mad as hell right now. All of you are enjoying what I have been waiting to watch for some time. Problem is my local NBC station decided to play a Ronco infomercial from 5 to 6 and a local retail X-mas program from 8 to 9.
Don’t worry you did not miss a thing…I watched Barney X-mas instead!
TERRRRRRRRIBLE coverage!
Aw man, I’m in Los Angeles and the second part never aired! When it didn’t start at 5, I waited until 6…nothing. So disappointing.
The first part was pretty good. Ok, can’t talk now, gotta train.
Was decent coverage of the race. Great shots of Natasha projectile vomitting. Camera in DeBooms face as he stops at an aid van, asking what a Hernia feels like, he goes in & out of consciousness. He was suffering no doubt.
Otherwise is was similar coverage to previous years. The winners winning and a few human interest stories. Not perfect, but 100x’s better than other TV, especially from the sound of it, the junk some of y’all are stuck with.
My wife and I just watched the second part. She missed the first part.
I’m more happy that SHE saw it than I am that I saw it. Until today she has acted like I’m doing “something stupid” and she didn’t understand why anyone would want to do that type of thing. I never really tried to convince her b/c to me you either “get it” or “you don’t”. If you have to ask the question, you definately won’t understand the answer.
Their situation is magnified b/c I am just trying to get up to Olympic distance races, and then maybe someyear move up to a 1/2 IM. What I am doing is nothing compared to what they are doing. It certainly makes any excuse I could come up with to skip a day of taining to be irrelevant.
For my personal situation, maybe now, my wife will understand why I wake up at 5am (even if I went to bed at midnight) to go run in the cold of northern illinois. Maybe she can understand why I celebrate every little milestone or why I am happy to “shed a minute off my 14-mile bike time”.
Someday, many years from now, I would like to try an Ironman (training time permitting) just to show my future grandkids, what “Ol Grandpa” can do.
I will use every bit of the human interest stories that they showed as motivation. I can hear myself already “Dick & Rick Hoyt did an Ironman, and this 6 mile run makes your legs tired? Suck it up, Man!”
It is truely unbelievable what the human spirit can push the body to. It seems that there is no “can’t”, only “won’t”.
The paralyzed guy, Mark (I should be embarrassed) is just downright impressive. Considering him and Armstrong coming back from cancer, I find it ridiculous for me to complain about anything.
At this point in my training, I care less about who actually “wins the Ironman” and care more about the average age-groupers that finish.
The first show tonight was more motivation than Rocky and Rudy put together.
As for “race coverage” … there’s only so much one can do to make an 8-17 hour race “nail-biting”, when you compare it to the other fast-paced, blink and you miss something important, type sports.
Aw man, I’m in Los Angeles and the second part never aired! When it didn’t start at 5, I waited until 6…nothing. So disappointing.
It comes on at 8:00 in LA.
Since you said we could complain about it…
Frankly, I’m surprised how good the first hour was, although the second hour was not as good. The personal stories this year were movingly portrayed, whereas last year they seemed somehow unspectacular.
I have yet to see a major network broadcast this race and not pre-empt it. This time it was for storm coverage. 10 minutes to tell me it’s still freakin’ snowing outside.
Anyway, what really annoyed me was the way they kept showing packs of riders and talking about strength in numbers, and how this one or that one couldn’t hold of the pack. To the average person, it would seem that riding in a pack in triathlons is normal.
My wife, who was kind enough to endure the show, thought that the commentary was corny at best, and the repetitive, overdramatic writing of a high school student at worst. Her words, not mine.
I’ll say this: Watching the show with my wife taught me a few things that I guess I really didn’t understand. Even though she is married to me and doesn’t ever question why I do what I do, listening to her stream of consciousness during the broadcast made me realize that for most people, the question isn’t so much “Can I or can’t I?” It’s “Why the f%$* would I want to do that?!?” This came on the heels of them describing (and showing) Natascha’s projectile vomiting as “body problems.”
I think it was better than last year’s coverage, but it still lacks something I can’t quite put my finger on.
I gotta admit, I was impressed by the NBC coverage - admittedly months late. Of course it was REALLY polished and glossy, but I think they did a good job of covering the leaders - although I would to liked to have heard about Luke Bell’s great year and impressive finish, and I’m an American before the flame wars begin ;-).
And that Natash footage…whew!!! If the rest of the coverage was overly polished, that was gritty for sure. Plus I think they covered the new drafting - um, I mean “staggering” really well. Maybe I was just reading between the lines too much, but they basically called a peloton a peloton.
Aw man, I’m in Los Angeles and the second part never aired! When it didn’t start at 5, I waited until 6…nothing. So disappointing.
It comes on at 8:00 in LA.
Thanks Jay! I’ll tune in. It doesn’t look like I’ll getting much studying done today…humpf, I missed my long ride to study too.
I didn’t watch it. I don’t know why. I probably should have. I’m a rotten spectator. “Reality” TV has soured me to the networks. I watch grainy documentaries on the History Channel, CNN and the Discovery Channel and that’s about it.
Tom, since you did not watch the Ironman show, this means by Law of Society #1276, you must complain loudly and frequently about the lack of or quality of Ironman coverage by the major networks. It’s the Law.