Well. all i have to say is i hope that f^(% -head Bob Costas keeps his mouth shut during John Williams performance of the new Olympic Theme. This guy always has to ruin the Olympic coverage by his commentary. Let us enjoy the sights and sound of the opening ceremonies, dammit
On the other hand, it's very nice know that anchor Jim McKay from ABC will host some of the NBC coverage. Your thoughts about the Olympics, NBC coverage, anything else related to it post it here. Hope NBC doesnt screw this coverage too much, or show TOO MUCH USA and not enough coverage of the other athletes. Know what i mean????

Well, I can honestly say I don't give two sh|ts about this year's Olympics. Were it not for 9/11, I probably wouldn't watch any of it, but I will be interested to see some of how everyone reacts. NBC will likely ruin any genuine sentiment, but that's to be expected.

As a Figure Skating fan (yeah, I said it), I'm pretty bored with the current lot, as most of the great skaters/entertainers have moved on past Olympic competition. I will also probably watch Hockey, but that's about it. The Winter Olympics have too many timed and subjective competitions that bore me to death. I appreciate the athleticism, but most of those sports just don't interest me. In fact, I don't even like Figure Skating as a competition, but more as an artform.

The whole mystique of the Olympics is just gone. Two weeks every two years is too frequent, and without the amateur aspect, what's the point? Oh well. I'll probably catch a few events, but I'm just not too interested this year.

das

Im actually pretty intrested this year. I always am I guess. Im really looking forward to men and womens hockey. But i also enjoy the other events (except curling :-) ) since i dont get to watch them during non olympic time.

Capt

yeah i would have to agree with that. i really wish that it was just still amateurs instead of the professionals. what with the way it is today we would never see another miracle on ice like in 1980.

i really don't know how much i will watch. i definately want to see JW's new theme and like y'all hope that NBC doesn't screw it up.

Whoa, here in San Diego, on ch 45 is a Mexican network called TELEVISA . Their Olympic coverage of the ceremonies looks like its starting right now. Why cant we have LIVE coverage coast to coast here in the states??? Why does Mexico always show it live?? Dammitt!!

PS Mexican coverage of Australian ceremony was LIVE and no commercials, stereo, and commentary was at a minimum!!!!! Like it should be.

Anyone with Rabbit ears, and who lives near San Diego, turn the channel to Ch. 45, you can see the LIVE telecast right now, pacific coast time. I see the crowd all in white.

ok, i hope that it is just the cold that is affecting jim mckay. he isn't talking too well so far.

i hear the song " She'll Be Comin Around the Mountain" completely, no talking during the singing, AWESOME!.

Take that, you God damned terrorists.

das

Watching the quiet, music filled coverage from the Mex network. Did Bob Costass keep his trap shut during the Anthem???

word.

Take what? Whats going on? Tell me. I hate this 2 1/2 delay on the west coast, dammit.

Was Jim McKay drunk? The guy could hardly spit out a sentence all night long. I would blame the cold but Katie and Bob seemed to be speaking just fine.

That's what I was thinking. He made weird comments too. About that one torch-bearer that injured himself. Katie Coruic or Costas were talking about him, there was a silence, and then McKay was like "It's a miracle, he's walking."

I think ABC allowed him to work for NBC to sabotage them and their coverage. Hehe.

Matt

I feel sorry for most Americans as they have no clue what a real olympics looks like.Everything edited together in chunks for primetime consumption,a jingoistic mess to sell toothpaste.Don't get me wrong- i love this country,but the olympics are supposed to be about amateurs and not commercialism.And one of the MOST exiting features is watching it LIVE.How would you like to see the superbowl edited down to an hour on monday night?In Europe,they show EVERYTHING live as it happens,without much jumping around or tearful features about some skiers cancerstricken mom(for the maxipad buying demographic).In a small country like Sweden we can watch events on 2 full time commercial free channels involving athletes from EVERY nation,not just Sweden,around the clock.Counting air-time,Swedish television probably broadcast about 5 times as much coverage as NBC.It is also not widely known that there are 2 distinctly different main feeds.One where there are very strict and neutral(as per IOC)standards on how they show the athletes equally-this feed goes to all of the world and is paid for by the respective country's various networks so there can be no favoritism.Then there is the U.S feed that is zooming in on U.S athletes and stroking our collective ego.Just look at a medal ceremony-in the Sydney olympic's there were several times the camera ONLY showed the U.S. flag,you could not even see who the 2nd and 3rd place nation's were!This is a sellout by the IOC as they can rake in half a billion extra in U.S. television rights.

I really don't enjoy the Olympics as much when they are in the U.S. It's cool and all that they are in our country, but I think Americans are the most unsportsmen like competitors and spectators. Like Loddwick, the nordic combined guy, he was like in 7th place going into the cross country part, and was talking about how he has beaten all the people ahead of him consistently.

The way the Olympics have been going, you almost can't even tell it's an international event. All you see are U.S. flags everywhere and people with freaking bells. It probably didn't help that I had a headache when I started watching last night, but those families with bells were pissing me off.

Matt

I'm somewhat divided on the amateur issue. I think the Olympics should be about sending the best athletes. While I'd love to see a bunch of college kids playing for our country, I'll still watch CNBC every night for the next two weeks.

The quality of play in the Olympics is going to be AWESOME. It's just like the all-star game, except that the teams actually care about winning.

i had a conversation with my good friend yesterday and here is the gist of our conversation....nbc sucks. why? well there are multiple reasons but mainly because of the quality or lack thereof of their brodacasts. as americans, we should be seeing the whole olympics. it's not like we have a time difference like normal, these are in utah. they should be showing everything live. if they are going to have cnbc and msnbc included then they should use them for more then repeats from 12am to 6am. the fact that we have to see anything taped and slashed and edited is a travesty. nbc.

Is there a reason why these Olympics arent shown live?

A majority of the events take place in the morning/early afternoon, so if they were shown live they'd be shown when very few people are watching. Also showing it on some tape delay gives them an oppurtunity to edit out the breaks in competition and pretty much lay it out run after run with little pause.

I disagree. Here's why:

1) The Olympics should be about the best athletes in the world.

2) You reward athletes for doing well. Obviously NHLers have no problem getting money. But saying a guy can't compete in the Olympics simply because he earns some money speed-skating seems ludicrious

3) Earning money for sports is good since several of the sports cost so much money. Obviously rich countires like the U.S. have nice Olympic programs, but how much money do other countries spend on their sports? A guy from a lesser country can help himself out with the money. They said today the U.S. wax budget for their skiiers was $100,000. What if you're from Latvia? How much money do you think their Olympic program gives you?

And pretty much edit out all the non-Americans/top finishers. Kinda sucks, but I guess most people wouldn't watch it otherwise. Would be nice to see an actual live event or two (especially after Costas made his joke on the live from Australia bit)

It's awsome, and you don't have to put up with Bob Coster and other BS. But I'm not happy with their schedules, the only things they show are these: Not to mention it's a day behind.

ALL TIMES ARIZONA TIME

Sat., Feb. 9th
1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Opening Ceremony
3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Ski Jumping K-90 Individual Qualifying
5:00p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Opening Ceremony - Replay
7:30p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Ski Jumping K-90 Individual Qualifying - Replay
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Sun., Feb. 10th
1:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Speed Skating - Men's 5000m
3:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. Figure Skating - Pairs Short Program
5:45 p.m. - 7:50 p.m. Ski Jumping - K-90 Individual
7:50 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hockey - Slovenia vs. Germany - Men's
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Mon., Feb. 11th
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Women's 3000m
3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. HD Olympic Recap
3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Ski Jumping K-90 Individual
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Hockey - Latvia vs. Slovenia - Men's
7:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P - 7P block
1:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P - 7P block
7:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P - 7P block

Tues., Feb. 12th
1:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Figure Skating - Pairs Long Program
3:45 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. Hockey - Ukraine vs. Switzerland - Men's
5:45 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Men's 500 Race #1
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hockey - Canada vs. Kazakhstan - Women's
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Wed., Feb. 13th
1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Figure Skating - Men's Short Program
4:30 p.m. - 5:45 p.m. Speed Skating - Men's 500m - Race #2
5:45 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Hockey - USA vs. Germany - Women's
7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Ski Jumping - K-120 Individual Qualifying
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Thurs., Feb. 14th
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Short Track - Women's 1500m
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Hockey - Canada vs. Russia - Women's (partial)
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Ski Jumping - K-120 Individual
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Hockey - Switzerland vs. Bulgaria - Men's
7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Women's 500m - Race #1
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Fri., Feb. 15th
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Figure Skating - Men's Long Program
4:00 p.m. - 5:20 p.m. Speed Skating - Women's 500m Race #2
5:20 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Ski Jumping - K-90 Team
7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hockey - Men's Consolation (partial)
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. no service
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Sat., Feb. 16th
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Hockey - Russia vs. Q1- Men's
3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Figure Skating - Dance Compulsories
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hockey - USA vs. Finland - Men's
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Sun., Feb. 17th
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Men's 1000m
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Hockey - USA vs. Russia - Men's
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Short Track - Men's 1000m -Women's 500m
6:00 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. Hockey - USA vs. Finland - Women's
8:15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hockey - Finland vs. Q1 - Men's (Partial)
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Mon., Feb. 18th
1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Figure Skating - Dance Original
3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Women's 1000m
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Hockey - Sweden vs. Czech Republic - Men's
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hockey - USA vs. Russia - Men's - Replay
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block


Tues., Feb. 19th
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Figure Skating - Dance Free
4:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. Hockey - USA vs. Q1 - Men's
6:15 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. Hockey - Czech Republic vs. Canada - Men's
6:45 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Ski Jumping - K-120 Team
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Wed., Feb. 20th
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Figure Skating - Women's Short Program
4:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. Hockey - Semifinals - Women's
6:15 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. Hockey - Semifinals - Women's (partial)
6:45 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Men's 1500m
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Thurs., Feb. 21st
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Hockey - Quarterfinals - Men's
3:00 p.m. - 4:45 p.m. Speed Skating - Women's 1500m
4:45 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. Hockey - Quarterfinals - Men's
6:45 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. HD Olympic Recap
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Speed Skating, Short Track - Men's 1500m, Women's 3000m Relay
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Fri., Feb. 22nd
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Figure Skating - Women's Long Program
4:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. Hockey - Women's Gold Medal
6:15 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. Ski Jumping - K-120 Nordic Combined Sprint, Jumping
7:15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. HD Olympic Recap
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Sat., Feb. 23rd
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Hockey - Men's Semifinal #1
3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Figure Skating - Exhibition
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Men's 10,000m
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hockey - Men's Semifinal #2
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block


Sun., Feb. 24th
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Short Track - Women's 1000m
Men's 500m, Men's 5000m Relay
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. HD Olympic Recap
4:00 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. Hockey - Men's Bronze Medal
6:15 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Speed Skating - Women's 5000m
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Hockey - Men's Semifinal - Replay
9:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block
5:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. repeat of the original 1P-9P block

Mon., Feb. 25th
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Hockey - Men's Gold Medal
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Closing Ceremony
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Hockey - Men's Gold Medal - Replay
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Closing Ceremony - Replay
9:00 p.m. -11:00 p.m. Hockey - Men's Gold Medal - Replay

It's in our own damned country and we still can't watch it live? This is such a joke. My wife finally figured out the Olympics are so much more enjoyable if we mute the TV when Costas shows up. Then we won't get into the bad attitude and try to enjoy the atheletes. BTW: I thought this was an international event? They showed three americans who never placed, and only the top 4 places for the luge? What's up with that? I hope to see more tonight.

I'm off to find somewhere on the 'net that has live stats. I don't think there is such a thing, but hopefully I'll learn more.

Anyone know the statistic for the percentage of sports airing on NBC? Is it 1 minute of sport for every 1 minute of feel go footage? Maybe next time they won't bother with the sports....

Okay, I'm done....

NBC - will you show any event besides Figure Skating live??? It is ridiculous - you have afternoon coverage from 3-5 yesterday and everything is taped and packaged. What the heck is that??? I can see why some events have to be taped - events taking place at the same time - but everything?

The 2nd run of luge obviously took place at night in SLC, so why couldn't you show it live during primetime last night.

Now we get 15 minutes of luge and 15 minutes of speed skating - taped tonight. Then there is 30 minutes each of Women's Downhill and men's halfpipe. Then we are treated to 2 HOURS of live figure skating.

At least I'll get to see that hot chick from Canada skate.

My roommate watched the HD coverage yesterday. I knew how everything turned out so I didn't watch. Beautiful picture though.

Standard NBC is bad enough with their delayed coverage. HD NBC wants me to wait another 24 hours. Forget it.