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12 Feb 02 - 03:18 PM (#648392) Subject: Winter Olympics stuff From: Kim C First of all, does anyone have the low-down on how skating is actually judged? The Canadian pair last night was the best by far, at least from this layperson's point of view. They came away with silver, which is not a bad thing at all - except that their average score was 11.68, while the average score of the gold medal winners was only 11.63. There's this pesky thing about the "ordinals," where the judges say what place the pair should have. If that's what decides the contest, why have a scoring system at all? I really don't understand. Also the bronze medalists had several glaring errors in their presentation, and still managed to medal. Now.... if you're watching this on network TV, they'll have you believe there's nothing going on but skating, snowboarding, skiing, with a little luge thrown in for good measure. We watched the entire prime-time broadcast last night and there was absolutely NO mention of curling. I have never seen a curling match. I would really like to see one. I would also like to see the biathlon competition. Is it not unfair to these people who have worked really hard, that some of them get all the media, and others get none? Personally, I'd like to be on the good side of anyone who can heft a 42-pound stone at me. Cheers---- KFC |
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12 Feb 02 - 03:28 PM (#648395) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Mad4Mud My husband said he saw part of the biathlon on TV although knowing him it could have been at some unGodly hour like 4am. I'm with you though on the curling. We need more coverage on that. |
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12 Feb 02 - 03:32 PM (#648397) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: MMario the ordinals are what count - in the long run. They are based on each judges scoreing - if the judges combined scores for the contestant are the highest he/she has awarded then the ordinal is one. if the second highest, the ordinal is 2. In theory a judge COULD award every single contestant an ordinal of 1. |
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12 Feb 02 - 03:36 PM (#648402) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Kim C Why couldn't they do it like NORMAL people and go by the average score? They do this in just about every other event. Skating shouldn't be any different. I know, it's too logical. ;-) |
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12 Feb 02 - 04:06 PM (#648419) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: gnu No curling ? Where are you guys from ? Obviously, you're not Canucks. BTW, I got money on the Canadian women's team... they're gooood. But, it's like Vince said, "In any given Briar..." Round here, some winters when you turn on the TV, it's like they've got the Silver Broom up your ass and you're picking Briars out of your socks. Never seen a curling match might be better than seeing too many. |
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12 Feb 02 - 04:13 PM (#648428) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Kim C Nope, gnu, I'm in the US, the Birthplace of Snowboarding. Which actually looks sorta like fun......... |
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12 Feb 02 - 04:13 PM (#648429) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: mack/misophist If you've never seen curling, imagine this: A frozen river with targets laid out on the ice; people playing shuffleboard. Instead of shuffleboard pucks, they're using curling stones. Instead of shuffleboard sticks, they use brooms to roughen or smooth the stone's path across the ice. It's kinda like that. Or maybe Bocce Ball on ice. |
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12 Feb 02 - 04:18 PM (#648435) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: allie kiwi We have an ad on TV about curling. Of course it's also about cheese. Allie |
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12 Feb 02 - 04:28 PM (#648446) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: catspaw49 Churling is on CNBC and the coverage is pretty good. That's the problem though....NBC's coverage is split over three stations, NBC, MSMNBC, and CNBC. The "lesser" sports and all of the hockey is being telecast on the other two. If you get them like I so, it's great, but otherwise......... The skating thing is ridiculous. Even the Russian pair apologized! The problem with the entire scoring thing needs to be changed......I hate scored stuff to begin with, but if you are going to include scored events....and they are.....then there has to be something remedied here. My hat's off to the Canadian pair for both a great performance, one of the very best I've ever seen in the Olympics, and for showing a lot of class. Spaw |
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12 Feb 02 - 04:30 PM (#648448) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: gnu The Birthplace of Snowboarding ? Nuh-uh. I started it forty years ago, but I called it, "Let's go to the store and get some cardboard boxes !" |
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12 Feb 02 - 06:18 PM (#648550) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Blackcatter Ordinals in skating are relatively new - and ironically, I believe it was introduced to help make the judging more fair. As for curling - I'd love to see more of it and was tempted to get cable for January in order to see the different events. By the way - no one in curling "hefts" the stones. They slide them gently across the ice. And lest anyone complain that this won't eventually turn to music - is anyone tired of John Williams? It seems as if his music for the past ten years or so are very derivative and boring. Would have been nice to have olympic music the reflects the energy and freshness of the athletes. pax yall |
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12 Feb 02 - 07:04 PM (#648604) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: catspaw49 Oh thank you BC and may the gods bless and keep you always! John Williams cranks out this stylized crap that's supposed to represent some form of American culture and music and the stuff just absolutely sucks! Complete drivel with notes attached. Spaw |
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12 Feb 02 - 07:09 PM (#648614) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: kendall There were no American judges involved in screwing the Canadians were there? |
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13 Feb 02 - 10:02 AM (#649095) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Mad4Mud No, for once the US can't be blamed. Click here for one of many stories on the subject |
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13 Feb 02 - 10:05 AM (#649096) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Mad4Mud Hmmm, that clicky didn't go to where it said it would. Oh well, the US judges favored the Canadians. |
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13 Feb 02 - 01:41 PM (#649233) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: GUEST,bob schwarer Saw the biathlon just after lunch. Mon or Tuesday. I can guarantee (almost) it will never be on "prime time". Of course all my time is prime. Bob S. |
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13 Feb 02 - 04:24 PM (#649357) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Blackcatter I'm watching the biathalon right now. Nice stuff. It was the French who screwed over the Canadian pair. I'll bet it would have been different if the Canadian pair were from Quebec... ______ I just heard that John Williams just received 2 Oscar nominations for best score - for Harry Potter and A.I. The Cool thing is that he rarely actually wins - it seems that with over 30 nominations he's received the nod only 6 times (yes, I know that's a lot, but consider the ratio). I'm pulling for Rany Newman to win this year. He's still an original composer floating in a field of blah. pax yall |
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13 Feb 02 - 04:25 PM (#649360) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Blackcatter That would be RANDY Newman... |
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13 Feb 02 - 05:18 PM (#649409) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Metchosin Salé and Pelletier, the Canadian Pair, were from Quebec, Blackcatter. |
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13 Feb 02 - 09:52 PM (#649633) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: sophocleese After all the furor over the skating I got a chance to see a video of the Russian pair and the Canadian pair. They both skated very well; clearly above the rest of the competition. I liked the Russians better (please don't tell the rest of the country) but I'd hate to have to decide which was better; they were different. What really annoyed me though as I haven't been watching ANY Olympic television was how partisan the announcers were. Apparently the female canadian and the russian male had a collision during warm-up. "OH NO!" say the commentators, "That's going to make it difficult for the canadian to get her focus." What about the russian's focus? he's skating too and he skated sooner after the crash, perhaps HIS nerves were thrown by the collison. Anyway I am now confirmed again in my reasons why I do not watch the Olympics anymore. |
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13 Feb 02 - 10:41 PM (#649654) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: kendall Politics ruin everything |
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13 Feb 02 - 11:14 PM (#649670) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Kaleea Winter Olymipcs coverage? Oh! you must be talking about how on NBC they sit around & talk, then show clips, then talk some more, then show one American out of dozens of Ollympians, then talk some more, and show one more American in a completely different sport, then talk some more . . . |
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14 Feb 02 - 12:00 AM (#649705) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Blackcatter Thanks Metchosin - shows you how close I've been paying attention. Well at least I see they got to hang out on stage with the Bare Naked Ladies. (Who Bob Costas had to explain were four guys completely clothed). I'm visiting Quebec City in June - anyone know if people there as nice as they say? pax yall. |
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14 Feb 02 - 03:06 AM (#649746) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: SeanM I've had the Olympics fairly well forced on me (my only choice is to sulk in the bedroom). It's finally sucked me in. We do get all three channels, so I got to see both men's and women's curling, the cross country skiing, biathalon, and other 'non-marquee' events. As to the figure skating... Hold on to yer butts. It's going to get rocky. According to this article, the head of the French Olympic Team has stated that "The French figure skating judge was pressured to ``act in a certain way'' before she voted to give the gold to the Russians in pairs". This would probably be one of the last things the IOC wished to see in the aftermath of the bribery scandal of early last year. But it does prove that the cynics have had a point all along when it comes to the olympics. A fun sporting event, but nowhere near worth the turmoil and trouble they cause. M |
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14 Feb 02 - 03:31 AM (#649749) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: alison Kaleea you just described the Australian coverage perfectly too...... no Ozzie in this event.. therefore we won't show it.... I'm probably going to upset the Ozzies here but they do it with any sports... when the olympics are on... we see HEAPS of swimming (because Australia is good at swimming)... but very little athletics / gymnastics etc..... although last time we did get lots of gratuitous bum shots of the girls playing beach volleyball, (its not that they wanted to perv... just that the girls make signals to each other behind their super tight costumes..... yeah right!!) slainte alison |
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14 Feb 02 - 12:53 PM (#650029) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: Kim C Kaleea, maybe you missed it, but there has been plenty of coverage on non-American athletes. They did a big piece on Georg Hackl the other day, and have spotlighted and interviewed several others. Americans have won lots of medals (currently, second only to Germany) and that's probably why they seem to be getting more coverage. Also we just have a lot of people competing. I don't have cable so I'm only getting regular NBC. Mister taped the biathlon yesterday so we could see it. Sure, it was on in the middle of the afternoon. They gave more coverage to it than I expected... and little to the Americans, because they weren't doing so well. However, that being said, I would enjoy the whole thing so much more if the commentators would just shut up. I mean, they can tell us who/what we're watching but I wish they'd leave the drama out of it. The figure skating judges under suspicion should be suspended from any further activity pending an investigation. Blackcatter, I haven't been to Quebec City, but I have heard it's quite splendid. |
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16 Feb 02 - 06:25 PM (#651759) Subject: RE: BS: Winter Olympics stuff From: gnu Ah, this is the thread I was looking to post to. I finally went to the newcomers' thread and learned how to filter. Irish bobsled team ? IRISH BOBSLED TEAM ? Jamaicans I can understand, but what the hell are the Irish smoking ? |