Olympics

Since the Olympics began, I've been alternatively meaning to watch some events and completely forgetting to do so. I like the winter games more than summer because I like to ski and because of the novelty of many of the events (two man luge?!). However, several factors prevent me from enjoying the coverage and keeping track of what's going on.

The first factor is the over-exposure of figure skating/ice dancing/shiny outfits and bad music on ice. This crap annoys the hell out of me. I understand that these people work hard and have great skill at what they are doing but it just doesn't seem like a proper sport. Anything with a soundtrack, bizarre outfits, makeup and points for artistic merit doesn't pass my criterion for "sport". Unfortunately, it is one of the most popular events so it is on TV more often than not, or at least so it seems. If they would at least eliminate ice dancing, I'd be happy. You don't have normal dancing in the summer games do you? (No really, I'm not sure)

The second factor is the coverage itself. The events that are screened seem to be chosen by the possibility that an American will win. That's all fine and good but it eliminates so much of the action that one might get the impression that there are only a handful of competitors (whoever is in the top running and the nearest American) in the event. I guess this is largely due to the limited amount of time that the network has to cover the games which is legitimate and leads me to wonder why the coverage can't be expanded to other channels.

If the one network isn't able to provide ample coverage, why not spread the love? These are after all the Olympics, traditionally a venue where nations put aside differences in the spirit of celebrating human achievement. Is it too much to ask for the networks to do the same? Let one of the big three cover the games the way we know it, complete with award ceremonies, sappy back stories and too much figure skating while some cable channel covers the competition in a more impartial, complete fashion. Only weirdos like me will watch the second channel so ad revenues won't really be lost. Yeah, I suppose the whole lack of moneymaking will be a shortfall in that plan so...hopefully the internet will provide a solution in the future with cheaper means of broadcasting events for those who want to see them rather than dictating who sees what. Ahh, the internet, solving all of lifes problems, how did we ever do without it?