sullim4 Posted February 19, 2010 Posted February 19, 2010 Some thoughts: - Miller hasn't been legitimately tested yet. Norway was awful. - There seemed to be an influx of people from Toronto. TONS of Leafs jerseys, almost no Canucks/Flames/Oilers jerseys. My guess though is that, as usual, Leafs fans were trying be obnoxious since the vast majority of people had generic "Team Canada" jerseys, many of which were Luongo's. Good for Canucks fans, boo to Leafs fans. - In the same vein, the Canadians were rooting for Norway, even though one of their Canucks (Kessler) was playing for the US. Karma is a B word - Switzerland took Canada to a shootout. - Watching hockey in Canada is just great. Here are two teams playing where they don't have a rooting interest and the place is rocking. Exactly what I'd expect given the Canuck games I've been to. - VANOC is taking a lot of heat in terms of how they're running the show, but I thought they did an excellent job with crowd control and the venues. Public transit had significant lines, though... only 2 cars per skytrain. - They really didn't shut down the city, there were more streets downtown with private cars than without. - NBC should be ashamed of themselves. People all over the place downtown were watching CTV through store windows at the live events. NBC's mindset is back in the pre-internet days and it is no wonder why they are in fourth place.
Mike In Illinois Posted February 19, 2010 Posted February 19, 2010 - NBC should be ashamed of themselves. People all over the place downtown were watching CTV through store windows at the live events. NBC's mindset is back in the pre-internet days and it is no wonder why they are in fourth place. I agree that NBC is doing a poor job of broadcasting the Games, however they beat the 'unbeatable' American Idol on Wednesday night so people are tuning in. If you're going to pay $800 million on these Olympics then broadcast them on the main channel during the day. If an event is worthy of rebroadcast in prime time then do it. Today Show, Days of Our Lives (my wife watches) and syndicated programming cannot be that important ($$) to bump these semi-annual events to CNBC, MSNBC and USA.
PromoTheRobot Posted February 20, 2010 Posted February 20, 2010 I'm happy that full coverage of hockey and curling can be found on USA, CNBC and MSNBC. I don't think I turned on NBC at all this week. I also heard CTV is providing online channels free. Is that true? FYI: try to catch the Russian Women's curling team in action. PTR
sullim4 Posted February 20, 2010 Author Posted February 20, 2010 The Danes are better - curlers wearing skirts! Who would have thought of such a wonderful thing?
sullim4 Posted February 20, 2010 Author Posted February 20, 2010 And with respect to the whole NBC debacle... As someone who works in the tech industry, it pisses me off to see what amounts to censorship online. NBC is taking pages out of China's book by blocking access to content. The good old USA is the only country in the world where you don't have access to live feeds of every Olympic event online, which tells me that this is NBC's doing, not the IOC's. If anything, this should be proof positive that Comcast cannot be trusted to own the means of production (NBC) and the pipe to deliver it (the cable operation), because soon enough, it'll be required that you subscribe to their services in order to access any content at all. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really hope that ABC/ESPN will get the rights to the games post-2012, when NBC's contract expires. They have enough capacity (ABC, ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, ESPNNewsHD, ESPNU HD) to show multiple live events, in high definition, in real-time. Their coverage of MNF this year has shown that they can listen to criticism and actually cover the sport itself instead of blab about unrelated nonsense. NBC, on the other hand, has not.
stuckincincy Posted February 20, 2010 Posted February 20, 2010 I'm happy that full coverage of hockey and curling can be found on USA, CNBC and MSNBC. I don't think I turned on NBC at all this week. I also heard CTV is providing online channels free. Is that true? FYI: try to catch the Russian Women's curling team in action. PTR Women using brooms, bending over, and polishing stones...what's not to like?
Just Jack Posted February 20, 2010 Posted February 20, 2010 Women using brooms, bending over, and polishing stones...what's not to like? That same woman in my house doing those things?
bbb Posted February 20, 2010 Posted February 20, 2010 Some thoughts: - Miller hasn't been legitimately tested yet. Norway was awful. - There seemed to be an influx of people from Toronto. TONS of Leafs jerseys, almost no Canucks/Flames/Oilers jerseys. My guess though is that, as usual, Leafs fans were trying be obnoxious since the vast majority of people had generic "Team Canada" jerseys, many of which were Luongo's. Good for Canucks fans, boo to Leafs fans. - In the same vein, the Canadians were rooting for Norway, even though one of their Canucks (Kessler) was playing for the US. Karma is a B word - Switzerland took Canada to a shootout. - Watching hockey in Canada is just great. Here are two teams playing where they don't have a rooting interest and the place is rocking. Exactly what I'd expect given the Canuck games I've been to. - VANOC is taking a lot of heat in terms of how they're running the show, but I thought they did an excellent job with crowd control and the venues. Public transit had significant lines, though... only 2 cars per skytrain. - They really didn't shut down the city, there were more streets downtown with private cars than without. - NBC should be ashamed of themselves. People all over the place downtown were watching CTV through store windows at the live events. NBC's mindset is back in the pre-internet days and it is no wonder why they are in fourth place. How were the prices of hotels/restaurants, etc.? The prices of tickets scared me away. I really wanted to do it, but those were crazy (I think they were way higher to US citizens than Canadians), and I figured throw in jacked up hotel prices, overcrowded restaurants, etc. and it's something I can't afford.
sullim4 Posted February 20, 2010 Author Posted February 20, 2010 How were the prices of hotels/restaurants, etc.? The prices of tickets scared me away. I really wanted to do it, but those were crazy (I think they were way higher to US citizens than Canadians), and I figured throw in jacked up hotel prices, overcrowded restaurants, etc. and it's something I can't afford. I live in the Puget Sound area and kinda made it a day trip. Stayed overnight in Burlington, WA, which is along I-5. That allowed me to get up there early to meet a friend who lives in Richmond, park my car, hop on the skytrain, and check things out. No wait at the border, but the US CBP officer coming back was a royal jackass, taking issue that I as a US citizen would associate with someone from Canada. Not sure what that has to do with determining my citizenship or duty owed... It was definitely crowded in the afternoon (not at all in the morning) but I didn't think prices were outrageous. Cheaper than NYC for sure.
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