Are you excited?

[Monika]

Are you excited about the Olympics? I am just very depressed about it, all that Sport. I feel exhausted just having to watch it. I hope somebody on the Forum will be able to get me a bit more enthusiastic!

[woolybananasbrother]

Somehow it is not like the Tour de France, is it? I only like the sailing and they give almost none of that. Too much noise and publicity when I like quiet things.

[Iceni]

[quote user="Monika"]Are you excited about the Olympics? I am just very depressed about it, all that Sport. I feel exhausted just having to watch it. I hope somebody on the Forum will be able to get me a bit more enthusiastic![/quote]

Switch on stupid question mode - Monika, why don't you do something that does make you enthusiastic or excited ? I realise that you may still end up exhausted but hopefully not depressed.

John

[AnOther]

I'm with you Monika, in fact I'll go further and say that it leaves me 'as the iceberg' (as indeed do football, rugby cricket, tennis etc. etc. etc.) and I shall not be watching a single second if it, at least not voluntarily. Unfortunately some inadvertent exposure will be unavoidable because it will be on the news all day long but I'll close my eyes, put my fingers in my ears and chant la de da de da de da de da until it's over [:P]

Of course as a bloke I'm not supposed to admit to such things as it implies that I'm 'not a MAN' and must either be Gay or have a small u-no-wot [:'(]

I can think of many much more exciting things to do, how about watching paint dry for starters.

Please please let it all soon be over, yawwwwwnnnnnnnnnn.

 

[Just Katie]

[quote user="ErnieY"]

but I'll close my eyes, put my fingers in my ears and chant la de da de da de da de da until it's over [:P]

 

 

[/quote]

Yeah yeah, but I bet you stop dah dee dah ing when the female aussie volleyball squad are strutting their stuff. [:-))]

Monika, I love the olympics, it reminds me of summer and there is such a selection of sport, there must be one which excites you.  What about diving? [:)]

[Christine Animal]

When does it start?  I saw somewhere that they won't be serving dog meat in restaurants in Peking during the games, not to offend foreign visitors.  How thoughtful of them.   [:)]

 

[Richard-R]

Don't expect to see many crowd shots, they (China) are not letting many overseas vistors in, in case they hold 'Free Tibet' banners. The games will be a farce, with crowds of 'volunteers' forced at gun point to cheer for the cameras. I would imagine this will have sone effect on those taking part, so will make for a rather dull and controlled games.

[Pierre ZFP]

What we'll get is track and field for 79% of the time, 20% swimming and 1% 'Other' which is a pity for me as I know someone who will be in the British Tir a l'Arc team but I'll never see him on the telly (unless he wins a gong that is)

[dr orloff]

Given that complete rubbish like Eastenders and Coronation Street occupies virtually every night of the TV schedules why do people moan when a bit of sport comes on?

[Cat]

Are people moaning about sport on TV?  I thought they were expressing a lack of enthusiasm for the Olympics, I'm fed up with them already and they haven't even started yet!

I know a lot of people love sport,  I like a few of them myself,  it's just that nowadays they seem to be less and less about the sport and players and more and more about how a win reflects some kind of golden glow upwards towards the sponsors or country.  Aren't the Olympics now just a very, very expensive way for the host country to shout "LOOK AT US"?

I saw a report recently that China were only given the Olympics as a way of forcing them to clean up their act, that the hundreds of reporters and TV crews would show China in a light that couldn't be pre-focused or edited.  The reporters sans frontieres group that kicked up all the stick about the Olympic flame and Tibetan rights are expressly forbidden to attend, of course.

 

[Clair]

[quote user="dr orloff"]Given that complete rubbish like Eastenders and Coronation Street occupies virtually every night of the TV schedules why do people moan when a bit of sport comes on?[/quote]

I manage to avoid programs I am not interested in, but this is going to be on morning, noon and night...

[Cat]

And even if we carefully schedule our viewing habits to avoid the Olympics, the news will still be full of it, and adverts will all find a way to link themselves to it. 

A bit like Christmas, bah humbug.  Except that for one or two days each year, I quite like Christmas.

[Just Katie]

Well I am quite looking forward to it.  I am still struggling a bit with French an it will be the only TV I will understand.   Apart from Le Quartiem Duel (something like that).  Keeps me on the edge of my seat that.  Seriously

[AnOther]

Exactly so Claire, and to you Katie, there you go with the male stereo typing [:(]

No, I most emphatically will not "stop dah dee dah ing when the female aussie volleyball squad are strutting their stuff", I'm not quite that shallow [kiss]

 

[Cat]

To turn the fingers-in-ears-dah-dee-dah-ing-around question on its head, how many people who might normally have a vague/wooly interest in the Olympics have decided not to watch it this year because of the host country?  Assuming of course that the air pollution doesn't put a stop to events anyway.

[Just Katie]

[quote user="ErnieY"]

Exactly so Claire, and to you Katie, there you go with the male stereo typing [:(]

No, I most emphatically will not "stop dah dee dah ing when the female aussie volleyball squad are strutting their stuff", I'm not quite that shallow [kiss]

 

[/quote]

I wish all men were like you Ernie [:D]

What you doing next Saturday

[dr orloff]

It's a once in every four years showcase for many, many 'minor' sports besides athletics that otherwise are given very little exposure on TV.  What are you going to miss on TV for a fortnight that makes you so frustrated? 

I think it has always been about the host country showing off, likewise the importance of the medal tables.  But I don't think either has become more and more important.  In fact I think quite the contrary.  I don't think the 1936 games will ever be surpassed as an attempt to show off.  And medals are spread wider now than, for example, when East German athletes won most of them.  And I don't think you can accuse the BBC of much of a national bias in their coverage - they're very good with their coverage of other nationalities.

The Olympics will always be used for political ends and it will always have its controversies, but for every Ben Johnson there are hundreds and hundreds more who fulfil lifelong ambitions just to compete in something they love doing.  There are a lot worse ambitions to have and there is a lot less worthwhile to watch on telly.

[Clair]

[quote user="dr orloff"]What are you going to miss on TV for a fortnight that makes you so frustrated? [/quote]

Choice.

[Cat]

But what price glory, and how much should someone sacrifice to win?

I watched a report a couple of weeks ago about the selection and training of young Chinese athletes.  Children were selected by government officials at the age of 5 to go into special schools to train for future Olympic games.  They are removed from their parents, train for many hours each day, and are pushed well past their limits. They train for far more hours each day than are allowed in Europe.  The parents, it has to be said, were mostly in complete agreement with the arrangements.

The report showed pitiful shots of very young children crying in pain and frustration during training sessions due to the demands of their sport coaches, but when interviewed every child said that they were proud to suffer for the glory of China.

A week later I watched a documentary on Kamikaze pilots, the sentiments expressed seemed to be broadly similar.

 

[AnOther]

[quote user="Just Katie"]

I wish all men were like you Ernie [:D]

What you doing next Saturday

[/quote]Being miserable offshore, perhaps another time, I'll have to clear it with 'er indoors of course [:D]

 

[AnOther]

[quote user="dr orloff"]

It's a once in every four years showcase for many, many 'minor' sports besides athletics that otherwise are given very little exposure on TV.[/quote]Oh yippee, Olympic Tiddlywinks and Darts [6]

Seriously though whilst I am totally and utterly disinterested in sport I do feel that in terms of the Olympics it should be about individual achievement and that team events have no place there. Olympic football for God's sake, what's that all about as if there weren't more than enough of that going on worldwide seemingly year round [+o(]

I see that Tennis is there too, err didn't we just have some minor event to establish who's the best in that particular pass time ?

 

 

[Gastines]

It seems to be a purely political eexercise for China.Given their veto on UN's rather weak sanctions of Mugabe and cohorts, their supply of arms and support for Sudan's Despot, the control over their own peoples, I don't think I'll bother. A few months after I wonder who will remenber who won what? Win one race and be Knighted perhaps? Get to oversee the London Olympics with a no-limit budget,an overnight celebrity to appear on .or eventually have,a chat show,Perhaps the original meaning of Sport has lost it's way somewhat?

Regards.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="dr orloff"]

It's a once in every four years showcase for many, many 'minor' sports besides athletics that otherwise are given very little exposure on TV. 

[/quote]

I am willing to bet that you will not see the 'underwater synchronised basket-weaving' no matter how many minor sports are shown. [:(]

[Clair]

I'll make a point of watching under-water table tennis if someone can post the viewing times.

[powerdesal]

I believe it conflicts with the Ladies team rice paddy planting so its a real choice there. I think Korea are in with a chance this time, unless Vietnam can really come from behind.