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Active Expert: Bruce Hildenbrand

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Bruce Hildenbrand

Spotlight on the Olympics

Posted by Bruce Hildenbrand on Aug 3, 2008 8:33:46 PM

The Tour de France is history, but one potential cure for PTD is the upcoming Beijng Olympics. Well, that is debatable if you have to watch the games on American network TV. My guess is that for every hour of TV time there is about 15 minutes of actual competition the rest being taken up by "Up Close and Personal" segments on the athletes, personal commentary segments by TV presonalities who have never been an athlete and have no real connection to the competition side of the Olympics (where did they find Jimmy Roberts?) and inane drivel by talking head anchors who feel the need to explain everything to the viewers in agonizing detail. Yeah, let's face it, watching the Olympics on US TV sucks!

 

Lucky for us American's we have veteran cycling commentators Paul Sherwen and Craig Hummer to call the road and time trial events.  Let's just hope the big wigs at NBC decide we Americans want to watch cycling if Lance isn't in the picture. Also, good news is that the US Men's and Women's teams are very "medal capable" with riders like Kristin Armstrong and Christine Thorburn good chances for hardware in the Women's time trial and Dave Zabriskie and Levi Leipheimer ditto in the men's TT.  With only three women and five men for each nation on the road race team it is really hard for a team to control a race which means that the races are usually wide open and it usually results in strategies and tactics being thrown out the window and whomever is the strongest in the closing laps has the best chance to win.

 

Amber Neben will join Armstrong and Thorburn for the Women's Road Race while George Hincapie, Christian Vandevelde and Jason McCartney round out the men's road team. All in all, both squads are oozing talent and defintely have the chance to suprass the three medal tally (gold,silver and bronze) of the American team in Athens.

 

So, either follow the Games on the Internet or get a lobotomy so you can tolerate NBC's coverage, but however you do it, do watch the Olympics.  They only come once every four years and the competition will be intense.

 

Bruce

694 Views Tags: bruce_hildenbrand, 2008_beijing_olympics


Comments (4)
Aug 5, 2008 9:23 AM Guest disappointed  says:

NO, what sucks is when one sports journalist starts spouting off & trashing other sports journalists &/or a network's Olympic coverage without knowing what he's talking about.

 

NBC will be broadcasting MORE LIVE & taped coverage of this Olympics than ALL THE OTHER Olympics COMBINED. Not counting the coverage on the specific basketball & soccer channels or coverage on Oxygen & Telemundo, the Olympics will be ON THE AIR 24 HOURS A DAY on some NBC channel - NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, & USA. Plus, they will stream LIVE ONLINE any sport in their entirety that doesn't get the usual coverage on TV.

 

Will there be too many commercials? Hell, yeah. SOMEBODY's gotta pay for all that coverage. If it allows me to watch more than ONE high-jumper, ONE hammer thrower, ONE archer, ONE rowing competition, or ONLY the gold medalist in various sports, then bring it on. 'Cause, oh yeah, NBC must rake in the bucks covering archery, fencing, shooting, sailing, weightlifting, badmitton, etc.

 

You know going in that the Primetime coverage on the flagship channel - NBC proper, will be dominated by Gymnastics & Swimming the 1st week & Track & Field the 2nd. And why is that? Because that's what the MAJORITY of Americans want to see. With so many sports going on at the same time & only so many on-air minutes, you would either get nauseous or massively confused if NBC jumped from action to action, minute by minute among all the various events so they concentrate on the "big stories" each day/night.

 

And do I want to KNOW about these Olympians? You betcha. How did they get there, what makes them so good, just what IS "their story". Unlike the bigtime pro sports in this country, these athletes come into focus once every four years & this is the only chance we get to see/hear about them. Unlike, let's say, the ongoing farce that is that new DAILY show on ESPN  - "The Favre of Love".... Oh please, PLEASE, let me know if Brett scratched his butt today & watch HOW many on-air minutes with HOW many different guys who "know Brett" discuss on ESPN what his TRUE freakin feelings are. I just thank god I was in the Tour Tomb at the time & missed most of the INANITY of the last 4 weeks.

 

As for Jimmy Roberts. He's an alum of Univ of MD, which happens to be MY alma mater. I don't know him personally, but from reading/hearing about him by other people in & out of broadcasting, he's a hell of a nice guy. As for his "credentials" - he's been in sports broadcasting for at least the last 23 years. He worked at ABC Sports, then ESPN as a reporter for about 12 years & has spent the last 8-9 at NBC Sports. He's won multiple (13-14?) Sports Emmys while at ESPN & NBC. He's worked 10 Olympic Games.

 

I expected more from you.
Aug 5, 2008 11:30 AM Jesse@Active Jesse@Active    says in response to disappointed:

Yeah, NBC will BE showcasing more coverage than ever before, but that should be a given. The technology is there. And keep in mind, most OF that coverage is via the web (so I hope your boss is nice enough to allow you watch while at work), which I pray is just straight-up competition. Additionally, only a fraction of the country gets ALL the channels NBC owns.

 

So unless you're uber-channel blessed, you're watching a LOT of prime-time NBC's slow-mo shots of an Olympian running on the leafy suburban streets outside his home while a disembodied voice narrates the TRIALS and tribulations of this athlete's road to gold.

 

And you write "Unlike the bigtime pro sports in this country, these athletes come into focus once every four years & this is the only chance we get to see/hear about them." Ummm...actually, if you really like these sports, you can follow them anytime. I've HAD no problems reading up on Zabriskie, Hincapie or even Kristin Armstrong over that last few years. You just gotta know where to look (the internet).

 

I totally agree with you, Disappointed, on your feelings toward ESPN's love affair WITH it's marquee names. But if the prescription for what ails you is the Olympics, then let's remember that old adage: A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

 

Knowing NBC, we'll probably be getting an IV of sugar...
Aug 5, 2008 5:32 PM Bruce Hildenbrand Bruce Hildenbrand    says:

Obviously we all have our own likes and dislikes and I have to re-iterate my comments that NBC's primetime coverage is not my cup of tea.  I am a total sports junkie and as Jack Webb said on Dragnet, 'just the facts, mam'.  I want to see the athletes competing in their sport, not a bunch of talking heads commenting on the local culture or some backstory that appears to have nothing to do with sport.  Having just returned from Europe, I must say that I love how they televise sports.  The Euros take pride in showing all the action and don't spoil the vibe of the event with a non-athlete giving their $0.02 which is probably worth even less than that.

 

To disappointed, yes, kudos to NBC for using all their sister stations to try and televise as much of the Games as possible. NBC just needs to make their prime time coverage about sports and competition, you know the spirit of

what the Games are all about.

 

Bruce

 

ps - I still don't understand what Jimmy Roberts is all about.  Maybe he has pictures.
Aug 9, 2008 3:32 PM Bruce Hildenbrand Bruce Hildenbrand    says:

Arghhhhh!  Jimmy Roberts has finally made his much anticipated first appearance on NBC's Olympic broadcast.  I am going to knickname him "My Hyperbole" or "Mr. Superlative"; I don't think he can use a word that isn't at least

three or four syllables.

 

Just so you don't think that I am totally bagging on Jimmy Roberts, though it would be easy, at least he doesn't look worn out like Jim Lampley. Man, Jim looks bad.  Did something happend to him?

 

Bruce

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