SF Chron writer gives NBC a B-minus

[gh]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 01&sc=1000

Of particular interest to many here is this comment

<<..-- Whatever extra advertising money NBC made by tape-delaying West Coast events in prime time, the network will never get away with the same trick four years from now, when all the tech geeks who found a way to watch pirated international broadcasts tell the rest of us how they did it. Don't do that again...>>

[Marlow]

Re: SF Chron writer gives NBC a B-minus

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/25/SPV612HOBT.DTL&hw=Hartlaub&sn=001&sc=1000

Of particular interest to many here is this comment

<<..-- Whatever extra advertising money NBC made by tape-delaying West Coast events in prime time, the network will never get away with the same trick four years from now, when all the tech geeks who found a way to watch pirated international broadcasts tell the rest of us how they did it. Don't do that again...>>

bingo - I will have figured out how to mask my IP as being American, so I get get any other country's live webcast, and I won't feel the least bit guilty for this piracy!

[az2004]

if nbc hadda live streamed ALL events like the did for the vast majority of events, then i'd give them an A+...

on nbcolympics.com i watched 95% of the cycling and soccer and watched a couple events multiple times...

but for track and field, they dissed the sport in my eyes....

hardcor fans would have watched the t&f on-line leaving 98% of the rest of the audience to see they're propanda approach to the olympics...

cheer, cheer for the home team...

personally, i wanna see the event..

swimming and gynmastics clearly have replaced t&f...

t&f could become like boxing....NO one cares and no one watches any more...

for me NBC gets a D+....

[CrunchTime]

if nbc hadda live streamed ALL events like the did for the vast majority of events, then i'd give them an A+...

on nbcolympics.com i watched 95% of the cycling and soccer and watched a couple events multiple times...

but for track and field, they dissed the sport in my eyes....

hardcor fans would have watched the t&f on-line leaving 98% of the rest of the audience to see they're propanda approach to the olympics...

cheer, cheer for the home team...

personally, i wanna see the event..

swimming and gynmastics clearly have replaced t&f...

t&f could become like boxing....NO one cares and no one watches any more...

for me NBC gets a D+....

The drug issue has really hurt T&F, but it will not likely slip as low as boxing...the officiating there has hit an ALLTIME LOW...virtually every country but China had world-class boxers who were blatantly ripped off with horrendous decisions!! As a major pro boxing fan, I predict 2008 will be remembered as the year when boxing at the OG became a total political-based joke and the traditional dream of a young boxer riding an Olympic medal to pro glory officially died a painful death!! ops:

[Kevin Richardson]

This would be another example of grade inflation in the USA. :?

[Paul Henry]

if nbc hadda live streamed ALL events like the did for the vast majority of events, then i'd give them an A+...

on nbcolympics.com i watched 95% of the cycling and soccer and watched a couple events multiple times...

but for track and field, they dissed the sport in my eyes....

hardcor fans would have watched the t&f on-line leaving 98% of the rest of the audience to see they're propanda approach to the olympics...

cheer, cheer for the home team...

personally, i wanna see the event..

swimming and gynmastics clearly have replaced t&f...

t&f could become like boxing....NO one cares and no one watches any more...

for me NBC gets a D+....

my sentiments exactly!!!

[einnod23]

Agreed on boxing. Track may have had drug issues with its star sprinters, but boxing's corruption (going back to Seol '88) plus lack of American talent put that sport in the dumps!

[Davidokun]

This would be another example of grade inflation in the USA. :?

Off-topic, but since you brought it up: The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation

[bad hammy]

And of course one irony here is that if they had put the T&F on live for us track junkies and then replayed them during the evening broadcasts, it wouldn't have changed their ratings one iota. We T&F junkies are so small in number that we would go unnoticed either way in their ratings.

[az2004]

bad hammy has it exactly right...

the ratings would NOT have changed at all..

add in the OTHER SPORTS were streamed LIVE and mad available for replay too...

ALL the soccer matches...the road cycling and time trials...

i don't get why NBC treated t&f in this fashion...

at best, t&f is their 3rd sport behind swimming and gymnastics....

nbc had pull with the chinese...in 2012...ah, the brits, well bbc will drive that engine..

i would have paid to see the t&f streamed LIVE...

if it's a question of money?? i doubt that...

[Daisy]

i would have paid to see the t&f streamed LIVE...

if it's a question of money?? i doubt that...

Has NBC given an official reason for not showing the live stream of track and field? It seems strange they would do it for all the other events that do not get prime time coverage but not track and field.

[cladthin]

I've posted this before but I still find it curious that NBC lists track and field on their site as one of the top five sports(basketball, beach volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, t & f). I wonder if any of their other "top" sports recieved such "top" sport coverage. Their treatment of the sport via inadequate coverage does not indicate any "top" sport status from what I can see.

When you are showing taped finals to one coast(east) at close to 2 am, why can't you show the same live at 6-10 am earlier the previous day? Somehow, they think that time is better? The track people might just watch watch it twice(live and taped) and the casual or general olympics fan can still watch it later when shown in prime time or during the ever popular 12:30 to 2 am slot. If they were smart(so............. never mind) they could cater their top sports multiple times to those fans. Of course that seemed to be the case with swimming(not just the Phelps races either) and gymnastics but not track.

With the entire NBC family of networks, it was a pitiful performance on their part. Hey NBC, you missed a great track meet! Being told that the total coverage was going to surpass any Olympics before Beijing, I know many expected much, much better.

I'm not so sure if those other sports have replaced track and field so much as NBC has replaced track and field with swimming and gymnastics as the most popular. In the end, I suppose it's the same result.

I have to repeat what so many have said before, bring back the triple-cast.

I'm unsure but has NBC ever released any statement on that coverage not being cost effective for them or something similar?

[Bauchwalzer]

Olympic coverage

if nbc hadda live streamed ALL events like the did for the vast majority of events, then i'd give them an A+...

on nbcolympics.com i watched 95% of the cycling and soccer and watched a couple events multiple times...

but for track and field, they dissed the sport in my eyes....

hardcor fans would have watched the t&f on-line leaving 98% of the rest of the audience to see they're propanda approach to the olympics...

cheer, cheer for the home team...

personally, i wanna see the event..



swimming and gynmastics clearly have replaced t&f...

t&f could become like boxing....NO one cares and no one watches any more...

for me NBC gets a D+....

Swimming and gymnastics clearly have replaced t&f? I agree. What is one distinct relation that those sports have? They hold world championships every year. I think, right? It's (past) time that T&F has world chapionships every year. Every four years I was down with but every two has never made any sense. Especially if, in the non-years, there isn't a global championshp of some sort. Or even, worst-case scenario, there was at least one big meet a year even if it wasn't open to all.
Currently: OG '08, WC '09, EC and BC '10, WC '11, OG '12
Best: OG '08, WC '09, WC '10, WC '11, OG '12
2nd BEST OG '08, WC '09, EC (or) BC '10, BC (or EC) '11, OG '12...this puts back the WC to every four years, enables the EC/BC athletes a much better opportunity to peak for both Games and there would be the attendant spike in promotion and participation for each of those meetings
3rd BEST OG '08, WC '09, EC and BC '10, World Cup '11, OG '12...this puts back the WC to every four years and means a World Cup (all finals!) that is very lucrative to athletes and promoters/sponsors alike
T&F has got to get real. Bruce Jenner was on the cover of Wheaties. Do you think Bryan Clay is going to be on the cover? T&F lost the plot. They didn't grow or their popularity. And here in America, when track became professional, we got left in the dust. T&F needs Steve Jobs to be CEO. T&F is a great sport. Market and promote this great product. A world championship every year (except an Olympic year) would be a step in the right direction.

[Bauchwalzer]

SF Chron gives NBC B minus

To amend my best case for a world championship every (non OG) year, on reflection, it would read:
OG '08, WC and World Cup '09, WC and EC (or BC) '10, WC and BC (or EC) '11, OG '12...this format would not force the athletes - for '10 to train any differently then they would under the current format. The meets would change from the EC and the BC to the EC (or BC) and the worlds. As in '09 and in '11, athletes would have two big opportunities each (non OG) year. They could be spread apart enough to allow athletes to peak twice. Or get over injuries. Didn't make the team for the first one? You've got another chance. Made one team but not the other? There's always next year, with the WC to, of course, be the culmination.