'04 Olympics over....

[tucker rocky]

....pass the torch...to Beijing,China...
where more controversy and scandals await.

[albionmoonlight]

Something tells me you won't have vandals in brightly colored garb getting to the event floors in China.

Actally, Mrs. A and I were talking this morning about how the Bejing olympics may be the best chance we have to go to a part of the world that we might not otherwise visit. We'll be looking pretty seriously about taking the trip in four years.

[JeffNights]

Yeah something tells me you wont have any hooligans eithier..

ALTHOUGH,i PRAY that the golden palace casino guy that dived into the pool during competitions attempts that again.
he'll be rotting in a chinese hell for a long time.

and ya know another thing that pissed me of about that guy...during his arraignment he todl the greece court that he was sorry but he didnt think it was that big of a deal or a threat. WTF i hate this attitude. if i was security at the pool i woulda drowned his casino ass.

ARGHHHHHHH

[Sharpieman]

Finally its over, now we can watch REAL sports.

[tucker rocky]

Finally its over, now we can watch REAL sports.
...Nance and Brando.
...Madden and Micheals.
...and other assorted broadcasters. :D

[Daimyo]

My wife's parents live within walking distance of the Bejing Olympics site, so I'll almost assuredly be going to my first Olympics in 2008. I think a lot of people will be amazed... they're been working hard on the infrastructure since 2000. They've already built several new highways and one subway line with something like 10 (!?!) more subway lines in the works.

[bbor]

What am i gonna watch at 3 AM now? :(

[cthomer5000]

hooray!

[SirFozzie]

we need an olympic channel, with all the sports that we don't see during off-Olympic years.

Like handball.

Watched most of the women's handball final. Wow.. that needs to be a US Sport

[tucker rocky]

handball?
is it like squash, only without the racket?

[tucker rocky]

Athens is taking its last toke on the ju-bu weed (flame).

[SirFozzie]

No.. Team handball.. a mix of basketball, hockey, and soccer.

[tucker rocky]

Athens is taking its last toke on the ju-bu weed (flame).

Done!
The flame is out in Athens.

[tucker rocky]

No.. Team handball.. a mix of basketball, hockey, and soccer.
Ah haa, I see, I'll need to read up on this sport.
They need to show more of this sport for us that don't know what it is.
That combination of sports really sounds interesting to watch.

[SirFozzie]

Basically.. each team has six players and a goalie on the court. you're allowed to take 3 steps with the ball (about the size of a grapefruit, or a kids soccer ball), before you dribble, Pass or shoot, and you can take three steps for each dribble.. you'll see a lot of the weave, it's a very fast moving game.

there is a line 6 meteres around the goal, the only player allowed in that area is a goalie.., you can launch yourself from outside that area, and throw before you hit the ground..

Scores are usually in the 20's..

[SunDancer]

Handball is pretty popolur in HS physical ed classes.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Missed Handball for the 3rd Olympics in a row.....Oh well there's always 2008.

[EagleFan]

Finally its over, now we can watch REAL sports.


?????????????

Was there some law the prohibited you from putting on ESPN and watching something other than the olympics. Just what sports do NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo televise that were pre-empted by their coverage of the olympics?

[Northwood_DK]

Missed Handball for the 3rd Olympics in a row.....Oh well there's always 2008.

And Denmark won gold in handball for the 3rd Olympics in a row. :)

[MrBug708]

Finally its over, now we can watch REAL sports.

US Track or Barry Bonds? Both are Dopers :p

[sterlingice]

we need an olympic channel, with all the sports that we don't see during off-Olympic years.

Like handball.

Watched most of the women's handball final. Wow.. that needs to be a US Sport
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=597&e=2&u=/nm/20040829/tv_nm/television_reporter_dc

Cable Could Keep NBC's Olympic Torch Burning

Sun Aug 29, 5:37 PM ET
By Andrew Wallenstein

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - U.S. swimming sensation Michael Phelps (news - web sites) may have come up short of seven gold medals, but NBC Universal exceeded its own Olympic expectations. Nearly a week before the 2004 games ended, the company's broadcast and cable outlets had already outdrawn the total audience tuning in four years ago.

Now the curtains may fall on another NBC Universal enterprise: cable network Trio, whose owners have set a summer deadline on deciding whether to turn it into an altogether different channel. Considering this potential confluence of closures, it's tempting to hypothesize NBC Universal wanted to gauge if there was sufficient Olympic interest to warrant converting Trio into a permanent Olympics-themed channel.

After Sunday's closing ceremonies, the Olympics will be fini at NBC Universal until Torino, Italy, hosts the 2006 Winter Games. But why? If NBC can draw a "Friends"-sized audience 16 nights in a row, it would stand to reason that a digital cable channel could draw the fraction of that viewership necessary to please distributors and advertisers.

Contrary to their public profile for most of the year, the athletes don't hibernate between Olympics. They compete in countless meets and trials all over the globe that get little televised exposure. Couple that coverage with archival footage of past Olympic highlights, and you would have more than enough programing; winter and summer sports could conceivably enjoy separate channels.

Keeping the torch burning on cable certainly seems to be in the best interests of TV rights holders U.S. Olympic Committee and NBC Universal, which paid well above $5 billion to sew up the rights to every Olympics through 2012. A cable channel that would provide a second window for year-round Olympic footage would also help amortize the hefty production costs.

The Olympics have always been a curious media phenomenon, commanding top ratings for two weeks every two years but then fading into total obscurity. Allowing Olympic fever to dissipate runs counter to basic programing strategy: milk a hit by any means necessary.

A low-profile platform like a digital cable channel also saves millions of the marketing dollars that go toward providing viewers with a biannual reminder of who these athletes are. This might allow the public's memory of the athlete adorning the Wheaties box to have a longer shelf life than the cereal inside.

True, it is logical to suggest that the very elusiveness of the Olympics supplies its mystique. But NBC Universal Sports paladin Dick Ebersol should look to the example set by his former XFL (news - web sites) business partner, WWE impresario Vince McMahon: Having weekly wrestling showcases on broadcast and cable not only doesn't cannibalize annual specials like Wrestlemania, they actually cross-promote each other. Surely the company that juggles "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" from Bravo to NBC can appreciate that.

In its current incarnation, NBC Universal's Olympics strategy is akin to airing the World Series (news - web sites) without bothering to show the 162 games comprising baseball's regular season. And wouldn't you know it: Major League Baseball just announced plans for a digital cable channel of its own, following the lead of the NFL, NBA and NHL.

With all due respect to its carriage of arena football, NBC Universal lacks an exclusive marquee sports property. Like pro baseball, maybe it's time NBC Universal steps up to the plate.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[SirFozzie]

Gee, I'm good :D

I always wish ABC/Disney would win an Olympics (I think NBC has the next seven or eight already under congract), so the ESPN networks would go all gillolly.. but NBC needs it.. compared to the other Big Four Networks..

[Honolulu_Blue]

I'll miss the Olympics. I'll definitely be going through some withdrawl tonight. Being in Europe there was no issue with the time difference and it was nice to come home every night, have some dinner, and watch a few hours of Olympic sports. The coverage was decent and I had a choice between BBC, a Dutch station, and a French station. So there was always something going on.

I feel bad for basically ignoring the first week. Oh well.

[Ksyrup]

Thank the Lord! Let's get back to the stuff that counts.

[MIJB#19]

I'll miss the Olympics. I'll definitely be going through some withdrawl tonight. Being in Europe there was no issue with the time difference and it was nice to come home every night, have some dinner, and watch a few hours of Olympic sports. The coverage was decent and I had a choice between BBC, a Dutch station, and a French station. So there was always something going on.

I feel bad for basically ignoring the first week. Oh well.I guess you've had your share of watching Dutchmen coming short of winning gold, except the four 2000 gold medals winners who repeated.

Out of curiousity, how has that Dutch-Belgian Sporza channel worked out, or are you French-Belgian oriented?

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Yeah, I will go through a little Olympic withrawals until ND V. Michigan.

[sterlingice]

Gee, I'm good :D

I always wish ABC/Disney would win an Olympics (I think NBC has the next seven or eight already under congract), so the ESPN networks would go all gillolly.. but NBC needs it.. compared to the other Big Four Networks..
Need or want or whatever, I just think NBC did miles better this time around than whoever had it in 2000 and I think it was ABC. There were far less useless vignettes. They picked the right sports to tape delay, for the most part (tho, there was entirely too much primetime gymnastics but that's how it will always be because they are trying to attract a female demographic... blech). I didn't even get the other stations due to the whole NBC cable snafu and just the stuff on NBC was good enough for me. The daytime coverage was the best: you got a smattering of live stuff and some of the more interesting, off-the-beaten-path taped stuff.

SI

[sterlingice]

Thank the Lord! Let's get back to the stuff that counts.
Was there something on ESPN preventing you from WSoP or lumber sports on ESPN2 or whatever the hell they show on Fox Sports these days? Or were you missing NBC's weekday prime time reruns from last season?

SI

[rkmsuf]

Was there something on ESPN preventing you from WSoP or lumber sports on ESPN2 or whatever the hell they show on Fox Sports these days? Or were you missing NBC's weekday prime time reruns from last season?

SI


I think he's a big fan of "lumber" sports.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I guess you've had your share of watching Dutchmen coming short of winning gold, except the four 2000 gold medals winners who repeated.

Out of curiousity, how has that Dutch-Belgian Sporza channel worked out, or are you French-Belgian oriented?

I did watch some Sporza coverage. It was good! I'm actually American. Just living in Belgium. I speak neither the Dutch nor the French. Though I basically watch Dutch TV (VT4) because they subtitle everything. The Dutch coverage was what I expected from the Dutch: economic and straight to the point. They showed almost everything live (BBC had some tape delays going on). It was good coverage. Poor Dutch and the field hockey. Twice in two nights field hockey silver was cleaned by Dutch tears...

[MIJB#19]

I did watch some Sporza coverage. It was good! I'm actually American. Just living in Belgium. I speak neither the Dutch nor the French. Though I basically watch Dutch TV (VT4) because they subtitle everything. The Dutch coverage was what I expected from the Dutch: economic and straight to the point. They showed almost everything live (BBC had some tape delays going on). It was good coverage. Poor Dutch and the field hockey. Twice in two nights field hockey silver was cleaned by Dutch tears...Yes, I knew already you are American and hardly speak Dutch or French, but still I figured you could tell me what I missed this summer. The Duthc-Belgians decided to create a sports channel for the Euro2004, Le Tour and Olympics: Sporza, which ment they canned it from TV1 and Canvas, the only Belgina channels on the cable here. Usually the Dutch-Belgian sports coverage approach attracts me more, especially during Le Tour, I truely missed it this past July.

It's a common fact that the Dutch and Dutch-Belgian TV channel subtitle all foreign shows, which makes it easy for English speaking people to get accustomed to living here or there (in Belgian case) yet it doesn't help you to force to learn the language. :)

But following the Dutch (NOS) coverage, it does mean you were stuck withthe Dutch representation 9 out of 10 times. Dunno if you're a baseball fan, but that team was hardly (as they deserved) shown. Basketball was hardly shown, I had to switch to the Germans or Spanish for it.

Economic and straight to the point, I think some other IHOF owners would agree I am a true Dutchman. :D

The field hockey tears are those of bad losers. We deserved to lose, the arrogance of how we could just get in there and show the world how good we are in hockey, we were taught a good lesson. My personal heroes were the 4 x 100 relay men, who sadly scored a DNS after missing the last hand over. And the disappointment of the (beach) volleyball teams come to mind. There was only one true highlight, Pieter VDH's gold medal in the 100m freestyle.

[stevew]

Im just happy that both passions and days of our lives are back on.

[Glengoyne]

we need an olympic channel, with all the sports that we don't see during off-Olympic years.

Like handball.

Watched most of the women's handball final. Wow.. that needs to be a US Sport
I agree. I'd much rather see team handball, than the sailing events for example. I have been a fan of Team Handball since we actually started playing it at my Highschool out of football season. The problem is for most Olympics, it isn't even covered. This year I found myself up at 1:30 am watching a match.

For the Atlanta games, USA team handball tried to get Michael Jordan on the team, to draw attention.

[MrBug708]

Im just happy that both passions and days of our lives are back on.

Amen to Days

[sterlingice]

Im just happy that both passions and days of our lives are back on.
...http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/confused.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/confused.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/frown.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/frown.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/eek.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/eek.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gifhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/images/smilies/mad.gif

GET. OUT.

SI