It’s all the buzz in our office. Everywhere you look there’s something about medals here, a better-than-expected opening ceremony there, some athlete getting roasted on social media everywhere.
It’s the bloody Olympics.
I used to genuinely enjoy the Olympics when I was younger, because it was the one time my not-sports-mad-family was happy to let me binge watch television to my heart’s content. But as I grew up with the Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Games, as well as the less interesting Winter versions, I grew frustrated with the broadcast coverage.
Why, I wondered, couldn’t I just watch the sports I was interested in?
It’s the problem I have with a lot of sports today. If there’s an interesting Premier League game I want to watch, it’s not always available. If I want to pay for a cable TV sports channel in Australia, I’ll generally have to pay for a package with a bunch of other crap that I have no interest in watching. And that’s always my beef with the Olympics: there’s too much of the sports that I’m well and truly tired of — like diving or equestrian — and not enough of the cool sports.
I don’t mind the way everyone bands together; that’s a lot of fun. I just wish I had more control over the coverage. Bring on the streaming Olympics.
What about yourselves?
Comments
15 responses to “Off Topic: Olympics”
Could not give a stuff at all.
Thankfully it’s on channel 7 and not clogging up my foxtel sports channels so i have zero need to even glimpse it when I skip past the channel.
Don’t get me wrong, I love sport – but the rampant cheating and drug abuse inherent in the Olympics has turned me right off.
Can’t wait for it to be over as it means we’re a few weeks closer to the AFL and NRL Finals, the A-League start, and the commencement of the NFL season.
Not to mention the corruption, surely it had to be the only reason Rio got the olympics in the first place.
They’re terrible. Basic button mashing games. And how is Sonic vsing Mario in a running race even a fair contest?
Few people (with the possible exception of the AOC) could have as much Olympic buzz going on as my workplace.
I don’t care for the Olympics so it’s a nightmare for me.
But to each their own.
Women’s sports seem to get a lot more TV coverage during the Olympics than during any other time, which I think is great.
while i agree its great seeing so many quality womens sports, i still laugh at the womens beach volley ball ‘official uniforms’ however….
meh
I feel bad that I don’t care about the Olympics. These people worked hard and aspired their whole lives to be given a shot at glory, and I’m sitting here playing video games. I mean I don’t follow sports ever but I used to make an exception for the Olympics. Not this year, apparently. :/
Ah. Maybe don’t feel too bad. The Olympics are more a prestige thing, really, rather than their chance to do their best ever.
When you take a look at the records or know folks in that arena, you find out that a lot of athletes (swimmers, for example) put more stock in the times they achieve than the venue. Most of our swim teams’ records have been in Australian pools or World Championships. Only a few get a record at the Olympics.
Also, you’re getting older and you’ve probably been exposed more of the… less reputable side of what goes into the event, and gained an awareness of the sometimes tragic consequences for already-disadvantaged communities who’ve come out of hosting the games worse than they started. That kind of knowledge could well tarnish some of the shine you started out with when colouring-in Olympic logo rings in school. 😀
Man when I was a kid in 1996 and 2000 (especially since I live in Sydney) the Olympics seemed like the most amazing thing ever! Now I’m old and cynical and I’m just waiting until all the top athletes get caught cheating. :/
I sorta agree Alex, usually I am more interested in an actual event to view, however aussie channels being aussie channels, unless there is an aussie involved in the event and expected to do well, they pretty much don’t bother showing the event at all. Quite infuriating.
Yes! This morning the basketball was on. USA and Venezuela! They stopped half way through because Australia was playing rugby. They have four channels broadcasting,stop bloody Sunrise instead!
I used to live the Olympics but i have a few issues that are dragging it down for me.
1. I have limited time these days so when i turn on channel seven in the morning i don’t want to see Kochie talking about Britney Spears new single causing controversy.
2. That social Media show they are putting on in the evening passes me off. Just show the sport not what Obama sent to the athletes.
3. Ads ads ads ads ads
4. Too much downplaying of drugs. It seems endemic and the Olympics don’t want to be too harsh on itwhen it could impact on their media distribution money.
Thank you for your time. Rant over.
Love the Olympics but the channel seven coverage is so appalling, it has made me given up already. Tune in on first night to watch mens road bike race in HD, decided to tape the rest, started to watch the next day and half way through the broadcast they changed the channel, so missed it. Fired up the app which I got free from telstra and the broadcast was absolutely shocking quality. I would say its SD but even that would just be being nice.
For all Foxtels flaws normally its coverage of London 2012 was amazing. Worth every penny. I gladly pay a premium price if it means I get premium service and quality and consistency. (even funnier given its Foxtel I am talking about) but at least they have the infrastructure and experience to deal with something like this.
I can agree Alex, not getting to have control over what you get to watch through the 7 coverage sucks, leading up to the Olympics i had no care in the world for them (i was hoping they would be cancelled) but now they are underway i am enjoying it. Even more so now that someone has found and shared the direct links to the event broadcasts (minus commentating) so i can stream all of the events without needing the app. Although i feel a bit crap as i spent the $20 for the premium and it is not up to standard.