Forums · Is the Olympic coverage any better in your country?
Also featuring Resident Evil: Vancouver
As seen (and translated by yours truly) on a blog:
"3 days, 69 hours of TV (including 46 in re-runs and 11 about Alexandre Bilodeau [NDLR: he forgot 8 more hours in video packages for other athletes!]), three hours of sleep and nine more pounds."
"When are we going to see a video package on Alexandre Bilodeau's daily morning pee? It's about the only thing we haven't yet covered about the first ever Canadian to win a gold medal on home soil."
"Speaking of Canadians, why the hell do they become OUR Canadians during the Olympics?"
"And speaking of pee, I'd like an athlete to answer the insipid "How do you feel on the starting line?" or "How do you feel when winning a gold medal?" with "Right now, I have an irresistible urge to go take a piss".
"There are 7 billion people on Earth. Why, when an athlete ranks second among those 7 billions, does Jean Pagé (NDLR: announcer on French-Canadian TV) describe it as a "terrible disappointment"?"
There's more where that came from, but those will just go over everyone's heads.
There's one thing someone answered to that blog entry though, that I'd like to bring up, because it's true:
"I can't stand how they air the same athlete profile 15000 times when there are competitions that are happening right now... I've seen the gold medalist one's 15 times, it's too much, it's an overdose. It's good to see that the snowboard world champion is happy in her everyday life, and that her sister is pregnant, but for me the Olympics are a great occasion to see other countries and not to cut the competition's airing short when there are no Canadians left."
And that's not all! Jean-René Dufort, satirical reporter extraordinaire, has this to say about the excessive patriotism displayed in Vancouver:
I've been in Vancouver for three days, and I'm already in overdose of Canada. Everywhere in the city, Canada explodes in your face. Canada walls, Canada windows, Canada skyscrapers, Canada flags, and also Canada zombies. As if Sheila Copps (NDLR: former Minister of Canadian Heritage) hypnotized everyone in BC for the duration of the Olympics.
They roam the streets of Vancouver with their Canada toque, their Canada scarf, their Canada cape and their Team Canada hockey jersey. Under the maple leaf's cerebral stranglehold, they yell "GO CANADA GO!" to everyone they meet. I'm scared.
I feel the obligation to answer "GO CANADA GO!" immediately with my fist in the air, else the zombies will immediately realize I'm not like them. I imagine them rushing towards me to dismember me while roaring "OOOOO CANADAAAA".
It's even scarier at night, since the zombies drink Molson Canadian. Last night, I went on Hamilton Street, and the zombies came from every direction, stumbling. They yelled "GO CANADA GO!" more aggressively and I had to answer faster so I could go on my way. I'm telling you, it was really dangerous! When they insisted too much, I yelled, "hey look! It's Dany Heatley over there!" and ran away from there.
The Quebecers I encountered were very impressed by this display of canadianity. They yelled "GO CANADA GO!" to everyone they saw by survival instinct. How can you go crazy like that? Are English-Canadians so insecure on the inside that they need to display the opposite on the outside?
When I went to Beijing and Athens, no Chinese and no Greek immolated themselves in their country's flag. Here, I'm afraid it'll happen to me at every corner! Note that I'm not talking about Sydney because Australians were quite the Neandertals in 2000. Maybe it has to do with the Commonwealth. Maybe we should refer to the cavemen's ancestors as the Commonwealthmen?
What's for certain is, if Gilles Duceppe (NDLR: one of the leaders of the Quebec separatist movement) comes by here, he'll have a heart attack. And after three days, he'll yell "GO CANADA GO!" while looking for the airport!
"3 days, 69 hours of TV (including 46 in re-runs and 11 about Alexandre Bilodeau [NDLR: he forgot 8 more hours in video packages for other athletes!]), three hours of sleep and nine more pounds."
"When are we going to see a video package on Alexandre Bilodeau's daily morning pee? It's about the only thing we haven't yet covered about the first ever Canadian to win a gold medal on home soil."
"Speaking of Canadians, why the hell do they become OUR Canadians during the Olympics?"
"And speaking of pee, I'd like an athlete to answer the insipid "How do you feel on the starting line?" or "How do you feel when winning a gold medal?" with "Right now, I have an irresistible urge to go take a piss".
"There are 7 billion people on Earth. Why, when an athlete ranks second among those 7 billions, does Jean Pagé (NDLR: announcer on French-Canadian TV) describe it as a "terrible disappointment"?"
There's more where that came from, but those will just go over everyone's heads.
There's one thing someone answered to that blog entry though, that I'd like to bring up, because it's true:
"I can't stand how they air the same athlete profile 15000 times when there are competitions that are happening right now... I've seen the gold medalist one's 15 times, it's too much, it's an overdose. It's good to see that the snowboard world champion is happy in her everyday life, and that her sister is pregnant, but for me the Olympics are a great occasion to see other countries and not to cut the competition's airing short when there are no Canadians left."
And that's not all! Jean-René Dufort, satirical reporter extraordinaire, has this to say about the excessive patriotism displayed in Vancouver:
I've been in Vancouver for three days, and I'm already in overdose of Canada. Everywhere in the city, Canada explodes in your face. Canada walls, Canada windows, Canada skyscrapers, Canada flags, and also Canada zombies. As if Sheila Copps (NDLR: former Minister of Canadian Heritage) hypnotized everyone in BC for the duration of the Olympics.
They roam the streets of Vancouver with their Canada toque, their Canada scarf, their Canada cape and their Team Canada hockey jersey. Under the maple leaf's cerebral stranglehold, they yell "GO CANADA GO!" to everyone they meet. I'm scared.
I feel the obligation to answer "GO CANADA GO!" immediately with my fist in the air, else the zombies will immediately realize I'm not like them. I imagine them rushing towards me to dismember me while roaring "OOOOO CANADAAAA".
It's even scarier at night, since the zombies drink Molson Canadian. Last night, I went on Hamilton Street, and the zombies came from every direction, stumbling. They yelled "GO CANADA GO!" more aggressively and I had to answer faster so I could go on my way. I'm telling you, it was really dangerous! When they insisted too much, I yelled, "hey look! It's Dany Heatley over there!" and ran away from there.
The Quebecers I encountered were very impressed by this display of canadianity. They yelled "GO CANADA GO!" to everyone they saw by survival instinct. How can you go crazy like that? Are English-Canadians so insecure on the inside that they need to display the opposite on the outside?
When I went to Beijing and Athens, no Chinese and no Greek immolated themselves in their country's flag. Here, I'm afraid it'll happen to me at every corner! Note that I'm not talking about Sydney because Australians were quite the Neandertals in 2000. Maybe it has to do with the Commonwealth. Maybe we should refer to the cavemen's ancestors as the Commonwealthmen?
What's for certain is, if Gilles Duceppe (NDLR: one of the leaders of the Quebec separatist movement) comes by here, he'll have a heart attack. And after three days, he'll yell "GO CANADA GO!" while looking for the airport!
No, it's not. I ate dinner with my father recently, who had a lot of complaints about the coverage, and that what coverage of the athletes didn't involve backgrounds was then more focused on the winners jubilantly prancing around than the event itself.
The only subject of the Olympics we spoke of that didn't regard the pathetic coverage was the tragic accident of that Georgian fellow while training on the luge course.
The only subject of the Olympics we spoke of that didn't regard the pathetic coverage was the tragic accident of that Georgian fellow while training on the luge course.
I wish. I live in America so I would have to pay to watch a hockey game (other than the two they are actually showing). I may come across as a whiny American who is complaining about not getting something for nothing, but I have read reports of the channel airing the game telling the viewers to go to another channel, but when they went to that channel, it was still curling, so they missed part of the game. I thought hockey was supposed to be one of the main events, if not the main event of the winter Olympics.
Although it's not personally relevant, there is also no curling. In other words, anything of which Canadians are the primary fans will not be broadcasted on local channels.
Although it's not personally relevant, there is also no curling. In other words, anything of which Canadians are the primary fans will not be broadcasted on local channels.
In New Zealand, only one channel is covering it, and its some other country's coverage, but don't ask me which; I don't know. At least because it's only one channel we are getting less of the athlete background stuff, but at the same time not all the events are available to watch :\
The only bad thing about another country's coverage is that I have no idea where our athletes are placing, not that we would. And if we did, the regular media would have over-hyped it already.
The only bad thing about another country's coverage is that I have no idea where our athletes are placing, not that we would. And if we did, the regular media would have over-hyped it already.
I'll be honest, I can imagine how irritating it would be to have only one channel covering them, and a foreign one at that, but I think having FOUR channels like we do and still not finding what I want to watch most of the time is worthy of a facedesk.