The Olympics!

I'm going to see the rowing on Thursday - and THREE medal ceremonies apparently!

DH and I are going to see Great Britain vs Uruguay (football) on Wednesday.

I saw some of the rowing this morning. Very cool.

This is the first time I'm watching the BBC Olympic coverage and I am fascinated by the difference. Very few touchy feely bios and way more actual sports!

This is the first time I'm watching the BBC Olympic coverage and I am fascinated by the difference. Very few touchy feely bios and way more actual sports!

I was living in the US during the Beijing Olympics (I moved home to the UK in the middle of the games) and I couldn't stand the US coverage... they didn't show anyone except the US and the Chinese athletes and I didn't get to watch any of the athletes that I was looking forward to seeing (especially the gymnasts - not just the British ones, but all the other top names too) . 

I was very glad that I still had my UK university VPN account because it meant I could dial into the account and watch the BBC iplayer coverage instead .

From the located in the US pov, NBC are actually showing everything now, apparently. On air in conjunction with nbcolympics.com. I am bummed because of the time difference, getting results in the news online before even having a chance to watch them.

I did sort of wonder how well it translated, though.  Some bits (like the NHS/kids' lit section) I felt were very much produced for a British, or at least a Western, audience.  But other bits, like the Mr. Bean/Chariots of Fire section, were, I'm sure, very universal.

I was with a few friends, one of whom lived in the UK for a year and whose father is British, so she at least gets the references. Let me tell you, the opening ceremony did not go over well. NBC's coverage of it was, frankly, boring. At one point Matt Lauer even said that the baby at the end of the GOS section was "creepy"! Now that's reporting for ya. They barely explained anything and the consensus with my group was that it was too "olde worlde" for them. The word "twee" came up more than once. This of course came from a guy who has never seen Chariots. Gasp!

My favourite part was the torch lighting. Gorgeous!

I really want to watch it on the iplayer to see how it should be properly broadcasted.

We've got some friends flying over and got tickets for women's volleyball and was happy to find some (cheap) handball tickets last week.  Will get to see TeamGB in handball so that should be fun.

Totally agree with the ticketing stuff though- however from some of the stuff I read the agency handling it in the US was even worse!!!

From the located in the US pov, NBC are actually showing everything now, apparently. On air in conjunction with nbcolympics.com. I am bummed because of the time difference, getting results in the news online before even having a chance to watch them.
 

I was with a few friends, one of whom lived in the UK for a year and whose father is British, so she at least gets the references. Let me tell you, the opening ceremony did not go over well. NBC's coverage of it was, frankly, boring. At one point Matt Lauer even said that the baby at the end of the GOS section was "creepy"! Now that's reporting for ya. They barely explained anything and the consensus with my group was that it was too "olde worlde" for them. The word "twee" came up more than once. This of course came from a guy who has never seen Chariots. Gasp!

My favourite part was the torch lighting. Gorgeous!

I really want to watch it on the iplayer to see how it should be properly broadcasted.

They also cut out chunks they didn't like.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/us-news-blog/2012/jul/28/nbc-opening-ceremony-cringeworthy-moments?newsfeed=true

Here's a few more insights on the NBC coverage.

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/10493/20120728/reasons-vieira-lauer-olympics-coverage-epic-fail-twitter.htm

The most shocking comment that I heard was during the GOSH segment when they used real patients and nurses. Meredith said "Quite frankly none of these kids look very sick to me."

Seriously?

Anyhow, I am thrilled for the Olympics in London (and so glad I had UK coverage!). I'll be supporting the Paralympians. I have tickets to see Athletics, Equestrian and Basketball.

These are pretty funny:

http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2012/07/29/united-states-olympic-athletes-try-to-speak-in-cockney-english-accent-videos/

And NBC has now said the reason they cut away from the Opening Ceremony tribute to the 7/7 bombing victims was because the broadcast was "tailored to an American audience."

As an American, I'm disgusted by their logic, and how little regard they have for their viewers.

More here:

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/07/29/nbc-opening-ceremony/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/28/1114648/-NBC-We-skipped-terror-tribute-because-it-wasn-t-tailored-for-the-U-S-audience

I think the American public will be even more annoyed with NBC and their 'tailoring to an American audience', if they looked at the photo montage of the ' Abide with Me ' 7/7 segment, which also included family memorial photos from  participants and people attending.

Amongst the photos are two of US servicemen in uniform, presumably posted by grieving American families, which I imagine if it  becomes common knowledge will not help any  reputation NBC has left.

I'm in the US at the moment for a friend's wedding and had to watch the coverage on NBC and it made me incredibly unhappy before I knew about all they cut. Aside from the commentators being idiotic and pointing out the obvious, they completely talked over the Arctic Monkeys performance saying how much they liked it. How are we supposed to determine if we like it, too, if they talk through the whole thing?! I'm really missing the Beeb!

From the bits I was able to enjoy, though, it made me happy to have London and the UK as my adopted home.

I'm pretty sure there would be widespread uproar if the Beeb cut out footage of a 9/11 tribute because it was "tailored to a British audience".

I'm frankly disgusted by NBC for this and their inane coverage of the opening ceremony, and if I were an American citizen I'd be horrified that a TV network thought so little of me that they didn't believe I could sit through a 10 minute tribute to respect those killed in a terrorist attack because those people weren't (all) American.

More trouble for NBC.  After he tweeted repeatedly about NBC's coverage, the LA bureau chief of The Independent was suspended from Twitter.

http://deadspin.com/5930153/nbcs-no-1-tweeting-critic-has-been-suspended-from-twitter

It's pretty sad, but not surprising, that I had to VPN iplayer to actually understand the opening ceremony. And I am also disgusted they cut out the 7/7 memorial. I am actually offended and shocked I had to read about it in the British press!

I'm frankly disgusted by NBC for this and their inane coverage of the opening ceremony, and if I were an American citizen I'd be horrified that a TV network thought so little of me that they didn't believe I could sit through a 10 minute tribute to respect those killed in a terrorist attack because those people weren't (all) American.

We all know they really cut this out to fit in more ad breaks. Which were every 5 minutes. Distracting and unnecessery. I miss the BBC.

Really impressed by all the new buildings and fantastic locations. Who doesn't want to watch beach volleyball on Horse Guards? Win.