Negative Energy and the Olympics

deniseE

I really just have to vent about the commentators for the Olympics.

xx(

First, it disturbs me that ANYONE could view a silver or bronze medal as failure. Just making the cut to be an olympic athelete is something to be proud of!!! To listen to these people tear down these athletes that have focused their entire short lives on these moments is just unbearable.

Second, The USA is not entitled to all gold medals...it's annoying to believe that we have this mentality ...tell me I'm hearing them wrong.

Finally, mistakes will happen. No matter how hard someone trains...no matter how many times they've done it perfectly in practice....mistakes happen..that's part of what makes the games so exciting...unexpected (sometimes wonderful) things happen....

kudos to the ladies gymnastics team that seems to refuse to get sucked into the whole interview game of "tell me how it felt to blow it in front of millions of people". x:-/

HRinNH

You are so right Denise. What is the motivation for anyone to train for umpteen years to even be an olympic athlete if all they're going to get is criticism? Only one person can be #1. Everyone else should be encouraging the others to keep going, there's always next time! The media is not anyone's friend...

rad

I always find commentators annoying- let me watch what I'm watching and figure it out for myself, I'm a smart girl, I can see. I am always amazed by the athletic poweress of these folks who make it to the Olympics. I'm lucky to hop over a curb in a rainy day without breaking a bone, never mind doing a double backflip somersault what ever it is that defies the laws of gravity on a 4" wide balance beam!

Every time an athlete is asked how it felt to not win the gold,or any medal, I wish they would look at the news person and say "Hey, can YOU do what I just did?"

ray a

I often find these commentators to be humorous. Many were athletes themselves and even olympians. They point every little tiny missed nuance. Of course when they participated, they all had perfect scores.

Shadowfax

A agree, but afterall, arn't we all critics? I mean, here we are critizising the commentators, the networks choice of programming, etc. Is annoying though. I think they think we do't know enough to recognize what we see - and they are probably right to a degree. Some of the things they do look absolutely brilliant to me, but when it's slowed down on replay, the commentator is correct about the synchronozation or whatever, and if left unexplained, plerhaps we are less llikely to accept the judges score. I lost a lot of interest in the Olympics when the gazillionaires all got in (as in basketball/hockey/ etc) and the present USA basketball performance is a perfect example. I'd rather see a bunch of teenage kids play their hearts out and lose to a foreigh professional team or military team than watch what we see now. Just think of all the 'kids' who could be having the experience of a lifetime except for the gluttionous, egomaniacal, rude, uneducated idiots who comprise the bulk of our professional sports world. Our rules do not, and never will apply to them, and they are not embarassed to let us know how strongly they believe that. Sure, it's tough to police the amateurs, especially when gov ernments condone cheating, but I think it is still worth the effort. BRING BACK THE KIDS! nThey participate for the right reasons.

ray a

Shadowfax, you are correct that we are all critics. And yes, we do miss the nuances and these commentators quite capably point out why one contestant is one tenth of a point better than another. I think what irritates me is their "know-it-all" demeanor and elistist attitude. Rather than educating us unwashed in the intricacies of an obscure sport (something other than baseball, football or basketball), they tend to come across as haughty looking down their proverbial noses at the rest of us.

Whatever

They did bring back the kids from previous Olympics. They are called commentators. And, of course, they are not jealous of all the money the current athletes are making (did anyone notice the change in the Phelps commercial for a credit card company?)which they (the commentators) couldn't make because they were amateurs. I don't mind when the commentators point out fine points that it's takes an expert to notice. But, when they tell me what is obvious (falling off the balance beam does will hurt the gymnast's score)to fill air time, I get annoyed.

deniseE

It's not so much the critique that bothers me...because you are right...many of these sports are new to us and we need the background...

What irks me is the derogatory tone used to describe a performance. That somehow, obtaining a silver is tantamount to treason. It's just sad and my heart breaks for the kids and their families that have to listen to the nonsense...

Keep the commentary informative...

Leslie

It is stupid...Phelps has, what, like five medals now and just because they're not all gold it's like he failed at something.

rad

The news station here just said that the US gymnastics Team, "settled" for silver, as if they said 'screw the gold, we don't want to try that hard, we'll take the silver' (like a silver medal is a bad thing). Gimme a break.