These Are the Most Irrelevant Olympics Ever, Right?
Media Gossip/Musings, Olympics June 30th. 2008, 4:15pm
Are NBC executives soiling themselves right now? The Olympics are on the horizon, yet interest seems to be tepid at best. We care about the hoops team, but only have a passing interest in ping pong, badminton, boxing and track and field.
Here’s the problem – we’re not even certain why the Olympics seem less relevant now than they did 20 years ago, when Ben Johnson, Flo Jo and Lougainis cleaned up, and Roy Jones Jr. got robbed of gold. Are we going to blame this on cable TV, the internet and a proliferation of video games, too? The impending Presidential Election? Wouldn’t it be much easier to just pin blame on ESPN and call it a day? (Thankfully, the Olympics do not coincide with Shark Week.)
Oh, shoot. We almost forgot beach volleyball.
49 Responses to “These Are the Most Irrelevant Olympics Ever, Right?”
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June 30th, 2008 at 4:21 PM
The swimming trials so far have been great. Phelps duel last night was great T.V. sucks it wont be in HD the rest of the week.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:21 PM
They will be completely irrelevant right up until the opening ceremony and then will immediately go back to being irrelevant after the closing ceremony.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:22 PM
I think part of the problem is that there is an Olympics every two years. Back in the day the Winter and Summer were in the same year and it would get your juices going.
Also competing against Russia and China was always fun. now with Russia broken up into so many smaller countries it’s not the same.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:24 PM
Im not watching if Howard pulls out
June 30th, 2008 at 4:25 PM
That’s what she said
June 30th, 2008 at 4:26 PM
I know I’m in the minority here, but I absolutely love the Olympics. I will watch any sport they put on. Last Winter Games I really got into the US Women’s Curling team.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:27 PM
it will be relevant only when we get to see the events live.
Phelps: Greatest athlete alive???
June 30th, 2008 at 4:27 PM
“They will be completely irrelevant right up until the opening ceremony and then will immediately go back to being irrelevant after the closing ceremony.” CRM
They should build statues in CRM’s honor. What he posted is exactly correct. Nothing more, nothing less. There may be a couple of stars that come out after, but unless they are hot and willing to pose for Maxim, no one will care or remember who they are come football season.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:28 PM
I’ll tell you why
June 30th, 2008 at 4:28 PM
I bet he’s wishing he did that with the cheerleader.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Here’s my half-baked theory: 20 years ago, the Olympics were the only chance to see swimming, badminton and other smaller sports on TV. Now with so many channels, there is nothing fresh about them.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Based on Howards track record I don’t think we have to worry about him pulling out
June 30th, 2008 at 4:30 PM
CRM- i dont know what is worse, your comments or posts
June 30th, 2008 at 4:31 PM
St. Bear, I went to HS with those chicks. My sister’s yearbook photo is right next to one of them.
We actually had as an option to take curling as a Phys ed course.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:33 PM
I hve never cared less about the Olympics than I do this year, and that is saying a lot.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:33 PM
We have no common enemy anymore and that’s why the Olympics suck. If bin Laden fielded an Olympic team, we’d have some interest.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:34 PM
I bet he’s wishing he did that with the cheerleader.
I bet Lebron wished he did with that “thing”. At least Howard banged a cheerleader and not some fugly woman
June 30th, 2008 at 4:36 PM
i’m looking forward to the olympics because it means having sports on for basically 24 hours a day on like 8 channels for two weeks.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:36 PM
It could be that it’s a safe assumption that all of the track and field people are doped up.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:36 PM
I would guess that between the egregious air pollution, human rights issues, and the potential for protests and subsequent ’supressions,’ this may be the most significant Olympics since ‘80 and ‘84. For an example of the potential, look at the treatment the torch received around the world.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:37 PM
@ty yeah i’ve pretty much resigned myself to that assumption
June 30th, 2008 at 4:39 PM
@st bear – i’m in the minority with you, guy. i had never even heard of curling until 06 but i rather enjoyed following it that year.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:40 PM
Seoul was 20 years ago? Jeezus, I’m getting old.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:41 PM
McDonald’s needs to bring back that 1984 Olympic Sam scratch off medal game.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:42 PM
LeBron never claimed to be some holier-than-thou Christian.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:42 PM
/Brian Fantana’d
June 30th, 2008 at 4:44 PM
@clown- Its Dwight Howard, not D Ho. its funny how you never talk about the Mavericks, your fav team. Frauds every year
June 30th, 2008 at 4:46 PM
There have been some good points made for the decline in significance of the games, but I also think NBC is partly to blame. Yes, I know there are other networks to watch “pure” coverage, but NBC remains the dominant source of the Olympics. There coverage revolves around the “name” Americans. You got a glimpse of that with Phelps over the weekend. How did that work out for NBC and Bode Miller?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:47 PM
Lebron takes care of his kids!
/Chris Rock
June 30th, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Dirk is the best player from his country, unlike D-Ho.
/I know it’s a reach, but that’s all I got. Other than Howard will never sniff a Finals as long as he shoots 35% from the stripe.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:49 PM
I like the Olympics, there are some events that I enjoy watching. Maybe it’s the Norwegian-Swedish side of me, but I enjoy the Winter games more.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Also the interwebs is to blame. Why wait for results when we can get then instantaneously? NBC’s reaction to this was to warn viewers to look away if they didn’t want to know results from half a day ago while there coverage of the same event was going to be shown hours later.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:49 PM
Blogger wars are more interesting than the Olympics.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Blogwars are good for business. Lozo, care to triple your readership?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:52 PM
The best Olympic stories are the stories that develop naturally during the Olympics, not the ones we are force fed by a network that overbid for dying attraction.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:53 PM
here are some reasons why the olympics have grown tiresome:
1) when the olympics were relevant, cable was not in (almost) every home. the olympics were the greatest reality tv there was in the midst of summer reruns.
2) we were in the middle of the cold war. we HAD to beat those godless ruskies and red chinese and the east germans and the rest of those poor souls from eastern europe trapped under the boot of soviet oppression.
3) it was cool to root for college kids against the pros.
4) later, when the pros were allowed in, we again proved we were masters of basketball when dream team III won with ease (dream team I was the 1960 team; dream team II was the 1984 team).
5) there wasn’t nfl network and to a lesser degree espn that provided starving nfl fans with nearly 365 days of nfl coverage a year.
6) there was no mlb extra innings nor baseball wildcard. so at best there were roughly 10 markets in the country that were still into baseball in late july and august. the rest of the country looked forward to the olympics to help them forget about their lousy baseball teams.
7) we’ve become jaded and synical over the many drug scandels of olympic athletes.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:53 PM
Not completely irrelevant. They will be showing previews for the upcoming Sunday Night Football season.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:53 PM
@clown- keep hating. The Mavs wont get back to the finals for a long long time
June 30th, 2008 at 4:55 PM
There’s never been a more emotional moment than when Kerri Strug limped her way to that gold for the US. I’ll never forget that. I love the Olympics.
/CRM
June 30th, 2008 at 4:55 PM
Hef, you would 1/3 a readership.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:56 PM
I never understood why we were supposed to care about people riding horsies over jumps every 4 years when we wouldn;t watch it at any other time, same with ping pong and other goofy non-sports.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:58 PM
LOL that is the line of the day!!!
June 30th, 2008 at 4:59 PM
thank you, for opening my big fat asshole eyes
June 30th, 2008 at 5:01 PM
No, I think Hef just took line of the day with his self-zinger
June 30th, 2008 at 5:18 PM
I cant figure it out either. When I was a kid I loved the olympics, and, I it seems the athletes dont get that many commercials. Remember the hype of those two twin brothers that were in the decathalon? They had a shit ton of commercials, and it got me excited to watch, even though I think they stunk it up. Was their name O’Brien or something like that?
June 30th, 2008 at 5:23 PM
Oh yeah, Dan and Dave. Those twins were great.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:27 PM
I’ll be watching the Olympics every second I’m watching TV for those two weeks.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:35 PM
Love the olympics – swimming and gymnastics are my favorites. The Olympics really bring out my patriotic vibes!
June 30th, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Oh yeah, Dan and Dave. Those twins were great.
They should have done a doublemint gum commercial they were such great Twins