Winter Olympics

[MIGrandma]

Okay, I have a question about the speed skating. Why are the skaters allowed to touch the skater in front of them with their hand? I’ve seen some put their hand on the skater’s back, and lower. Why is that allowed?

 

[NotUrsula]

If you've ever been a rink rat in a major skate-training center you do encounter the more famous skaters, because they come to the rinks to practice and use club and training ice just like ordinary folks (although the rest of the skaters often move to the boards to watch them when the opportunity presents itself.) Private ice is hard to get, even when you're elite-level; there is just too much demand for the 24 hours in each day. It's easier at club-owned rinks such as the Skating Club of Boston or Wilmington, but demand is still high, and even the richest of pro skaters almost never have their own private rinks.
Rinks are also absolutely rife with gossip and rumours, so anything you hear in the lobby really needs to be taken with a grain of salt -- and sometimes an entire box of it!

Speaking of Sasha Cohen, she published an essay in the NYTimes this weekend, about the experience of life after the Olympics and a sporting career is over. In it, she did mention that her education was lacking while she was skating. (This is a pattern common with really gifted freestyle skaters; they are almost all home-schooled, but usually schoolwork slips in the pursuit of ice time.) Here is Cohen's piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/.../sasha-cohen-olympics-pyeongchang.html

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Okay, I have a question about the speed skating. Why are the skaters allowed to touch the skater in front of them with their hand? I’ve seen some put their hand on the skater’s back, and lower. Why is that allowed?

Well I'm sure it's so they don't crash into them.

There's a difference in it being an aggressive push out and being a defensive maneuver to let the skater in front of you know you are there.

 

[robinb]

Remember, Lochte tore a poster & told lies. Brazilian authorities extorted thousands of dollars from some of those with Lochte that night before they could leave the country. Somehow I expect the Koreans will handle this rather more serious behavior both more appropriately and with more forgiving spirit.

Apparently they "borrowed" the car they were caught driving drunk. It seems that they will only have to pay a fine. The driver, trainer William Raine, will have to pay $4600 and Dave Duncan and his wife are fined $930 each. They have all be released and may leave once they pay their fines.

 

[robinb]

Speaking of Sasha Cohen, she published an essay in the NYTimes this weekend, about the experience of life after the Olympics and a sporting career is over. In it, she did mention that her education was lacking while she was skating. (This is a pattern common with really gifted freestyle skaters; they are almost all home-schooled, but usually schoolwork slips in the pursuit of ice time.) Here is Cohen's piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/.../sasha-cohen-olympics-pyeongchang.html

Homeschooling is a pattern for many Junior champions in any individual sport. My DD's sport was swimming and many of the top Junior swimmers are homeschooled so they can concentrate on the hours of practice required to be at that level. I even met a parent at a pool (my DD had to practice while on vacation) who was pulling his 12-13 year old DD out of school the next month so she could concentrate on her swimming. Hmmm ... that was a couple of years ago ... I'll have to try to remember her name and see how she's doing now.

 

[RedSox68]

This was not my favorite Olympics by any means -- and I've been watching since the early 70's. Too much hype on our skiiers and skaters who never pulled through, embarrassing comments and bad showmanship on the part of some of the skaters, and like I've said before -- NBC needs to take a rest and let another network try this. Granted there is that awful time delay, but this time around I thought their coverage was abysmal. They were all over the map with events, never sticking to one venue or telling you to change the channel. Since most of the shows were already taped, why not finish out a sport or ceremony before jumping to something else. I ended up taping the last several days so I could fast forward through all the crap and get to the stuff I wanted to see -- what little they showed of it!

 

[RedSox68]

I am really disappointed in NBC's coverage this year. Last night i watched the skating gala and I realized they cut a ton of skaters so I went and watched it on the app. I can't believe they cut Javi's performance!!! It reminded me of Scott Hamilton's exhibition skates.

Like I said above, they are too confident and did some really stupid coverage and camera work this year! It was a frustrating watching experience and my least favorite winter Olympics. Even their coverage of the opening ceremonies was edited and cut, but they announced you could watch the whole thing on demand! So after sitting through the 4 hours on TV, you then have to go to on demand and sift through that opening ceremony coverage to see what you missed -- no thanks.

 

[hopemax]

Since most of the shows were already taped, why not finish out a sport or ceremony before jumping to something else. I ended up taping the last several days so I could fast forward through all the crap and get to the stuff I wanted to see -- what little they showed of it!

Most of the prime time coverage was live. That's why they were jumping between figure skating (trying to show the US athletes and medal contenders live) and the alpine and snowboarding events. Early on, there were a couple of things they showed on short delay (because they were showing something else live) and NBC was getting roasted on social media because people were receiving tweets and updates about who won via the individual sports organizations social media accounts. Daytime coverage shouldn't have been split up, but I don't know how they did it because I was watching the full event streams on my Roku.

I actually felt like NBC did a pretty good job. The way they could improve was to devote even more channels to live coverage, so that people could watch the sport they wanted all the way through. NBCSN was good, but they probably could have used a third channel in prime time. But when multiple events are occurring at the same, they can't show them all live on the main NBC station, plus recaping the events that Americans won medals that occurred when the US was sleeping, plus the medal ceremonies, plus athlete profiles, plus the Korea pieces.

 

[cabanafrau]

Like I said above, they are too confident and did some really stupid coverage and camera work this year! It was a frustrating watching experience and my least favorite winter Olympics. Even their coverage of the opening ceremonies was edited and cut, but they announced you could watch the whole thing on demand! So after sitting through the 4 hours on TV, you then have to go to on demand and sift through that opening ceremony coverage to see what you missed -- no thanks.

I also think the massive reshuffling of the Alpine schedule really jostled their programming plans in a major way as well. I don't know that I would mind if more than one network shared the broadcasting. Clearly the other networks largely bowed out of the way during the games as far as their programming scheduling anyway. Why not let another network in to help broadcast more of the events, and share some of the expense?

Sure, NBC or the lead network would obviously get to select the premiere events for their own channels so they would pay the lion's share of the costs. A second network in the mix would allow for better coverage and more opportunities for the audience beyond resorting to the online coverage which was a bit flat and uneven at times in its commentary, or lack of in some events.

 

[RedSox68]

The way they could improve was to devote even more channels to live coverage, so that people could watch the sport they wanted all the way through. NBCSN was good, but they probably could have used a third channel in prime time. But when multiple events are occurring at the same, they can't show them all live on the main NBC station, plus recaping the events that Americans won medals that occurred when the US was sleeping, plus the medal ceremonies, plus athlete profiles, plus the Korea pieces.

THIS -- there were days and weekend afternoons where either NBC or MSNBC Sport chose to show other local or nation tournaments not associated to the Olympics. I remember over the years every waking moment (especially on weekends) was devoted to Olympic coverage -- sometimes even starting at 10 a.m. A lot of it didn't start until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I just feel they could have showed more sports and events, tape delay or not, if they had devoted more air time.

Also, I'm sure I missed some of it trying to keep up with events, but it also didn't seem like NBC did as much personal coverage of atheletes, the area or the Olympic Village. I guess you had to watch it in the morning during the Today Show -- but I was on my way to work by then.

 

[RedSox68]

I also think the massive reshuffling of the Alpine schedule really jostled their programming plans in a major way as well. I don't know that I would mind if more than one network shared the broadcasting. Clearly the other networks largely bowed out of the way during the games as far as their programming scheduling anyway. Why not let another network in to help broadcast more of the events, and share some of the expense?

Sure, NBC or the lead network would obviously get to select the premiere events for their own channels so they would pay the lion's share of the costs. A second network in the mix would allow for better coverage and more opportunities for the audience beyond resorting to the online coverage which was a bit flat and uneven at times in its commentary, or lack of in some events.

I did hear that the rating were very low and read some reviews that a lot of viewers stopped watching during the second week. Oh well -- maybe next time.

 

[soccerdad72]

I actually felt like NBC did a pretty good job. The way they could improve was to devote even more channels to live coverage, so that people could watch the sport they wanted all the way through. NBCSN was good, but they probably could have used a third channel in prime time. But when multiple events are occurring at the same, they can't show them all live on the main NBC station, plus recaping the events that Americans won medals that occurred when the US was sleeping, plus the medal ceremonies, plus athlete profiles, plus the Korea pieces.

I also thought they did a pretty decent job of showing things live, but you're right about a limited number of channels. Seems like if previous years, they also used USA and CNBC along with MSNBC (I think NBCSN is fairly new to their channel lineup?).

For as much as I prefer events live, it doesn't always necessary make it good TV watching - especially when you have events like alpine skiing where there are delays due to wind or athletes crashing.

 

[RedSox68]

I also thought they did a pretty decent job of showing things live, but you're right about a limited number of channels. Seems like if previous years, they also used USA and CNBC along with MSNBC (I think NBCSN is fairly new to their channel lineup?).

For as much as I prefer events live, it doesn't always necessary make it good TV watching - especially when you have events like alpine skiing where there are delays due to wind or athletes crashing.

yes -- you're right -- they did have other channels showing coverage in the past. I forgot about USA!

 

[BrianL]

I also thought they did a pretty decent job of showing things live, but you're right about a limited number of channels. Seems like if previous years, they also used USA and CNBC along with MSNBC (I think NBCSN is fairly new to their channel lineup?).

For as much as I prefer events live, it doesn't always necessary make it good TV watching - especially when you have events like alpine skiing where there are delays due to wind or athletes crashing.

My "Olympics Multiview" channel had the NBC, NBCSN, USA, and MSNBC feeds, but most of the time NBCSN and USA were not showing Olympic events. USA was the typical SVU rerun or whatever. I never noticed if MSNBC showed anything at all, but I don't think so. I was shocked to see NHL games on NBC proper. At least show the Olympic Hockey, right? I do think they do the best they can with the prime time live coverage, what with the time zones and all, but, yeah more airtime in general would have been great!

 

[soccerdad72]

My "Olympics Multiview" channel had the NBC, NBCSN, USA, and MSNBC feeds, but most of the time NBCSN and USA were not showing Olympic events. USA was the typical SVU rerun or whatever. I never noticed if MSNBC showed anything at all, but I don't think so. I was shocked to see NHL games on NBC proper. At least show the Olympic Hockey, right? I do think they do the best they can with the prime time live coverage, what with the time zones and all, but, yeah more airtime in general would have been great!

I think MSNBC showed most of the curling matches in the late afternoon (tape delayed).

 

[cabanafrau]

I also thought they did a pretty decent job of showing things live, but you're right about a limited number of channels. Seems like if previous years, they also used USA and CNBC along with MSNBC (I think NBCSN is fairly new to their channel lineup?).

For as much as I prefer events live, it doesn't always necessary make it good TV watching - especially when you have events like alpine skiing where there are delays due to wind or athletes crashing.

We mostly watch Olympic sports, not usually other sports so ESPN isn't a channel usually watched at our house so it was a few days into the games before I understood that we even had the NBC Sports Network they occasionally mentioned. We had been checking USA & CNBC & very occasionally found curling on CNBC. To my knowledge they never used USA. I believe they also own the Olympic channel, which was supposedly used for "Olympic News" during the games, never saw it showing events. Up until maybe last summer they had another channel they showed a lot of X-Games style sports on. Suddenly there was a message on the channel from our cable provider that NBC had closed down the channel. Thought that was stupid when they have the contract for the Olympics.

They seem to be trying to drive a lot of people to the online app, which IMO isn't set up very well. Unbelievable they still haven't figured out that maybe if someone wants to catch this race or that match they might not enjoy having the result spoiled simply by the header and photos at the navigation point to get to watch the event. It's also rather stupid if they want people to retain any habit of watching television versus online in the first place. It can't be that insurmountable to improve how to deliver the broadcast options to the customer.

 

[NotUrsula]

Homeschooling is a pattern for many Junior champions in any individual sport. My DD's sport was swimming and many of the top Junior swimmers are homeschooled so they can concentrate on the hours of practice required to be at that level. I even met a parent at a pool (my DD had to practice while on vacation) who was pulling his 12-13 year old DD out of school the next month so she could concentrate on her swimming. Hmmm ... that was a couple of years ago ... I'll have to try to remember her name and see how she's doing now.

Swimming has a similar profile this way with skating, because both require access to facilities that are in fairly limited supply. (Although a family is much more likely to have their own pool than to have their own ice rink, LOL.) A young man thatwe know recently transitioned from singles to pairs, and moved 5 states away in order to train with his new partner. He was homeschooled here, but he has moved without his family; luckily his new city has a professional-children's high school that allows for odd training hours.

Homeschooling is a very double-edged sword for "professional" kids (in quotes because I'm also including elite-level amateur athletes for the sake of this post, since the scheduling needs are so similar.) While it lets them have the flexibility to develop a rare talent, it can also be an excuse to simply not bother with much learning in the name of maximizing potential in the short-term. I would never consider it for my child (even if she were extraordinary talented, which she isn't. She's good, but not truly great.) DD spends too much time in the "rink bubble" as it is. I feel it is critical that she stay in touch with the rest of her young world.

PS: About swimming vs. skating when it comes to education: swimming is a varsity sport, figure skating is not, and that makes ALL the difference. My understanding is that kids who homeschool to swim are usually kids who are swimming AAU rather than school teams. With the exception of some universities who field club-level Synchro teams, there is no such thing as a school skating team, because figure skating is not an NCAA sport (which also means no sports scholarships, so that incentive is not there, either.) FWIW, my DS swam for a HS team at a school that did not have its own pool; we had to jump through a lot of hoops to get them enough practice time in someone else's pool.

 

[robinb]

Homeschooling is a pattern for many Junior champions in any individual sport. My DD's sport was swimming and many of the top Junior swimmers are homeschooled so they can concentrate on the hours of practice required to be at that level. I even met a parent at a pool (my DD had to practice while on vacation) who was pulling his 12-13 year old DD out of school the next month so she could concentrate on her swimming. Hmmm ... that was a couple of years ago ... I'll have to try to remember her name and see how she's doing now.

Replying to myself ... I just found the girl I was talking about and she is in the top 20 in FL for the 2019 class (we met her in Clearwater). So she's still good and she might be back in school because she swims in the HS state meets ... but FL allows homeschoolers to compete in the state meet like Wisconsin so who knows? Anyway, I wish her luck .

 

[cabanafrau]

Swimming has a similar profile this way with skating, because both require access to facilities that are in fairly limited supply. (Although a family is much more likely to have their own pool than to have their own ice rink, LOL.) A young man thatwe know recently transitioned from singles to pairs, and moved 5 states away in order to train with his new partner. He was homeschooled here, but he has moved without his family; luckily his new city has a professional-children's high school that allows for odd training hours.

Homeschooling is a very double-edged sword for "professional" kids (in parens because I'm also including elite-level amateur athletes for the sake of this post, since the scheduling needs are so similar.) While it lets them have the flexibility to develop a rare talent, it can also be an excuse to simply not bother with much learning in the name of maximizing potential in the short-term. I would never consider it for my child (even if she were extraordinary talented, which she isn't. She's good, but not truly great.) DD spends too much time in the "rink bubble" as it is. I feel it is critical that she stay in touch with the rest of her young world.

The first thing that pops into my mind reading this is -- it seems at least half of our Olympic swim team in Rio were attending Stanford. That doesn't seem to fit with what you're outlining about young athletes coming up and their education. To be clear, I'm not suggesting you're at all wrong. I'm simply questioning how challenging it is for students on an academic path to get into a school like Stanford and the amazing coincidence how many of our elite swimmers apparently have no problem making the grade.

 

[RedSox68]

They seem to be trying to drive a lot of people to the online app, which IMO isn't set up very well. Unbelievable they still haven't figured out that maybe if someone wants to catch this race or that match they might not enjoy having the result spoiled simply by the header and photos at the navigation point to get to watch the event. It's also rather stupid if they want people to retain any habit of watching television versus online in the first place. It can't be that insurmountable to improve how to deliver the broadcast options to the customer.

Yeah, we don't use Apps -- too hard for us to see or enjoy! If they can't provide full screen coverage for some events, that's their choice -- albeit not a great one in our household LOL.