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Scott McCracken is a winter sports fan from Vermont who created a blog about the Torino Olympics which not only keeps readers up on medal counts, but has commentary on many of the events and the people who compete in them. Check out the Tornino Times. This is an especially helpful and well done site.
Those whose job it is to track television ratings claim that very few Americans are watching the winter olympics this week while regular programming like 24 and American Idol have cleaned up. Pundits trying to figure out why this is have come up with some creative reasons such as "the athletes are all pros and getting big bucks to compete which turns people off" (Fox and Friends) and, there are no blacks in this olympics so it is ridiculous to call competitors "the worlds's greatest athletes." (Bryan Gumbel) "Try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the games look like a GOP convention."
We've watched, but I submit there might be another reason why viewers are not glued to these winter sports and that is the manner in which NBC is televising them. I find it very frustrating to watch a competition, for instance last weekend's Half Pipe, and find that just when the event has become engrossing, NBC cuts away for another sport. They do this with everything. Just get settled in for figure skating and they move over to moguls. Start enjoying the moguls and they're off to curling and then to speed skating. The telecast is so choppy a viewer never knows what is going on or what will be shown when. Annoying. Many nights this week I have switched over to something else because of this and turn back about ten o'clock when they finally show the endings. Stay with something once in awhile.
Oh, and Bryant...what utter nonsense.
Will any competitor leave Athens having found the immortality the ancient Greeks strived for? The Olympic anthem certainly aims for it. What is still the same is Homer's "wine, dark sea" which surrounds the islands of Greece.
It would be unfair to say Baylor University won the Olympic 4 x 400 meter relay today, but it might be half right. Running the third leg, Monday's 400 meter winner, Baylor Junior Jeremy Wariner, handed the baton to Baylor teammate Darold Williamson who anchored the team to the gold medal in a time of 2:55.74. The eyes of Texas are upon you! Waco now has a new museum in the making!
After two weeks of almost supernatural soccer success the Iraq team ended their medal dreams in a game dominated by the news of the murder of Italian newsman Enzo Baldoni by Iraqi militants. The timing of the murder of Baldoni was certainly not coincidence, but it only served to ruin the joy the Iraqi soccer team has had as well as the joy of their countrymen back home. Although the two teams spent a moment before the game in a show of support for grieving Italians, it was clear no one had much enthusiasm for play. A two week dream ends with a nightmare.
Former University of Missouri runner Derrick Peterson competes in the 800 meter preliminaries today in Athens. Go Derrick
Baylor University junior Jeremy Wariner won the gold medal in the Olympic 400 meter race anchoring a 1-2-3 sweep for USA today. Later this week Jeremy will team up with Bayor teammate, Darrold Williamson in the 4x400 meter relay. There's real "gold" in the green and gold down there in Waco these days.
It has been 20 years since the United States has had an Olympic marathon medalist. Today, Deena Kastor took the bronze. She qualified for the Olympic team in St. Louis on April 3.
A memorable Sport's Illustrated article back in early 2003 profiling Uday Hussein, then President of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee.
Isn't today so much better?
