NBC Values My Opinion about the Olympics ...

[kayrharris]

We want more coverage of less coverage!

More David Lines!!!!!!

David Lines is my cousin; he lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

We knew that.

[nitrah55]

I was trying to watch the USA/Nigeria soccer match live this morning on their USA Network feed, but those announcers were terrible! They assumed that everyone watching was a soccer (don't call it futbol!) expert! I never did understand why a US player being red carded early in the game put us in a position of playing with one less player on the field for the entire rest of the game (if that was even the case)? And mid way through the second half the p by p guy kept saying "you are probably looking at the two teams that will go onto the quarter finals". Again without explanation. Then when the score of a concurrently played game changed he said "now the US team needs to try to score, there is more urgency now". Well if a team doesn't need to win a game is Soccer simply a pleasant stroll in the park? Most sports fans in this country like a little bit of tension and drama, maybe that's why as a spectator sport 80% of avid fans in this country think soccer sucks! Just pick up the frickin ball guys and throw it!
Also if you want to look like athletes, wear body armor and not those geeky soccer shorts, they look even fancier than tennis garb for men!
Eeeekkkkk!!!!!!!

You may also be displeased to know that the NBC announcers for Olympic soccer aren't even in Bejing.

They're in Studio 8H, Rockefeller Center, home of Saturday Night Live.

And all they get to see is exactly what you're seeing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/sport ... f=olympics

[andrewjackson]

And the 80% number that you toss out is interesting. More people in the U.S. watched the World Cup final last year than any game of the World Series or NBA finals.

Where did you get those stats? I'm not saying they are not true, mainly because I can't remember who played in the WS or NBA finals, but I still question the stats. Was the US in the World Cup final? That might explain it.

Now, take the number of people in the US that watched the World Cup and back out those that are not US citizens.

The U.S. was not in the World Cup final. It was France v. Italy in the 2006 final. I just realized that I said "last year" when I meant 2006.

I was a little bit off on my claim about viewers for the World Cup final and the other sporting events. I retract my claim that it had more viewers than any game. It was higher than the average.

2006 World Cup Final - 16.9 million U.S. viewers
2006 NBA finals (Miami v. Dallas) - 12.9 million U.S. viewers on average
2006 World Series (St. Louis v. Detroit) - 15.79 million U.S. viewers on average (one game exceeded the World Cup final)

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/11/sport ... domir.html
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/cgi-bi ... 0&num=8263

And if you want to blame the particular teams it isn't much different in other years.

2008 NBA Finals (Lakers v. Celtics) - 14.9 million U.S. viewers on average
2007 World Series (Boston v. Colorado) - 16.2 million U.S. viewers on average