Wednesday, July 02, 2008

NBC - Just turn the cameras and the interviews over to 'Floswimming' please!

I am not happy with NBCs coverage of the Olympic Trials; It's garbage! It seems rushed, perfunctory, and the hosts; (Rowdy excluded), even get some of their facts wrong. One could only wish that NBC would hand the cameras and microphones over to Floswimming to do it right. [Link]

Now, why I am so dissapointed about the swim coverage is that Executive producer, David Neal, recalled Ebersol telling him, "We ought to be doing swimming every night." [International Herald Tribune: [Link]

Ebersol thinks it is "Michael Phelps' charisma!" Huh?, Charisma? no offense but Phelps' bulldog has more charisma than Michael. People want to see the bodies, the water, the races and the interviews. Floswimming has got all of the above totally wired!

I hope the Olympic coverage is far better than what we are seeing. Also, I hopeful that they choose some journalists; (read as Floswimming staff), to augment Rowdy Gaines instead of embarrassing him.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"even get some of their facts wrong" .... absolutely. Even using the white marker on the screen to highlight the wrong swimmer, getting lane 4 & 5 mixed up. I see that they now have the world record line and also the names on the lanes. I wonder if it's due to your comments. Great job on this blog, please keep it going.

Scott said...

And to make matters worse as someone located outside the good ol'US of A I can't even play NBCOlympic.com's video clips. This truly sucks! At least there's Youtube.

Tony Austin said...

thank you. :-)

Also, the announcer standing next to Rowdy Gaines said that the seams on the Speedo LZR were stitched with a laser instead of ultrasonically bonded as the seams truly are. Rowdy Gaines' face looked terribly pained and didn't even acknowledge.

Also, how about all those extension cords at the bottom of the pool. It looks like "Black Spaghetti" down there. If they have cameras down there, they should repeat coverage of the race from that viewpoint as well so the viewer sees the top and bottom.

Swimming is mostly done underwater.

Anonymous said...

I have not been watching the trials on NBC. However, the general consensus among swimmers is that Rowdy--and I hate to sound perjorative--"dumbs it down." Personally, I disagree because viewers really seem to love him.

I am at the meet and I must bring attention to the most annoying commentator ever, John Nabor.

John Nabor is absolutely terrible. He is so incredibly negative, telling the crowds to pay attention to third and seventh places because that's "where the heartbreak is." He has asked so many rude questions that I don't wish to make anyone relive by reposting.

These are Olympians. This is their time to shine and not to dodge nasty, negative questions.

The swimmers are very upset. I thought this might be a worthwhile topic. Please check out these links. And keep up the good work.

http://www.swimnetwork.com/blogs/blog/20080704/shame_on_you__john_naber_-125.html

http://www.collegeswimming.tv/viewtopic.php?t=3250