Trapper Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Well I realise it's not going to be close to London 2012, but when they show the ladies speed skating and then don't bother to show the final couple of competitors! I know they didn't stand a chance, but it would be nice to watch everyone after investing that time in it. If they cock up up the ice hokey I won't be happy! The commentating for the snowboarding was ridiculous. Yes, it's a young sport - but you don't need someone screaming during the event it's just off-putting.
rickjames Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 It really kicks off on Wednesday when the mens hockey starts; alllllllll the big boys have come out to play. 1
CAM Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 I did wonder about the gay rights issue - and indeed the "gangster" issues which are just as worrying, but I have read several articles that state that it is better to expose these things to the world - after the Beijing Olympics China advanced down the road to democracy a bit faster (yes, yes I KNOW they still aren't there yet and there are many issues around human rights yet to be sorted). As for the killing of dogs in Russia - in China dogs are kept in desperate circumstances and then eaten.... Those who are not watching because of the gay rights issue - did you watch the Beijing Olympics? Every venue has issues. There are all sorts of practices in Brazil that I am sure we could cite as being reason to boycott. For Russia to have to state its case and defend itself puts it out there and it is possible that these things being exposed to the world's gaze will get them to change more quickly. This. All of this. Before the Winter Olympic "scandal" I wasn't even aware of the gay rights situation in Russia, it is serving a positive purpose out there in bringing the issue to the fore. To boycott and blame the Olympics instead of the politicians in charge will do nothing but hurt both the sports and the athletes involved. Remember the Olympics are not just a platform for sport, remember the podium protests as a symbol of racial equality? Now skip forwards to today where a Russian politician said no politics on the podium and and IOC official giving him a ticking off over it. As for bad commentary, can't say I have noticed but then again I am used to the commentary on Sky Speedway...
bushby Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 well ice hockey is on each day till the end so im happy
sonofsanta Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Watched the snowboarding over the weekend, some of the tricks on the mens were insane - that 1620 triple on the very last run was incredible. Delighted for Jenny Jones on Sunday morning as well, she had a great run - maybe not the biggest, but clean, smooth and effortless looking. The judging seemed very harsh throughout, and I would have preferred a bit less emphasis on getting it robotically perfect in favour of rewarding style and guts, but it is what it is. One thing I couldn't work out was why the men's tricks were so much bigger - they were regularly pulling 1440s when women seemed to top out at 720, and without the flips. Slopestyle favours smaller, flexible riders, so I wouldn't have thought that any strength difference between the genders would make that big a difference. Anyone got any ideas? The commentary was enthusiastic, childish and more than a little embarassing. Such is snowboarding culture, I fear - the technical delegate from the FIS used the word "stoked" in a statement the other day. A little bit unprofessional maybe Winter Olympics in the morning, Six Nations in the afternoons... I almost felt like a normal man this weekend, what with all this sport.
hallb15 Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Luge and skeleton are my faves. I suppose because its like the grown up version of sledging which I loved as a child, and still do. Anyone remember John Noaks going down the cresta run for Blue Peter? When is it going to snow this year so I can get 'lighning' out of the garage and drag my girls down to the park?
sonofsanta Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Complaints were heard: BBC News - Olympic snowboarding commentary draws complaints
VeryPC Posted February 10, 2014 Author Posted February 10, 2014 I thought it funny when they tried to surprise the snowboarder by spring her parents on her but she'd guessed. That was really sweet wasn't it? Had me reaching for the hankies I have to admit. Al
rickjames Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Complaints were heard: BBC News - Olympic snowboarding commentary draws complaints Great stuff. Seriously unbearable irritants, the lot of them.
crt404 Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Ok, I agree with some of the comments being out of place, such as the 'face that makes bread rise', but aside from that I thought having someone in the booth who knew about riding was a fresh position. So often you get people who don't know the basics commentating and it makes it very stale and clinical. It was great to have enthusiasm put into the commentary, but it needed to be reigned in in places.
HarryMonkey Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Figure skating and ice dancing - brilliant! I thought that Yulia Lipnitskaya the 15yo Russian girl was just spellbinding. I've also enjoyed most of what's been on so far (including Amiee Fuller's enthusiasm for her team mate). Watched the women's curling this morning.
Sdrawkcab Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Wow you guys all have gigantic sticks up your posteriors about this snowboarding commentary. I thought it was the best commentary we've had out of any of the events - the commentators obviously were extremely knowledgable about the sport AND incredibly enthusiastic about it, something which I think has been missing from a lot of the commentary on the other events. Did you seriously put a complaint into the BBC because somebody showed that they were an actual person whilst talking about a sporting event? Out of interest, how many of you wrote letters about the appalling violations of human rights going on in russia?
rickjames Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Yeah, there's being knowledgeable and enthusiastic then there's blatant bias swirled in with incredibly pathetic comments made.
hawc Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 The BBC has published a response BBC - Complaints - Sochi 2014, Snowboarding slopestyle, BBC Two, 9 February 2014
sonofsanta Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 as the 'face that makes bread rise' I can't even work out if that's a compliment or an insult, let alone what it means. Stupid BBC commentators, making me feel old and out of touch!
HarryMonkey Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Personally I found the BBC commentary very good. It reflected the whole spirit of the event and the enthusiasm shown by Amiee Fuller in support of her team mate was very infectious and captured how so many of us felt when watching it. For far too long we have suffered that stiff upper lip jolly well done half hearted support from our national broadcaster and this made a welcome and refreshing change. Far from making me feel old (I'm 55) and out of touch, I found the enthusiasm very refreshing.
Sdrawkcab Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 Yeah, there's being knowledgeable and enthusiastic then there's blatant bias swirled in with incredibly pathetic comments made. Is it really so bad that British commentators commentating an event where Britain is likely to win a medal are biased towards Britain when they are doing that commentary on the British Broadcasting Corporation? I bet you 50p it's much the same in any other country, and even more biased in places like the USA.
Oaktech Posted February 10, 2014 Posted February 10, 2014 I've watched a lot of this sort of sports, downhil mountainbiking, freestyle skiing, slopestyle and X games, Redbull promoted sports etc, and this is just how it's done. I saw nothing wrong with it as commentary for what it was, it is obviously less, how shall we say, 'Classy' than that for ice dance, but its a different audience most of the time. It might have been an idea for the producers to get everyone on the commentary team to watch some previous commentary for say, superG and tell them 'Thats the level we expect'. I'm really in it for the sliding... I've always watched all of the Bobsleigh, Skeleton and Luge, and I watch the preceeding world champs on eurosport before hand as well.
BassTech Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 The men's moguls finals last night were seriously good, the Canadian that won it was incredible!
witch Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 For far too long we have suffered that stiff upper lip jolly well done half hearted support from our national broadcaster and this made a welcome and refreshing change. Did you not see the Olympics then? This belief that we still go "oh well done old chap" was blown out of the water then, I thought. We had cheering and jumping on chairs and all sorts - which was great. What we DIDN'T have was excessive squealing, screaming and gratuitous insults to fellow competitors. I am currently watching the final of the women's ski slopestyle and the commentary is superb - enthusiastic, informative and understandable. Just how it should be done
VeryPC Posted February 11, 2014 Author Posted February 11, 2014 The men's moguls finals last night were seriously good, the Canadian that won it was incredible! Oh darn, I skipped over that cos I didn't have time to watch it. Wish I hadn't now. Did catch the short track speed-skating - wow that is one exciting sport! Reminds me so much of the Keirin in velodrome cycling, which I also love. Also saw some early rounds of the curling - such a compelling game. I'll be following that right through to the finals for sure. Al
localzuk Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 Just saw some poor Canadia Slopestyle woman land very badly and have to be stretchered off! Eeek! Hope she's ok. Any my Curling is late starting! Curling is great, its nickname of Chess on Ice is apt I feel.
Oaktech Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 BBC Sport - Sochi 2014: James Woods to compete despite crash in training One of our chaps has had his cage rattled in practice, fingers crossed for him too.
witch Posted February 11, 2014 Posted February 11, 2014 This is interesting BBC News - Where is it illegal to be gay? I know Russia has introduced a law stopping "promotion" of homosexuality but according to this timeline, the USSR (and therefore Russia) actually decriminalised homosexuality BEFORE some other countries we would consider more enlightened. 1
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