CANADA, THE MOST EMBRASSING OLYMPICS EVER???

Wet Coast wrote:

The two Brian Williams's met and visited each other's on-site studios. CTV's Brian William's studio was beautiful with CDN wood, nice fireplace, hardwood floors, stunning view (on a sunny day) the American Brian Williams from NBC had a big tent. $820 million for poor coverage from a tent? Sad.

I don't understand all of your NBC bashing. From a viewer's point of reference, it certainly appeared that they had a very nice studio with many of the nice things you attribute to CTV's studio. I had no idea they were broadcasting from a tent and could care less. Isn't it about presentation? It came across as classy and well done television.

Maybe you would prefer Colbert's studio?

Whatever. My view of the Games, courtesy of NBC, was that it was well done, for the most part, in a terrific place populated with wonderful people. But if this was "poor coverage" perhaps I misinterpreted what I saw.

Skuj wrote:

Q: How do you know when you've done something really well?

A: When it gets bashed at letsrun.

this from the guy who wanted nothing to do with the Vancouver olympics. jumping on the bandwagon much?

yet another canadian wrote:

No one in the US cares about Hockey...

....except the millions of NHL players/fans, college players/hockey fans, high school hockey players/fans, pee wee hockey players/fans, folks playing pond hockey outside my window, etc. etc.

It may be Canada's national sport, but I'm guessing there are more hockey fans/participants in the U.S.

(Congrats to Canada on their gold medal. It was a great game until 4-on-4 OT when the skill and skating of the Canadians on open ice sealed the deal.)

I didn't say that. It's a gaffe in the formatting of quotes here on LetsRun. I was quoting another poster with that. Actually, the US has participation rates in hockey slightly below Canada in absolute numbers, and is dwarfed when measured proportionally to population.

Peter Puck wrote:

yet another canadian wrote:

No one in the US cares about Hockey...

....except the millions of NHL players/fans, college players/hockey fans, high school hockey players/fans, pee wee hockey players/fans, folks playing pond hockey outside my window, etc. etc.

It may be Canada's national sport, but I'm guessing there are more hockey fans/participants in the U.S.

(Congrats to Canada on their gold medal. It was a great game until 4-on-4 OT when the skill and skating of the Canadians on open ice sealed the deal.)

Sorry, Hockey is less popular than I thought.

At the NCAA level, here are the numbers of schools with Hockey programs:

NCAA Div. 1 - 58

Div. 2 - 6

Div. 3 - 72

Here are the numbers for basketball:

NCAA Div. 1 - 345

Div. 2 - 289

Div. 3 - 416

That makes 136 NCAA hockey programs to 1050 NCAA basketball program's, this is men's only.

The numbers are probably worse when it comes to the HS level. Hockey is a niche sport at best, sorry.

yet another canadian wrote:

I didn't say that. It's a gaffe in the formatting of quotes here on LetsRun. I was quoting another poster with that. Actually, the US has participation rates in hockey slightly below Canada in absolute numbers, and is dwarfed when measured proportionally to population.

Sorry about the confusion. I see now that it was not you who posted that. Not completely sure about the participation numbers, though I would agree that participation must be proportionally greater in Canada.

uncle sammy.. wrote:

No one in the US cares about Hockey

uncle sammy.. wrote:

Sorry, Hockey is less popular than I thought.

Actually you have just established that it is more popular than you thought.

I didn't really bash NBC, I took what many people are saying about the poor coverage by NBC as truth. I didn't even get to watch the whole vignette of Brian and Brian, I was filled in later. When it came to the tent, I could also care less, but it is interesting that someone posted up the number $820 million, but they couldn't support their hosts and image. Whatever, maybe they did a bang up job - I was really bragging about CTV's impeccable job. CBC used to have the contract and always did a good job, very thorough and balanced. CTV is shined.

Don't know who Colbert is. Different country.

And to whoever said, "hockey is a fringe sport at best, sorry."

No it isn't. I mean maybe it is in the warmer places of the US, but the world is a big place. A fringe sport may be something like Hurling or professional surfing or something. You need to look outside your little corner of the US.

A key reason why the numbers are as disproportionate for basketball and hockey in the US is that high school and the NCAA represent the primary means of developing future pros for basketball. In hockey, there are tiers of major junior leagues that serve this purpose.

The top tier is the Canadian Hockey League, consisting of 60 teams across Canada and some northern states. They play in towns and small cities, consistently drawing thousands out to regular season games. There is a championship, the Memorial Cup, in which the best teams from each of the 3 main regional leagues (Ontario, Quebec, and West) as well as the host team battle it out for junior hockey supremacy.

The second tier is Junior A. This goes back to Junior D. My hometown has a Junior C team that regularly sells out with capacity crowds.

The US has followed Canada in recently developing a similarly structured junior program.

For reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_ice_hockey

Wet Coast wrote:

CTV's Brian William's studio was beautiful with CDN wood, nice fireplace, hardwood floors, stunning view (on a sunny day) the American Brian Williams from NBC had a big tent. $820 million for poor coverage from a tent? Sad.

Wet Coast wrote:

I didn't really bash NBC

Read em and weep, liar.

I'm Canadian, and I agree that the closing ceremonies were dreadful. Poking fun at stereotypes and cliches shows very little imagination. How about taking a stab at what Canada is actually all about? That way, the rest of the world might learn something about us.

As well, the Michael Buble Broadway-styled number was pure Americana. And the jokes from Catherine O'Hara and William Shatner were quite lame.

Finally, I loved Neil Young and his performance of "Long May You Run", but the guy lives in California!

Wet Coast wrote:

I didn't really bash NBC, I took what many people are saying about the poor coverage by NBC as truth. I didn't even get to watch the whole vignette of Brian and Brian, I was filled in later. When it came to the tent, I could also care less, but it is interesting that someone posted up the number $820 million, but they couldn't support their hosts and image. Whatever, maybe they did a bang up job - I was really bragging about CTV's impeccable job. CBC used to have the contract and always did a good job, very thorough and balanced. CTV is shined.

I think you are confusing the NBC nightly news tent with NBC's Olympic coverage studio - manned mostly by Bob Costas.

The nightly news tent was in fact a tent, but was only a small part of the NBC coverage.

Hey person hiding.

Having reading comprehension issues? I think so. Please read the entire thread over again, word for word, then I will accept your apology.

Forget it. If you have comprehension issues, reading will not help.

Message to the Canadian who didn't like the closing ceremonies, also hiding:

Anyone who does not get the humorous, tongue-in-cheek first half of the closing ceremonies needs to learn to understand Canadian culture a little better (just because you may be Canadian doesn't make you aware).

You sure do follow me a lot, don't you? There is no connection at all between me not being into the winter olympics and wether they did a good job or not. Tool!

ura tool wrote:

Skuj wrote:

Q: How do you know when you've done something really well?

A: When it gets bashed at letsrun.

this from the guy who wanted nothing to do with the Vancouver olympics. jumping on the bandwagon much?

5:20am PST......sigh......

Wet Coast wrote:Message to the Canadian who didn't like the closing ceremonies, also hiding:

Anyone who does not get the humorous, tongue-in-cheek first half of the closing ceremonies needs to learn to understand Canadian culture a little better (just because you may be Canadian doesn't make you aware).

Also Canadian, also underwhelmed by both opening and closing ceremonies, and I think the closing verged on embarrassing. I "got" the jokes, but didn't especially enjoy them. Eye of the beholder...

Loved the Games mind you. And the TV coverage was AWESOME! Only problem was I had to keep the clicker in my hand as I was constantly surfing between three channels, 2 of them in HD.

Pete wrote: Only problem was I had to keep the clicker in my hand as I was constantly surfing between three channels, 2 of them in HD.

To be honest, I actually enjoyed hearing the Canadian national anthem.

In many ways, it is more enjoyable than ours.

Look, there were flaws in the Olympics. But so what?

Not a big amount that ruined everything.

The coverage was very good, and the athletes seemed pleased.

Remember, in the last 20 years of winter Olympics, only 1 former host city is not in the red from hosting. That is Salt Lake City Utah.

All the others are reported to have abandoned facilities that are not used, and a debt that is almost impossible to recover.

If I was a mayor, I'd see this and never want the Olympics in my city. Take a look at Bejing from the last Summer Olympics. The Birds Nest is never used. That cost 1 Billion $$.

Skuj wrote:

You sure do follow me a lot, don't you?

i was here first. you followed me, stalker.