Posted on 08/12/2012 11:16:20 AM PDT by the scotsman
'American broadcaster NBC has been told to cease ringside commentary after amateur boxing's governing body complained to Olympics organisers that their presence was disrupting officials at the arena.
NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp, was the only broadcaster allowed to commentate from the ringside floor and the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said they disturbed officials sitting next to them throughout the competition.
It recommended to the London organising committee (LOCOG) that NBC's commentary team leave their position. They were offered a space with the other media but decided to leave instead, AIBA said.
"NBC commentators were offered a booth in the media tribune like other broadcasters because they were very disturbing for AIBA officials - even during bouts they were not broadcasting - being located at the edge of the Field of Play," an AIBA spokesman said.'
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.eurosport.yahoo.com ...
‘”They claimed that since no boxers from the USA were still in the running, they didn’t want to stay anyway.”’
How parochial and narrowminded of NBC.
Besides NBC had to broadcast more important events, like Rhythmic Gymnastics.
NBC coverage of the event was the worst I have ever seen. The men that did it well are gone.
The judging for the boxing was horrendous.
I saw Brazil and Thailand get screwed yesterday.
The Brazilian would have won if the ref didn’t deduct two points for holding or something. The best part was the Brazilian Trainer motioning to the Japanese boxer to make sure that he thanked the ref.
The Thai kid got rousing support from the audience because they knew he won.
I suspect this is the real reason that the "officials" wanted the NBC commentators removed. They didn't like having their bad decisions exposed throughout the world in real time.
Those men were also on ABC.
Every Olympics reminds me of just how much I miss Jim McKay.
I miss Howard Cosell . . . believe it or not.
Yeah . . . they gutted the track and field events, too, showing only snippets (almost wholly of track) late at night on tape delay.
Either they telecast the marathon before I got up this morning or they're not going to carry it at all.
The snotty smarm factor of Bob Costas alone keeps the mute button busy.
I saw a documentary on the 1972 Munich Tragedy and what happened behind the scenes at ABC while it was going on....Cosell and a young reporter named Peter Jennings were eyewitnessing what was going on relaying back to Roone Arledge who fed the information back to McKay in the studio.
McKay was just amazing, in conveying the emotions, still tear up when I think of those words he said, “They’re all gone.”
And yet the IOC doesn’t want to commemorate what happened.
Well . . . the announcers were pretty vehement about some of the lousy decisions that were being made. Maybe that is it.
I remember Olympic scoring being lousy because the Communist bloc officials always judged in favor of Communist countries. It seems the lousy scoring has survived the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Hey, I actually liked Rythmic Gynastics. Did you see that S. Korean female athelete do her routine with the ball? Remarkable! The one I thought was laughable was the synchronized swimming with all the jerky head and arm motions.
Much of their inane commentary aggravates viewers as well.
Too bad most media types do not understand STFU.
Now, there you go, an example of Romney not being right about these Olympics. Asking NBC to leave is always a good move.
McKay was just amazing, in conveying the emotions, still tear up when I think of those words he said, “They’re all gone.”
And yet the IOC doesn’t want to commemorate what happened.
Munich '72 is seared into my memory . . . Mark Spitz, Olga Korbut, Matthews and Collett goofing off during the Star Spangled Banner, Dave Wottle forgetting to remove his golf cap during his gold medal ceremony, Frank Shorter winning the Marathon but unaware because of the guy ahead of him (some guy who jumped in at about the last mile) and the crowd booing while Eric Segal was having a cow on the mic, the US vs. USSR men's basketball final . . . but most of all the terrible attack by those pieces of slime that marred the games forever. I recall the memorial service during the 24-hour suspension, the frequent cutting to the Israeli flag at half staff and my thinking that I bet the Arab and Communist countries didn't regret it one bit.
Yes, Jim McKay was unforgettable. And Howard Cosell pulled no punches in describing Black Semptember as "an offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization." Of course, as a typical Jewish liberal of the time, he attacked the new Black countries South Africa was setting up as frauds, without realizing the irony of attacking the PLO and condemning South Africa simultaneously.
I see that vintage logo, and I think 'sports': Olympics. Monday Night Football. Wide World Of Sports. "The Agony Of Defeat".
The sports department at ABC has got to be watching NBC Olympic coverage and just shaking their heads in disgust, helpless to do anything but bear witness to those lame-asses at NBC Sports massacre these games.
Isn't that awful?
What a total Cluster you-know-what the German security was during those games....it’s almost as if Himmler was running the show.
And then the Germans release the three surviving terrorists and they get a heroes’ welcome in Libya......I supposed that’s one reason I’m not sad that Kadaffy met his fate the way he did, although it was at the hands of those who would have applauded the massacre themselves.
The heart and soul of the Olympics is track and field (or, as the rest of the world calls it, athletics), and Americans only get to see it once every four years. This year's track and field (especially field) coverage was pitiful. What a disappointment.
Where's the marathon? Already shown? Shown tonight before the closing ceremonies? Not important enough to show? I never noticed the women's marathon either.
I believe the Israelis eventually got two of the bastards in "Operation Wrath of G-d." One of those monsters is said to be still alive, hiding out with his family somewhere in Africa. I hope every day of his worthless life has been agony, that he dies slowly and painfully, and that he boils in host excrement for all eternity.
I saw Spielberg’s remake of “Sword of Gideon”.
At least in Rio it is in our Eastern Time Zone, so we should be able to see more stuff live in Prime Time, of course NBC might still manage to screw it up.
What a show that was! Started in April '61 during the Bay of Pigs and they had a special anniversary show every five years afterwards. They actually showed just about every kind of sport there was on that show, very much including the ones that don't get much notice . . . track and field (including all the field events), wrist wrestling, skiing, amateur wrestling . . . you name it. And now it's long gone. But it wouldn't be the same without Jim anyway. Jim was the voice of the Wide World of Sports, the Olympics, the Indy 500 (with Jackie Stewart), and the Triple Crown. There'll never be another like him.
Hey, while you're at it, don't forget "The American Sportsman" with Curt Gowdy, who usually hunted and fished with people like Bing Crosby and Phil Harris. Can you imagine a network showing a hunting show nowadays?
The sports department at ABC has got to be watching NBC Olympic coverage and just shaking their heads in disgust, helpless to do anything but bear witness to those lame-asses at NBC Sports massacre these games.
Too bad ABC made the decision after the '88 Winter Olympics in Calgary to no longer bid to telecast the games. But even if they did carry them again one day it wouldn't be the same. No Jim McKay, no Chris Schenkel, no Howard Cosell, and no Roone Arledge overseeing everything. (Yeah, I know. Roone was a lib who later ran the ABC national news telecasts.)
NBC was originally supposed to carry the 1980 games until they were boycotted. They wound up a few minutes of highlights during other sports telecasts. And they still showed about as much as they do today!
Believe it or not, the first American network to carry the Olympics (winter and summer 1960) was CBS. Can you believe it? But Jim McKay was with them at the time. ::Sigh::
Jim made some appearances on NBC in his last few years.
I still think ABC’s greatest call was Franz Klammer’s downhill in ‘76.
As I understand it, Jennings was very pro-"palestinian" and was fond of "palestinian" women (being the lover at one point of PLO spokescreature Hannan Ashrawi). I've also heard that until the end of his life he never referred to the monsters who did this as "terrorists" but always as "guerrillas."
Interesting, I always knew he was a huge lib.
Ya gotta miss Howard. He was obnoxious, egotistical, and a liberal, but what a character (in fact, how much of his obnoxiousness just his schtick?). And he was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, btw.
I'm not a big fan of Ali, but Cosell epitomized boxing for the longest time. I never saw him on Monday Night Football because I have no use for football. Remember his five minute, five-day-a-week morning radio show, "Howard Cosell Speaking of Sports?"
He was a popular guest on lots of shows also. I remember a memorable guest shot on the Flip Wilson show. And in the fall of '75 (from the Ed Sullivan Theater) he gave us "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell," and on the first telecast introduced the world to the "new Beatles," the Bay City Rollers. Only it turns out they weren't.
Lots of good memories on this thread.
Cosell made a classic cameo appearance in Woody Allen’s “Bananas”.
Ah, the whole thing was started and finished before I even got up this morning. How like NBC (they did the same in Barcelona in '92). I can stop looking for it now and go ahead and see who won.
Not a bad race, but I was dismayed to learn the finish wouldn't be at a stadium as is Olympic tradition.
Why in the world would they not do that? I always understood it finished at the main Olympic stadium just before the closing ceremonies. Oh well, another tradition bites the dust!
“NBC asked to cease ringside commentary at Olympics”
I’ve asked them to cease ringside commentary of the election campaign.
As per the Olympics, there is way too much color commentary.
Dressage was such a fantastic event with those magnificent horses performing to the orchestral scores, yet the NBC commentators couldn’t shut the &%*@ up and just let the horse and rider do all the talking.
Am hoping one day there will be a dvd available with just the dressage performances sans the commentary.
people, people, my deluxe TV set up has a mute button. Try it, you’ll like it. Or run the captions and read them or not.
The mute button also mutes the original orchestral score which is such an important part of the dressage. Unless, like you, you prefer dressage in mime.
Now if I could just mute the commentator, you got a point.
sounds like a patent opportunity
Every event was on the NBC site.
I watched more Olympics these games than ever before on my time, not theirs.
In fact, most days I had one channel playing on my tv and two streams on the computer. It was Glorious!
I watched more Olympics these games than ever before on my time, not theirs.
In fact, most days I had one channel playing on my tv and two streams on the computer. It was Glorious!
Ah, yes. I tried to find the throwing events on their web site. When I found them and clicked on the videos they froze up. And before you ask, yes, I have DSL.
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