On Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 11:28 AM Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 10:37 AM PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Overall I am digging the way these Olympics are being presented. Whenever >> I am tempted to complain about something, I tell myself to STF up, as my >> younger self remembers having no choice but to watch partial and very >> incomplete US-centric highlights with Jim McKay’s at times jingoistic >> commentary. >> > > My observations having spent much less time than you watching the games: > > First and most welcome is that it finally got through up and down the > Olympics and media institutions is to treat and talk about female athletes > as athletes. I saw an AP story about how the camera people shooting the > video pool footage are instructed not to sexualize their shots of female > athletes. One thing I found unwatchable in the past was showcasing gymnasts > and synchronized swimmers as performers or princesses rather than athletes > who had to give up normal lives in order to train for these events. I > sincerely hope that the days of calling an American women's gymnastics > champ America's Sweetheart are over unless they also call an American men's > decathlon champ that, too. > For what it is worth, my late mother definitely considered Olympian Greg Louganis to be America’s Sweetheart, but your point is well taken. > There was a truism from the Roone Arledge days of Olympic coverage that > women don't watch sports so the way to get them immersed in the Olympics is > to turn athletes' personal stories into soap operas for Up Close and > Personal segments. There still seem to be "get to know the athlete" > segments but they have been moved into the background. Our collective > sports experience, certainly of the last decade, is that women like and > watch sports and don't need to be talked down to. NBC also seems to have > added more female commentators to mens' sports. > > I still don't have cable but I saw the NBC Olympics site will give me a 30 > minute window to watch highlights. I also subscribe to the NBC Sports > YouTube page and they are putting up tons of highlights and not US-centric > ones. I can find plenty to watch without having to find a VPN or bothering > with pirated streams. > > As for turning away from being US-centric, it seems that broadcast sports > are going that way and it's not killing them in the ratings. ESPN and ABC > just had the delayed Euro 2020 competition. FOX and its FS channels had the > Copa America (South American national team competition) and now they have > the CONCACAF Gold Cup (North America and the Caribbean national team > competition). The US team is only playing in the last competition. The > announcers of games the US is not in do not constantly make references to > the US team so maybe the younger sports watching public has a more balanced > international world view. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiENYwCBD%3Dx5Qs5WWhyzmUbEZLOhzv6CAWRJjzPUkZdt7Q%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAJE-FiENYwCBD%3Dx5Qs5WWhyzmUbEZLOhzv6CAWRJjzPUkZdt7Q%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/CAKgmY4DV9HdRMtCVepxeWqrj4rFvbRQGyuiuz9jXDNJdJf8zkw%40mail.gmail.com.
