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London 2012 Olympics

I don't like watching sports I don't like watching TV (which is why I don't have one), so I'm happy enough not seeing most of the games.

I had originally intended to let the games pass by without attending but I changed my mind a couple of months ago - and picked up a random ticket. I'm going to be watching ladies basketball UK versus Brazil. It'll be interesting going to see one event just to get into the Olympic Park and to soak up the atmosphere.

Apart from my one afternoon there the games will be a real PITA to me. I work a couple of tube stops away from the stadium and I'm going to have two weeks of annoyance getting into work.
 
Tomorrow said:
I enjoy watching field events, but they're so infrequently aired. Track events longer than the mile (yes, I know it's 1500m, but colloquially it's a mile) bore me - they're like NASCAR minus the car.

I wish they would show handball. You virtually never see it anywhere here, but it's a cool game to watch.

Seems like most of the airtime here is given to diving and gymnastics, two "sports" I absolutely abhor.

*(I've had to explain myself on this many times. I'm not saying these events aren't athletic or that they don't require a tremendous amount of skill and training, but I have a hard time accepting anything as a "sport" when the winners and losers are determined solely by judges. By that definition, a beauty pageant or a chili cook-off would be a sport.)
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I love the olympics. i like pretty much every sport, although i have to say that the ones that i do find very hard to stomach are synchronized swimming (as a commercial of some years ago recited: Add, sharks... then you can call it a sport :D), synchronized diving and rhythmic gymnastics. meh.

rdowns said:
I used to love wathing just about any Olympic sport (WTF is up with rhythmic gymnastics?) but NBC has comletely ruined them with their endless stream of "human interest" angles on th athletes. Show me the ****imng competition. I couldn't care less about their stories.
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word.
and please, please, PLEASE show them friggin' LIVE!
i do not care to watch them on prime time, i do not give a frap about packaging or background on the athletes.
I want to watch the EVENTS and i would like to watch them ALL, and i want to watch them AS THEY HAPPEN.
yes, i WILL change my own schedule to watch them live and i WILL get up at 3 am to watch an archery qualification series or any other obscure event, but I will NOT watch them delayed, when I already know the results.
NBC is the worst thing to ever happen to the olympics, i swear. And it looks like it gets worse every time.
The 100 meter final delayed should get people fired on the spot.

Blue Velvet said:
Now that I've seen it in use around the city and on various pieces of merchandising, signage and collateral, as well the different ways in which it can rendered, I've completely changed my mind about it and think it works pretty well. Putting my graphic designer cap on for a second, the two most important things it achieves in my opinion, are:

1. It cuts sharply through the urban visual grease and clutter of London because it looks like nothing else out there. Along with its typography, it's immediately unique and identifiable; an important factor when you see the signage and wayfinding stuff that's going up around the city and on the tube for the many thousands of visitors that will be here.

2. As a brand device that's supposed to represent London, it's fairly jagged, edgy and gritty for this kind of thing. It's the closest thing to punk that you'll see for an event of this scale with this level of corporate involvement and is far more representative of London's diversity and vibrancy than a slick brand identity with gradients, curved lines and forms and blander typography. That's not what this city is about. Seeing it against a white background in one colour isn't representative of its various uses and versions; it's pretty versatile...

So yeah, I've become quite fond of it, in its own little misshapen way. :)
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I trust your judgement, but most of what you say would have been true for any logo they picked, not only about the one depicting lisa simpson giving a BJ (sorry, i just CAN'T look at the logo and not see that anymore. unfortunately some things cannot be unseen :D)

Queen of Spades said:
I know, true, it would get old. This is why I firmly believe that, with the exception of the months of December/January, the Northeast of the USA has the ideal weather. :)
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really? i love winter in NYC
 
I'll be happily flicking through the schedules. I imagine the gymnasts will appeal as per usual, plus I'll be watching all the events Team GB are good at (sitting down events, as an Aussie friend of mine puts it :D). And the big ticket items of course, which are mostly athletics IMO.

Quite looking forward to it TBH :)
 
Don't panic said:
And please, please, PLEASE show them friggin' LIVE!

I do not care to watch them on prime time, I do not give a frap about packaging or background on the athletes.

I want to watch the EVENTS and I would like to watch them ALL, and I want to watch them AS THEY HAPPEN.

Yes, I WILL change my own schedule to watch them live and I WILL get up at 3 am to watch an archery qualification series or any other obscure event, but I will NOT watch them delayed, when I already know the results.

NBC is the worst thing to ever happen to the Olympics, I swear. And it looks like it gets worse every time.

The 100 meter final delayed should get people fired on the spot.
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Everything about the Olympics is supposed to be amateur, but the ad revenue certainly is not.

That's the problem.

The "packaging" of the events is just a ploy to get you to put-up with the, to us, unnecessary time delay.
 
iJohnHenry said:
Everything about the Olympics is supposed to be amateur, but the ad revenue certainly is not.

That's the problem.

The "packaging" of the events is just a ploy to get you to put-up with the, to us, unnecessary time delay.
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i know, i was just ranting. :D

i'll end up following some crappy feed or text-only description online, and bitch about it with the missus :)
 
Don't panic said:
I want to watch the EVENTS and i would like to watch them ALL, and i want to watch them AS THEY HAPPEN.
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In addition to background stories, coverage of the Cultural Olympiad and the Paralympics, the BBC will broadcast every minute of every event live, spread across 24 channels, on digital TV and via their app. All without a single second of commercials.

Just sayin' ;)

However, there's this NBC app which will have tons of live streams, apparently. It's also possible that you may get more events shown live next time around in 2016 when the Olympics are held in Rio, one hour ahead of EST, I think.
 
I will be watching football, both men and women. While men teams have to be under 23 in age (but 3 players), women teams can have players of every age, which is while I see it as a small world cup or european cup like tournament for the women's football and so I hope it will be not that lazy. Watching under-23 men's football at the Olympics as a substitute during the time I have to wait till the interesting games of the 1. Bundesliga starts.
 
Heard a rumor that the band New Order will be playing the closing ceremonies, without hooky of course. :(. Hopefully I'll get a glimpse of them on tv sometime.
 
Lol at how good the US mens basketball team is this year.

I'll try and catch the games, but the only one worth watching will be against Spain. But I really doubt that the US is going to even be challenged this year.

Looking forward to a few other events too.
 
eric/ said:
Lol at how good the US mens basketball team is this year.

I'll try and catch the games, but the only one worth watching will be against Spain. But I really doubt that the US is going to even be challenged this year.

Looking forward to a few other events too.
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I have absolutely no interest in watching men's basketball. I don't think the team winning by 40 points is entertaining even a little bit. I'd much rather watch a team of college guys winning as underdogs.
 
I will really make the effort to watch the mens 100 meters.
Which for me sums up every thing about the Olympics in under 10 Seconds. :D
 
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eric/ said:
I like watching it because it's interesting to see all the best NBA players play together.

The whole underdog thing is overrated.
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So you're the 1 person that watches the NBA All-Star game? :p

Eh, one of the reasons that March Madness is so popular (especially the first weekend) is because there's always the chance that a David will take out a Goliath. So it may not be all that overrated.

What is overrated is seeing any team (whether it's a "dream team" or not) win by huge margins. It's not any fun to watch. I'd love to see them play in close games at least. And I bet if there is any chance of the team getting upset, a lot more people will watch.
 
Actually I don't really watch all star games. Never really got into them much.

Winning by 40 points or whatever isn't a great game I suppose, but I do enjoy seeing the US dominate and watching the US players play together as I stated above.

I like March Madness not for the underdog teams, which can be interesting surely, but because I like seeing all the best teams from across the country play each other and actually prove who is best.
 
eric/ said:
Actually I don't really watch all star games. Never really got into them much.

Winning by 40 points or whatever isn't a great game I suppose, but I do enjoy seeing the US dominate and watching the US players play together as I stated above.

I like March Madness not for the underdog teams, which can be interesting surely, but because I like seeing all the best teams from across the country play each other and actually prove who is best.
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They should send that Kentucky team and see what they can do against the rest of the world. That would be a heck of a lot more entertaining. Maybe I'm different than most - but I really have no interest in watching all the great NBA players play together. *shrug* Then again, I don't watch the All-Star game either. Or the Miami Heat. ;)

That said, I love watching sports in the olympics that I don't normally get a chance to watch. Gymnastics, track & field, swimming, beach volleyball, etc..
 
Moyank24 said:
They should send that Kentucky team and see what they can do against the rest of the world. That would be a heck of a lot more entertaining. Maybe I'm different than most - but I really have no interest in watching all the great NBA players play together. *shrug* Then again, I don't watch the All-Star game either. Or the Miami Heat. ;)

That said, I love watching sports in the olympics that I don't normally get a chance to watch. Gymnastics, track & field, swimming, beach volleyball, etc..
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isn't that what they used to do? back when 'professionals' athletes were not allowed? of course half of the other countries were already siding pros, except they were not called so and they were paid by the country as part of their armed forces, police and so on.

the first dream team was amazing.
i think this year will be also good, although that team was pn an entire different level. a thing of beauty.

in any case these are competitive games, nothing to do with the all-stars game. they should win, but it's not going to be a cakewalk.
 
obeygiant said:
Has it stopped raining in London yet?
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No. The city is being thoroughly washed for the Olympics. :D



I'm indifferent about the Olympics. There are many things* that bother me about it but I don't see the point constantly complaining (and many do) because it accomplishes nothing.


*Mostly I'm annoyed that the organisers have gone out of their way to make it convenient for visitors while making the locals feel unwelcome. This is a double slap in the face considering we have paid for plenty of it and we are the ones that will be burdened by it. Then there's the insane corporate BS surrounding it and the over-the-top security/military presence. I don't want to go PRSI about it but that's what bothers me, if you wondered.

In spite of all that, including the completely appalling weather, there is still kind of a buzz about the city right now. Lots of places have been cleaned up in big and small ways and that's always a good thing.
I can also see Greenwich park from my balcony (where they are having equestrian events) and I'm looking forward to watching that camera zip across the river. Whatever happens it should be interesting at least.
 
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