It's early evening here in Indianapolis and I'm watching Women's Weightlifting on MSNBC, a discipline apparently known as the "clean and jerk." To say that this isn't one of the glamour events of the Olympics is an understatement. This one of those sports that gets pretty much zero coverage in the 3 years and 50 weeks between Olympiads, and I certainly know nothing about it. It may be a bigger deal in other countries; as I'm watching I notice that there are no American women competing, or at least not in the top 10 spots that are listed on the screen.
There's another factor that may affect the way this sport is covered, at least in the U.S., and it has to do with the competitors themselves.They're not glamorous. They're not wearing skin-tight leotards like the gymnasts or bikini bottoms and tight T-shirts like the beach volleyball players. To be blunt, they're not pretty, at least not by the standards of American pop-culture, and in terms of media coverage in America, "pretty is what it's about." They are, however, world-class athletes and I'm glad their event is being shown even if it is outside the main limelight. As I'm watching, the competitor from Kazakhstan takes the gold, Russia takes silver and Canada takes the bronze. Congratulations, everyone!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Hanging Out In The Eastern Time Zone
It's day 3 of the Olympics and I'm watching the men's synchronized diving, which is very cool. I won't be watching for very long, tonight, however, because I'm in a hotel room in Indianapolis and we're in the Eastern Time Zone, or the Central Time Zone but they don't observe Daylight Savings Time, or, you know, whatever. NBC's prime time coverage didn't even start until 8:00 here and if I want to see it all I have to stay up until midnight, and that's not going to happen. I already know today's results, of course, just from surfing around to my usual news and politics sites and blogs. It's almost impossible to get to the daily prime time show without already knowing the results. I don't really want to go back to the flickering black and white television images from the 1968 games in Mexico City, but on the other hand social media and 21st century technology have certainly changed the experience of "watching" the Olympics. I'll stay up as long as I can, then it will be lights out. Whatever I miss tonight I can find on-line tomorrow. A lot has changed since 1968.
What Did Rafalca Ever Do To Mitt?
This isn't a political blog, other than my snarky rantings about the latest political sex scandal and other silliness from the clueless politician-du-jour. At the moment, however, I admit that I may appear to be obsessed with the confluence of sports and politics represented by Ann Romney's horse Rafalca. Specifically I'm intrigued by Mitt's attempts to distance himself from the nice horsey. To recap, last Wednesday, in an interview in London with Brian Williams just before the start of the Olympics, Mittens said, in response to a question about Rafalca, "I'm not even sure when the sport goes on. She will get the chance to see it, I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well."
"I'm not even sure when the sport goes on." Let's think about this. I'm not Mitt Romney's biggest fan, but I sincerely believe that he's a devoted and loving husband, which is why that statement strikes me as odd. Mr. and Mrs. Romney were in London for the Olympics Opening Ceremony, as well as some meetings with British leaders. Then they flew to Israel, and then they're going to Poland. They're flying on a private jet, accompanied by some or all of their sons, some campaign staff members, some reporters and the United States Secret Service. At the completion of the visit to Poland, Mitt will return to the U.S. and Ann's going back to London to watch the equestrian events that start on Thursday. With all the planning that goes into a trip like this, are we really supposed to believe that Mitt has no idea why his wife isn't coming home with him?
I'd be willing to bet that Mitt told a teensy-weensy fib because he doesn't want to be too closely associated with the fancy-dancy sport of dressage, or as Stephen Colbert put it, competitive horse prancing. He probably doesn't want to discuss the $77,000 tax deduction they were able to take for Rafalca's care and feeding. When you're as rich as the Romneys, 77K is a rounding error, but for us regular folks it's a lot of money, more than many of us earn in a year, and our pets aren't tax deductible. Mrs. Romney likes to emphasize that Rafalca has been therapeutic in helping her cope with her M.S. and that's nice, but most Americans don't have the option of importing a $100,000 European horse when they get sick.
So don't take it personally, Rafalca. Mittens likes you a lot more than he's willing to admit. Pretending he doesn't is just part of his efforts to convince voters that he's not really an elite one-percenter.
Will this be my last post about Rafalca? Almost certainly not.
"I'm not even sure when the sport goes on." Let's think about this. I'm not Mitt Romney's biggest fan, but I sincerely believe that he's a devoted and loving husband, which is why that statement strikes me as odd. Mr. and Mrs. Romney were in London for the Olympics Opening Ceremony, as well as some meetings with British leaders. Then they flew to Israel, and then they're going to Poland. They're flying on a private jet, accompanied by some or all of their sons, some campaign staff members, some reporters and the United States Secret Service. At the completion of the visit to Poland, Mitt will return to the U.S. and Ann's going back to London to watch the equestrian events that start on Thursday. With all the planning that goes into a trip like this, are we really supposed to believe that Mitt has no idea why his wife isn't coming home with him?
I'd be willing to bet that Mitt told a teensy-weensy fib because he doesn't want to be too closely associated with the fancy-dancy sport of dressage, or as Stephen Colbert put it, competitive horse prancing. He probably doesn't want to discuss the $77,000 tax deduction they were able to take for Rafalca's care and feeding. When you're as rich as the Romneys, 77K is a rounding error, but for us regular folks it's a lot of money, more than many of us earn in a year, and our pets aren't tax deductible. Mrs. Romney likes to emphasize that Rafalca has been therapeutic in helping her cope with her M.S. and that's nice, but most Americans don't have the option of importing a $100,000 European horse when they get sick.
So don't take it personally, Rafalca. Mittens likes you a lot more than he's willing to admit. Pretending he doesn't is just part of his efforts to convince voters that he's not really an elite one-percenter.
Will this be my last post about Rafalca? Almost certainly not.
It Wasn't Really The Queen!
I'm still having fun thinking about the Queen's role in the "Bond. James Bond" segment of the Opening Ceremonies Friday night, mostly the fact that she was laid-back enough to do it. In case you were wondering, it turns out it wasn't really Her Majesty who jumped out of that airplane. Matt Lauer talks to the stunt man who wore a pink dress.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Mittens Has A Very Bad Week
It's not a good day for a politician when a foreign newspaper runs a headline that reads "Mitt the Twit." Now Newsweek piles on with a cover story titled "The Wimp Factor." Political junkies will remember that back in 1987, the same magazine called then-Vice President George H.W. Bush a wimp, but in the new story about Mitt Romney, Newsweek admits that was a mistake, saying that "in hindsight, Poppy looks like Dirty Harry compared with Romney." Yowza. It's all keeping me amused and entertained during the hot hazy days of summer, and this is all before Rafalca takes the stage.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Olympic Tidbits
I heard my first national anthem today and it wasn't the Star Spangled Banner. I actually enjoy the medal ceremonies. It's fun to see the winners and the flags, I especially like hearing the national anthems of the various countries. Some I recognize, like O Canada, La Marseillaise and of course, God Save The Queen, others are pretty obscure, but it's always a nice moment when the flags go up and the winning athlete hears the song representing his or her country. NBC ended their daytime coverage with one of the first medal ceremonies, and although I didn't hear what the sport was or the name of the winner, it was still fun to see. Which country's anthem was it? Kazakhstan.
I also saw one of the heats in rowing, with eight men in a boat and a coxswain. I've always thought rowing, or "crew," was cool and wished I could try it. Not a sport for wimps, obviously and not as easy as it looks when they're gliding through the water. Those guys are tough, and really, really fit. Strange as it sounds, my biggest exposure to world-class rowing comes from watching The Social Network, featuring the Winklevoss twins, or as Aaron Sorkin memorably put it, "the Winklevi."
Still no sign of Rafalca.
I also saw one of the heats in rowing, with eight men in a boat and a coxswain. I've always thought rowing, or "crew," was cool and wished I could try it. Not a sport for wimps, obviously and not as easy as it looks when they're gliding through the water. Those guys are tough, and really, really fit. Strange as it sounds, my biggest exposure to world-class rowing comes from watching The Social Network, featuring the Winklevoss twins, or as Aaron Sorkin memorably put it, "the Winklevi."
Still no sign of Rafalca.
The Opening Ceremony
Who knew the Queen has a sense of humor? Most of the time she keeps that fact pretty well hidden, at least in public, but last night during the opening ceremony she entered into the spirit of things with gusto, performing in a skit with one of the James Bonds and letting her "body double" parachute into the games like Mata Hari. Wow. There were other "wow" moments during the ceremony, too, of course, along with a few "ick" moments, as always. So here's my take on the good, the bad and the ugly of London's Opening Ceremony.
One of the Wows for me was simply the number of nations taking part, some of which I've sort-of heard of but don't know very much about (Andorra, Kiribati, Malawi...), some of which I literally didn't even know existed (Comoros, Djibouti, Nauru, Timor-Leste...), and some of which are so associated in my mind with political turmoil that it's easy to forget that they even have regular citizens and athletes (North Korea, Iran, Syria...) It was fun to see all the athletes walk in the parade, especially when they were in native costume. That's pretty much the only chance we have to appreciate them because these tiny, obscure countries get almost no television coverage during the actual events, at least not here in the U.S. I tell myself it would be interesting to google some of them and see what pops up, which I may get around to doing, or not.
I was stuck by how attractive the athletes were, or perhaps I should say the athletes NBC choose to focus on.
Speaking of NBC, the biggest ewwwww of the night for me was the seemingly unending commercials. In my previous post I called the games a corporate promotional money-fest and boy was I right. Sometimes the commercial breaks seemed to last longer than the segments with actual scenes from the ceremony.
On the other hand, there were a couple of commercials that I actually liked. A Visa spot showing a diver diving off the Burj Khalifa, formerly known as the Burj Dubai, made me smile, simply because I've always been intrigued by the world's tallest building. And I loved the commercial with little kids doing all the things Olympic athletes do, with the proud Moms watching in the stands. As cute as that was, however, the tagline "Proud Sponsor of Moms," just bugs me. What does that even mean?
Finally, no sighting yet of Rafalca but the equestrian events haven't started yet. Stay tuned.
One of the Wows for me was simply the number of nations taking part, some of which I've sort-of heard of but don't know very much about (Andorra, Kiribati, Malawi...), some of which I literally didn't even know existed (Comoros, Djibouti, Nauru, Timor-Leste...), and some of which are so associated in my mind with political turmoil that it's easy to forget that they even have regular citizens and athletes (North Korea, Iran, Syria...) It was fun to see all the athletes walk in the parade, especially when they were in native costume. That's pretty much the only chance we have to appreciate them because these tiny, obscure countries get almost no television coverage during the actual events, at least not here in the U.S. I tell myself it would be interesting to google some of them and see what pops up, which I may get around to doing, or not.
I was stuck by how attractive the athletes were, or perhaps I should say the athletes NBC choose to focus on.
Speaking of NBC, the biggest ewwwww of the night for me was the seemingly unending commercials. In my previous post I called the games a corporate promotional money-fest and boy was I right. Sometimes the commercial breaks seemed to last longer than the segments with actual scenes from the ceremony.
On the other hand, there were a couple of commercials that I actually liked. A Visa spot showing a diver diving off the Burj Khalifa, formerly known as the Burj Dubai, made me smile, simply because I've always been intrigued by the world's tallest building. And I loved the commercial with little kids doing all the things Olympic athletes do, with the proud Moms watching in the stands. As cute as that was, however, the tagline "Proud Sponsor of Moms," just bugs me. What does that even mean?
Finally, no sighting yet of Rafalca but the equestrian events haven't started yet. Stay tuned.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Citius, Altius, Fortius
The title of this post is the official Olympics motto ("Faster, Higher, Stronger") and of course it's my signal that I'm in an Olympic mood. In the interest of full disclosure I'll state up front that my Olympic moods can run hot and cold. I generally enjoy watching the games, learning about the athletes and cheering when American athletes win. On the other hand, as a "communications professional" and self-proclaimed media watcher/critic, I recognize that a lot of the television coverage is an exercise in emotional manipulation (this athlete's rags-to-glory Olympic story, that athlete overcame crushing adversity or illness, this one is dedicating his medal to his beloved granny who raised him...) and I don't like having my emotions manipulated. The whole thing is also a great big corporate promotional money-fest, with political and power overtones, and that's annoying too.
Still, I was watching the Today show this morning and I did find myself enjoying the interview with the U.S. women's gymnastics team. It's five women, ages 15-18, I think, and it really is hard to imagine what their lives have been like to get them to this point. The girls, (and yes, since they're teenagers I'm comfortable calling them girls,) were an intriguing mixture of world-class athlete, intense competitor and giggly teen-agers who were hoping to meet Usain Bolt. They were charming and I was charmed. I also liked their cool hot-pink competition outfits. So for me today, it's "Go Gymnastic Girls!" I'm hoping you kick some butt and win some gold in your competitions.
By the way, Wikipedia helpfully notes that the Latin words in the motto are comparative adverbs, not adjectives. Who knew?
Still, I was watching the Today show this morning and I did find myself enjoying the interview with the U.S. women's gymnastics team. It's five women, ages 15-18, I think, and it really is hard to imagine what their lives have been like to get them to this point. The girls, (and yes, since they're teenagers I'm comfortable calling them girls,) were an intriguing mixture of world-class athlete, intense competitor and giggly teen-agers who were hoping to meet Usain Bolt. They were charming and I was charmed. I also liked their cool hot-pink competition outfits. So for me today, it's "Go Gymnastic Girls!" I'm hoping you kick some butt and win some gold in your competitions.
By the way, Wikipedia helpfully notes that the Latin words in the motto are comparative adverbs, not adjectives. Who knew?
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Back To The Blog - Again!
I've missed my blog! One reason for my absence is that I've been travelling a lot for my job and things frequently get hectic. It occurred to me recently that another reason I haven't been posting is Facebook. I realized that I've been putting things in my status updates that previously would have made good blog posts. It certainly hasn't been because nothing interesting is happening. We're in the midst of another presidential election, John Edwards and Reiller Hunter have imploded, the Jacksons are feuding *again*, Bristol Palin's in the news *again* and the 2012 Olympics are about to start. These are the current updates on just a few my usual blog topics. As I've said before there's lots of blogging to be done, but for right now I'm thinking about the Olympics.
The four years always go by so fast. I actually remember back in 2005 when it was announced that London won the 2012 games, and it seems like Beijing was just yesterday. As always, there's plenty of controversy, including the not-ready-for-prime-time performance of the company hired to do security, the traffic tie-ups and the special "Olympics Only" traffic lanes instituted to ensure the hotshots and bigwigs aren't inconvenienced, and doping and racists tweets by athletes. I heard this morning that the flag of South Korea was accidentally displayed while a North Korean soccer team was introduced, which is a major no no in international politics and sports. The North Korean team walked off in protest, although after some groveling by organizers, they were persuaded to return to the field. And the opening ceremony is still a day away!
On top of all that, did you know that Ann Romney is an Olympian? Well, not her so much as her horse, named Rafalca. Rafalca and his la-de-da rider participate in the sport of dressage, and although Mitt Romney apparently wants to bask in the glow of his positive association with the Olympics, he doesn't want to have much to do with Rafalca. Here's the quote from Mitt: "I have to tell you. This is Ann's sport. I'm not even sure which day the sport is on. She will have the chance to see it. I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well." Wow, that doesn't sound very husbandly to me. Let's think about why Mitt doesn't want to be too closely associated with Rafalca.
That's it for now, more blogging to come!
The four years always go by so fast. I actually remember back in 2005 when it was announced that London won the 2012 games, and it seems like Beijing was just yesterday. As always, there's plenty of controversy, including the not-ready-for-prime-time performance of the company hired to do security, the traffic tie-ups and the special "Olympics Only" traffic lanes instituted to ensure the hotshots and bigwigs aren't inconvenienced, and doping and racists tweets by athletes. I heard this morning that the flag of South Korea was accidentally displayed while a North Korean soccer team was introduced, which is a major no no in international politics and sports. The North Korean team walked off in protest, although after some groveling by organizers, they were persuaded to return to the field. And the opening ceremony is still a day away!
On top of all that, did you know that Ann Romney is an Olympian? Well, not her so much as her horse, named Rafalca. Rafalca and his la-de-da rider participate in the sport of dressage, and although Mitt Romney apparently wants to bask in the glow of his positive association with the Olympics, he doesn't want to have much to do with Rafalca. Here's the quote from Mitt: "I have to tell you. This is Ann's sport. I'm not even sure which day the sport is on. She will have the chance to see it. I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well." Wow, that doesn't sound very husbandly to me. Let's think about why Mitt doesn't want to be too closely associated with Rafalca.
That's it for now, more blogging to come!
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