2016 Summer Olympics - Rio de Janerio, Brazil (1 Viewer)

[Walter C]

Even though competition already started, Olympic history is about to be officially made in less than 24 hours. Though, from what I have read and seen on TV, it is not looking like a good one so far.

Still, I will be watching, which I expect to be mostly live.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

There is not much in the Summer Olympics that interests me. I much prefer the Winter Olympics. I may watch a little of the golf, which is new this time, but that event seems like a lesser tournament. Professional golf already has four majors, plus the Ryder Cup and FedEx Cup playoffs. Also, several of the top men's players have backed out.

 

[DaveF]

Got the TiVo set...

 

[Walter C]

Forgot about the Kitten Games, which is airing against the Opening Ceremony! At least one of them will be replayed later on.

And I don't blame any of the athletes backing out of these games, especially after I saw that episode of Real Sports on the IOC.

 

[Robert Crawford]

There is not much in the Summer Olympics that interests me. I much prefer the Winter Olympics. I may watch a little of the golf, which is new this time, but that event seems like a lesser tournament. Professional golf already has four majors, plus the Ryder Cup and FedEx Cup playoffs. Also, several of the top men's players have backed out.

I'm the opposite, I don't care about the Winter Olympics except for the women's ice skating.

 

[Mike2001]

Looking forward to seeing the Opening Ceremony in 4K. After that, DirecTV is giving us days of 4K Judo coverage, for some reason.

 

[Joe Wong]

Once again, in terms of live coverage, the biggest sporting event in the world is being treated in shabby fashion by NBC. I remember the men's 100m final (arguably the #1 or most prestigious event at the Olympics) in 2008 not shown live at around 10am ET on Saturday, while their suite of channels showed 3 early-round (a couple of them meaningless) basketball matches. They can replay the 100m or gymnastics or swimming finals at 8pm or prime time or whatever. Just also show it live!

 

[Stan]

I usually enjoy watching the Olympics, both summer and winter. But I'm going to pass on this one. There are just so many negative things with the venue. Crime, pollution, the Zika virus, just basic infrastructure, possible terrorism, etc. Easily one of the worst locations that could have been chosen. Granted the location was decided on years ago, but I'm going to skip it this time.

Also goes without saying that NBC will screw up the coverage.

 

[Bob Cashill]

I had the same notion, but watching the OCs on my big screen for the first time was too tempting to pass up. Let the games begin!

 

[Clinton McClure]

I have never cared much for the olympics. If the events are traditional things like feats of physical strength and agility (track and field events) it's alright but I'm an absolute non-fan of olympic sports like basketball, golf, baseball, volleyball. Same goes for the entire lineup of winter olympic sports.

 

[Joe Wong]

I like most of the Olympics sports that one normally doesn't get to see on a regular basis (swimming, athletics, cycling, weightlifting, etc.).

On the other hand, sports like basketball and golf are already played at least weekly, so it's not as if they're fresh to US viewers' eyes. However, an Olympics basketball competition does function somewhat like a world championship, so maybe it's worth including for that. But as for golf and tennis, the 4 majors and grand slam events are in essence already showcasing the best in the world, so an Olympic champion in golf or tennis doesn't quite have the same prestige.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

People are griping about the opening ceremony being a letdown -- no surprise given that it had a tenth of the budget of London, and nothing will likely compare to the mass human endeavor an undemocratic Communist regime at the height of its economic power could achieve -- but it's still performance art on a scale we never see anymore except for the Olympics. I do wonder how NBC's broadcast could be such a mess, though, given that they tape delayed it to squeeze in an hour of pointless filler. If ever there was a foreign Olympics made for live broadcast, it's a city that's only an hour ahead of EDT.

While I'm more interested in many of the Winter Olympics events, I appreciate that the Summer Olympics come during a lull in scripted programming. I'll probably follow the women's gymnastics, swimming, diving, track/field and soccer.

 

[Walter C]

If only they had the budget of at least London's, I think Rio's OC would have been very close on par with Beijing. Still, I thought what we actually got, was really good, as it was very festive and colorful. And even acknowledging that they have slavery, which was incorporated in the ceremony, which I don't think any other OC would have done. And a nice touch to see de Lima to light the cauldron.

I will be mainly watching swimming, gymnastics, and track & field, plus any other sports that I don't normally watch, if time and energy permits. I will probably completely skip basketball this time around.

 

[Sam Posten]

Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

Spoiler

 

[Tony Bensley]

Gruesome!

 

[Walter C]

There have been some gruesome moments of these games, but can't find the video on YouTube or anywhere online (probably got quickly taken down). Like the British gymnast Ellie Downie landing on her head when doing floor exercises.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I've been kind of randomly watching here and there. Yesterday while building some furniture, I caught the entertaining but disappointing US men's volleyball team upset loss to Canada and the US women's Rugby 7 loss to New Zealand in a nailbiter.

Every now and then I find some rugby on TV and am reminded of how fun it is to watch.

 

[Nelson Au]

Sam, that video you embedded wasn't working for me on an iPad. If it was the women's cycling, I was watching that since I'm a cyclist. If that was Annemiek van Vleuten's crash, I saw that happen and I did something similar. I was fearing she might have pushed too hard and I would have done what the US cyclist Mara Abbott and backed off a little to avoid slipping. But that cost her the race potentially. I figure if van Vleuten did not crash, the pair could have pulled away from the pack behind them.

 

[Sam Posten]

It was the french gymnast who self-Theisman'ed

 

[Nelson Au]

I had to look up Theisman.