
Women’s Gymnastics Deserves Better TV Coverage - r-w
http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/how-to-really-watch-olympic-gymnastics
======
dominotw
>Not enough drama for you? How about the fact that gymnasts risk their health
every time they step onto the mat?

>One of the factors preventing Americans from appreciating just how difficult
it is to do what an Olympic gymnast does is the fact that competitors are
expected to perform their routines without betraying any evidence of effort.

I've stopped reading twitter/news due to this constant moral chiding. I don't
understand this (recent?) obsession with pointing out how Americans are
stupid/ignorant/racists/misogynists/shallow. Wish we could keep this kind of
stuff out of HN.

Only egomaniacs overestimate their own virtuousness and underestimate everyone
else's.

~~~
scott_s
What you quoted is a criticism of American sports-media, not Americans.

~~~
superuser2
If you subscribe to the theory that the media is in a deliberate conspiracy
against the public, that might hold.

If you believe (as I do) that the media is mostly in the business of giving
people what they want (not what they say they want, but what they actually
choose to reward with ad impressions) then they are exactly the same.

~~~
Retric
That's not how mass media works. 10,010,000 mildly interested people beats
10,000,000 highly interested people. If you care about the sport you're going
to watch even if the coverage I crap, thus people who care are ignorable if
they can get an extra 0.01% of viewers or just save some money.

So yes there are dumb people in the US and NBC wants them to tune in. But,
that says little about the rest of the US population.

------
koolba
I think all the events need better coverage. I've seen more footage of Ryan
Seacrest drinking caipirinhas than that of the sports I'd enjoy watching.

Is it too much to ask in 2016 for a single web page that lets me filter down
to each event and see all the heats leading up to the final? Or how about a
single page with all the events happening live so I can put the one I actually
want to watch?

~~~
ryandrake
If I got all my information about the Olympics from watching NBC, I'd believe
that only a few events are taking place, and that only Americans (and a
handful of people from other countries) are competing.

"Look! The American took 3th place! Let's interview her and show a little
mini-biography of her life and not even show or mention the Australian and
Chinese competitors who took gold and silver!"

~~~
imsofuture
I watch weightlifting pretty closely, and most of the globe's networks seem to
stream the BBC feed. It's one of the better broadcasts out there -- really
knowledgeable commentators, completely neutral, just there for the joy of the
sport and competition.

~~~
yoshamano
All of the globe's networks are actually using one stream from the Olympic
Broadcasting Services [http://www.obs.tv/](http://www.obs.tv/)

I found the making of videos they have on that page interesting. Basically the
OBS are the ones doing the actual filming and broadcasting of all the Olympic
events , and then all the broadcasters of the world rebroadcast that. They
also provide all the onscreen graphics.

So NBC could send down a tech crew and an uplink truck and we would still get
full coverage of the Olympics minus all the color commentary.

~~~
imsofuture
Oh awesome, thanks for the info. I'm watching a CBC stream and it's CBC
branded -- but I know NBC and BBC show the same footage, and at least BBC the
same commentators.

------
spiderfarmer
Sports coverage in The Netherlands is mostly drama free and during the
olympics the commentators take their time to explain things. If foreigners
would watch they probably would think we have the most boring sports channels
of the world.

The olympic games are also covered without commercials. Maybe NBC is spicing
things up to make sure people don't go away during commercials?

------
hyperliner
I don't know if my case has anything to do with this.

I (male) really enjoy watching all gymnastics (both female and male
competitions). I always sort of admire people who can perform feats that I
cannot do (I used to watch Bob Ross for hours, for example. I know, kill me,
but I was mesmerized by his works).

Anyway, one day I was watching the female competition and a relative told me
that it was "creepy to be watching girls." It kind of took me aback. Since
then, I avoid it.

There has been this sad evolution in our society where adult males interacting
with girls or teenagers in a normal way is still considered "creepy." Sadly, I
don't hug my nieces anymore, for example.

It's sad.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the drop in stats.

~~~
jkern
By stopping watching aren't you tacitly agreeing with your relative? Why not
just tell them that it isn't and continue watching?

~~~
hyperliner
You _really_ should meet my relatives.

~~~
Mz
I am a woman who used to do gymnastics. I agree that you should grow a set.
The world is not made better by decent men caving to this crap. It is made
better by decent men giving push back and helping to set the standard for how
to be decent. Tacitly agreeing that the only reason a man might want to watch
women's gymnastics is for creepy reasons makes you part of the problem, not
part of the solution.

It is sort of like that line about "If we outlaw guns, only outlaws will have
guns." It is tautological. And it would be really nice if more men connected
with women for non creepy reasons instead of decent men bailing because, gosh,
WHAT WILL ASSHOLES THINK????

Assholes gonna asshole. You cannot let them set the standard.

~~~
hyperliner
Grow a set? _sigh_

Regardless, everybody chill and just tell me this is not out of this world:

[http://i.imgur.com/lIcKou6.gifv](http://i.imgur.com/lIcKou6.gifv)

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rdtsc
I am guessing traditionally, up until 10 years ago, it was other countries
which did better at gymnastics (especially rivals like Soviet Union, Romania,
China). It was just not interesting for Americans to watch those who we were
told are our enemies win gold medals.

Now that our team is doing better, I can see there being an interest in
broadcasting it better.

~~~
adultSwim
Pre-Phelps swimming, women's gymnastics was the focal point of US summer
olympic TV coverage.

The US women's team was very competitive in the 90's and 00's.

~~~
evgen
Pure anecdote, but off the top of my head I could name at least ten women's
Olympics gymnasts from the past twenty years and not a single swimmer other
than Phellps and Lochte. The Bela Karolyi era was very, very good for US
gymnasts and TV coverage followed. It seems to be the summer games analogue to
figure skating in the winter games, Americans are consistently competitive and
attention/coverage follows, particularly given the perceived demographics of
Olympics viewers vis a vis other sporting events.

------
taplogger
I'm sorry, but this critic is way off base about NBC's gymnastics coverage.
NBC should be applauded for letting the performances speak for themselves and
having the self-restraint to focus on what the gymnasts do well rather than
poisoning the mood by expounding on minor imperfections.

Additionally, I didn't get a single hint NBC was characterizing these gymnasts
as 'teenage pixies,' or trying to deceive the viewer to ramp up the drama. NBC
let the images do the talking, and the US team was a picture of control,
power, and intensity.

Last night the US had essentially won the competition before the floor
exercise, but still, as NBC showed the US gymnasts warm-up, I was overcome
with a realization of just how powerful these young American women are and how
well they represent the United States to the rest of the world. Tears swelled.

After Raisman's transcendent floor routine, NBC showed her parents in the
stands. Despite being nervous wrecks in all the previous camera shots, they
looked on expressionless, probably coming to an unknowable realization of
their own. Raisman eventually walked over to her bag at the side of the arena
and the Chinese team basically lined up to pay respect and show their
admiration. The crowd started chanting Ali's name, which I've never heard at a
gymnastics event.

I hope the critic wasn't consumed with the inane chatter of the internet
during these moments. Then again, here I am engaging in the same. I just wish
journalists would stop treating opinions from the internet as legitimate and
representative, particularly from Twitter.

------
wiredfool
I was watching the Irish (rte sport) coverage of the Men's team, and it was
amazing to see the pacing. I saw a bunch of routines, some warmups, some
taping and untaping or wrists, Shots of the teams on the sidelines and
processing to the next apparatus, occasional commercial breaks.

And the Irish weren't in the competition. So, no opportunity for extra rah rah
nationalism.

------
petewailes
A lot of the problem is that it's programmed the same way that something like
Strictly Come Dancing (Dancing With the Stars) is - the focus is on the
"ooooooh" factor far more than it is on getting people to understand what
they're watching.

With the best will in the world, most people seeing any sport in the olympics
probably aren't actually following that sport. As a result, trying to get
people up to speed so they can understand why the judging scores are what they
are, at the same time as they're trying to watch the action, is never going to
work. This is only further hampered in something like gymnastics, where the
scoring is incredibly detailed and complex, and the time someone's doing
something is so short.

Whilst I wish people were more informed about what they're looking at, I get
the impression most people don't really care that much, and just want to look
at what olympians do and be astounded at it.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

------
eknight15
My issue is with NBC's rights to the coverage. I've seen way too many articles
now with entertaining headlines and info, but no video of the actual
occurrence because NBC has the rights. If you're lucky you'll find a tweet of
somebody filming their TV screen.

------
exclusiv
I have a theory on the popularity of certain sports, and I think it could come
down to whether the sport is clear on how performances are ranked.

Basically if it requires judges it will be limited in its mass market appeal.

Sports that require judges:

\- Aren't going to appeal as much to men as a whole. Men like clear rules and
clear outcomes. Boxing is probably the only popular sport that's often not
clear - but it has knockouts and TKOs which help clarify.

\- Will have a lot of off-putting or repetitive banter because you have to
explain how the judges rate things that aren't obvious and sometimes make no
sense. The judges and commentators can come across as snooty & pretentious
too.

\- Often leave a bad taste in your mouth if your perception of the winner is
different.

------
taplogger
I'm sorry, but this critic is way off base about NBC's gymnastics coverage.
NBC should be applauded for letting the performances speak for themselves and
having the self-restraint to focus on what the gymnasts do well rather than
poisoning the mood by expounding on minor imperfections.

Additionally, I didn't get a single hint NBC was characterizing these gymnasts
as 'teenage pixies,' nor trying to deceive the viewer to ramp up the drama.
NBC let the images do the talking, and the US team was a picture of control,
power, and intensity.

Last night the US had essentially won the competition before the floor
exercise, but still, as NBC showed the US gymnasts warm-up, I was overcome
with a realization of just how powerful these young American women are and how
well they represent the United States to the rest of the world. Tears swelled.

After a transcendent Raisman floor routine, NBC showed her parents in the
stands. Despite being nervous wrecks in all the previous camera shots, they
looked on expressionless, probably coming to an unknowable realization of
their own. Raisman eventually walked over to her bag at the side of the arena
and the Chinese team basically lined up to pay respect and show their
admiration. The crowd started chanting Ali's name, which I've never heard at a
gymnastics event. It was high Sport and great TV.

I hope the critic wasn't consumed with the inane chatter of the internet
during these moments. Then again, here I am engaging in the same. I just wish
journalists would stop treating opinions from the internet as representative
and worth responding to, particularly those from Twitter.

------
xacaxulu
"Why Americans are bad." written by some self-loathing Americans at the New
Yorker Department of Puffington Host-Style Clickbait Generation.

------
mcgrath_sh
I agree to an extent. The gymnastics events should be live on one of NBC's
various channels. However, the thing to remember is that the women won gold at
~5:30 EST. I would not be happy if they cut away from live swimming to show
tape-delayed gymnastics. Gymnastics is getting the short end of the stick
partially due to tbe schedules.

------
imsofuture
Nevermind all the sports that don't get any TV coverage I guess?

~~~
goatforce5
The annoyance may come from the fact that the various broadcasters pay an
ungodly amount of money for the rights to show the Olympics, and then do a
poor job of actually showing those sports (unless you're interested in sports
where you're country is likely to win medals).

------
kqr2
Also see :
[http://gymcastic.com/nbcimprovements/](http://gymcastic.com/nbcimprovements/)

