"Save the drama for your mama"
2010 Olympics: Phenomenal Results and Less than Mediocre Coverage
By Keely Kelleher, 3-02-10
After two weeks of coaching and skiing in Big Sky it was time to get going again. Last week I competed in Aspen, Colorado. All the athletes of the U.S. Women’s Olympic team and alpine team were there, minus Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso. They are busy on their well-deserved media tour of the United States. Monday night Julia appeared on Larry King Live and Lindsey on Jay Leno.
Witnessing my friends and teammates achieve their goals in Vancouver was thrilling. My highlight, watching Bode make it down the slalom run during the combined to win his first gold medal. Bode has been surrounded by controversy throughout his career; however, one thing has remained in his skiing, passion. Bode races for the love of the sport and I find that admirable in a ski world where coaches’ opinions and outside influences are ever prevalent. Bode will always be Bode. Plus no one can doubt that the man is exciting to watch. I hold my breath every time he steps into the start.
Media attention has been swirling around Lindsey and Julia and their so-called “feud.” Skiing on the team with both of these girls for many years I have never once witnessed ill will between them. Both girls are incredible competitors and have always shown sportsmanship towards each other. During the Giant Slalom race NBC showed more coverage of Lindsey falling and Julia getting flagged then of the actual Olympic event. Sarah Schleper, the top American GS skier this year and in possibly her last Olympic games got no air - time. Neither did many of the U.S. athletes racing in the Games.
There are only four skiers in each event from the U.S. It doesn’t take an enormous amount of effort on NBC’s behalf to show the athletes that are representing our country. Last time I checked the Olympics was about the athletes competing not the media creating drama. Julia quoted on her Twitter page during the media buzz about the supposed “feud” between her and Lindsey, “save the drama for your mama.”
It’s about the sport and the astounding athletic feats people are achieving. I am not the only one who feels this way. A Facebook group was created during the Games called “Why does NBC hate ski racing? The worst coverage of the Olympic Games…period.” There are currently 5,976 members.
My digression about the Olympics has gotten me off target. I returned to competition in Aspen for downhill races and found myself on the podium one day. It was a great feeling to come back after the letdown of not making the Olympic team.
Staying positive and looking to the future. Hope everyone is making good turns this week!
Bravo Keely, The media is so out to lunch. Jackie
Comment By Jennifer Iverson, 3-03-10I agree with you Miss Keely! NBC has no "rah-rah" in my books and to listen to the announcers like Bog Costas pretend and indulge about an upcoming ski race when he already knows exactly what happened is no longer even a fantasy; it's a blatant fiction. I would go to live-timing and then listen to announcers later and it made giggle. Now, what do you really believe about the news on NBC if cannot even get the Olympics right. NBC had plenty of time to get ready for this event they should have been more prepared. Congrats on your podium your are an incredible athlete.
Comment By dave, 3-03-10i agree,,,, nbc is really lame. especially matt lauer the mattress sexual, no i mean metro sexual.
Comment By Adrian, 3-03-10I too was frustrated with NBC's coverage, but I think it had less to do with them "hating" ski racing, and more to do with them trying to cram everything into the "prime time" slot. They gave what, 15 minutes of coverage to the men's downhill, when earlier in the day, they had showed hours of coverage of some variation of cross country. The irony is that by "saving" the high profile events for their primetime slot, their coverage of those events actually suffered.
But, my biggest complaint: after I realized how dismal their ski coverage was, I thought, "Hey, no problem, I'll just hit the web site and watch it live on streaming". Think again! Their idea of "Live" coverage was the ability to see split times and some blog of someone describing to me what was going on. Insane!
What in the world?
I watched a lot of the Olympics coverage, via DVR'ing the NBC coverage, mostly the primetime. I saw plenty of ski racing, thanks. And too many Lindsay Vonn replays.
6,000 Facebook fans for a pointless group of whiners? Ah, ok. How many millions of viewers does NBC have? There was plenty to love, a huge technical undertaking to cover it all for people around the world, and all for free (especially if you're able to skip the ads).
Let's move on.
What I picked up on in NBC's coverage was a reoccurring theme to try and create or fuel contoversy during interviews: US vs Russain figure skaters, US vs US skiers. Even trying to get the Curling team's skip, Shuster, to say soemthing damning or negative was an interview focus... The baiting and digging was unbearable, and far from the spreading of goodwill that the Olympics aims to champion. Come to think of it, it kind of reminds me of most comments on the NewWest site...
Comment By Pati, 3-06-10I enjoyed watching the Olympics on NBC and appreciated the coverage, but did get weary of the excessive repeats of Lindsey's crash and the super close-ups of her. She's a very pretty, likeable young woman, and the NBC cameras seemed to be in love.
Comment By john Barker, 3-06-10Great story. Canadian Television does a much better job of coverage of all events. I saw a women's world cup downhill at Lake Louise - top to bottom all racers - live! What is all this conversation of the IOC and women's ski jumping not being an appropriate women's sport for the Olympics! Looks like the membership of the IOC is mostly old guys.
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