olympics (pt. 3)

Just a quick addendum to pass along a few Olympics links from elsewhere in the blogosphere that didn't fit anywhere in the last post:

• A personal favorites list at Corsairs Affairs.
  
• A Dutch blogger is puzzled by the tepid way the US media and public reacted to the Olympics. Granted, he's coming from a land of rabid speed-skating fanatics, so he may be setting the bar kind of high, but he makes some interesting points.
  
• A counter-perspective to my (and others') rants about NBC, from someone who argues much of the criticism is undeserved.
  
• A comment discussing the weirdly hostile reaction the Olympics evoke in some people. I'd add to this the tendency I've noticed among cultural-conservative types to reject any sport that's enjoyed beyond our borders, with the possible exception of baseball. They seem to require a fantasy sports world where foreigners simply don't exist at all. NASCAR even takes it a step further, to a world where foreign cars don't exist either. If there's any chance that an American will ever lose to a foreigner, they just can't stand to watch, I guess.
  
• Not to beat a dead horse, but here are three more discussions about TV coverage. Something else just occurred to me about TV coverage of the games. I seem to recall that back in the old days, when they weren't covering the sports they'd sometimes go off on an extended travelogue about the city and surrounding area hosting the games. That would've been nice, especially now in the age of HDTV. You don't need an expensive commentator or anything, just put an HD camera in a helicopter and fly around town and show us the region's points of interest, just as pure eye candy. Is that too much to ask for? Italy's a beautiful country, and we hardly got to see any of it. If all you're going to give us are closeups of pouting skiers, or speedskaters bitching about each other at news conferences, your investment in fancy HD gear was a total waste.
  
• I don't usually pay attention to Bryant Gumbel, but apparently he recently made some sour comments about why he hates the Winter Olympics. So naturally people are calling him an idiot, and rightly so.
  
• Another blogger coins a perfect description: Bodefreude. I wish I'd thought of that. Wasn't quite as fun as rooting against the Bad Dream Team during the Athens games, but hey. On the other hand, Mr. Miller's poor showing will no doubt impact Nike's bottom line, resulting in pay cuts for all those poor little six year olds in China who make all their shoes. I hope Bode's happy.
  
• Two more bloggers who enjoy curling. I'd never watched it until these Olympics, since it's always been shunted off to some random cable channel, usually at 3 AM. I can safely say that if you want to watch something other than figure skating and hourlong tearjerking athlete bios, you're going to need cable and a DVR. Anyway, it's surprisingly fun to watch. It's all strategy and tension, and there's nothing else in the Winter games remotely like it. And then, here's someone who inexplicably doesn't like curling. Takes all kinds, I guess. :)
  

Incidentally, after doing a bit of blog searching lately, I've decided to take a solemn oath to never use the words "random" or "musings" in a blog entry title ever again. Ok, if I'm talking about random numbers or something I might make an exception.