Beijing Olympics [08.08.08]

Edit: As my friend Joe pointed out in the comments, NBC is showing a ton of coverage online which is unprecedented but there is some trouble on the horizon for those of us who subscribe to Cablevision.  Cablevision has decided not to air all 3,600 hours of Olympics-related programming, but it appears viewers who get their broadband Internet service will be limited to 1,400 of those hours.

That is because NBC is charging carriers a premium for its 2,200 hours of live video from the Olympics – as well as for two special channels dedicated exclusively to soccer and basketball – but Cablevision has declined to sign up.

NBC said most TV and Internet carriers have agreed to its terms. It said in a statement:

“A substantial majority of the industry, about 90 percent of multiplatform subscribers, will have access to NBCOlympics.com broadband content. Nearly every distributor, including all majors [Comcast, DIRECTV, Time Warner, DISH, Cox, Mediacom, Verizon, AT&T] are making Olympic broadband content available to their customers. To date, Cablevision has not elected to offer its customers the enhanced Olympics package.”

Just fantastic news for us Cablevision customers. [Source: Neil Best, News Day]

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Well the Summer Olympics are finally here amid all the protest over human rights, Tibet’s freedom and internet censorship. I know a couple of people who are in Beijing either watching the games or helping out volunteer so good luck to them and hope you have a great time.

So is anyone else actually going to watch the Olympics? There has been talk recently that it does not generate much interest anymore but I find that hard to believe but then again, maybe it is not that hard to believe. I barely hear anyone talk that they are looking forward to watching the games and it is mostly about how they are overrated and not very exciting. I call all of that nonsense and completely garbage as the Olympic Games can be a place to bring issues to light, to bring athletes and people from all over the world together to watch an event that has entire communities and countries biting their nails awaiting the result. It used to be a stage where people spoke out on issues that were being suppressed in everyday lives.

Two people who come to mind for that are Tommie Smith and John Carlos who gave everything for their country (United States) and were humiliated when they returned home. Smith and Carlos were largely ostracized by the predominantly white U.S. sporting establishment in the following years and in addition were subject to criticism of their actions. Time Magazine showed the five-ring Olympic logo with the words, “Angrier, Nastier, Uglier”, instead of “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. Back home they were subject to abuse and they and their families received death threats. At least they made a positive difference in the world we live in today and it was nice to see them being honored by ESPN for their 40th year anniversary of the event at the ESPY’s this year (that I blogged about here).

I don’t know about all those doubters but I have always been a fan of the Olympics (Winter and Summer both) because once every other year, atheletes from all over the world can sort of come together and compete against each other while proudly wearing their country’s colors. For all the other times (at least in the US anyways) you just see the title of “World Champion” or “World Series” get tossed around like it means something when the teams only consist of the United States and only a handful of teams from north of the border.

I have tried to stay away from much of the details regarding the opening cermony as I want to watch it live tonight (7:30 PM on NBC) will be shown in taped-delay fashion. There has been much anticipation regarding what the Chinese have in store for the opening ceremony as it certainly will be lavish and I am particularily curious to see be the last to light the Olympic Torch. Who can ever forget Muhammed Ali lighting the Torch in the Summer Olympics of 1996 in Atlanta, Ga.

For anyone interested in the history of the Olympic Medals for a summer Olympics by country, year, or ranking, New York Times once again put out a brilliant interactive Graphic on the matter that can be found right here. The graphic is pretty clear as it changes the size of a particular country based on the number of medals they have won in a given year and they also detail each medal won if you just click on a specific country. For example who knew that the only medal Dominican Republic won in the 2004 games was a Gold Medal by Felix Sanchez in 400m hurdles.

40* Years Ago…

#1) Who would have thought that two men standing up for what they believed in and not even saying a single word on the issue would face such disrespect and near banishment from their own country who they had just won the gold medal for. Nonetheless, the country certainly has come a long way in 40 years. A simple gesture of defiance morphed into a historic moment.

If anyone can find be a better video (but not too long), let me know and I’ll put it up.

#2) Believe what you want about the moon landing but it was 40 years ago today that these words were spoken by Neil Armstrong.

Note: It has only been 39 years since this happened and not 40. Good job me on my fantastic subtraction skills!

Stevens Coach To Commentate For NBC At The 2008 Beijing Olympics

Well this is some great news out of Stevens Athletics. I really did not expect to follow the fencing events but I think I am going to be watching some of them now to see Coach Sankofa and what he has to say. The original link to the article is here by Rich Coyne.

HOBOKEN, N.J. (May 20, 2008) – Head Coach Maestro Mika’il Sankofa of the Stevens Institute of Technology men’s fencing team has been selected as the NBC analyst for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With over 30 years of experience in the sport of fencing, Sankofa was selected for his expertise as a competitor, coach and commentator at the national fencing competitions.

“This is really a tremendous honor and I’m really looking forward to calling the various fencing events,” said Sankofa. “America is sending some very talented athletes to the Olympics, and I’m looking forward to educating viewers – new to the sport – as well as bringing the excitement that Olympic fencing competitions always generate.”

A U.S. Fencing Hall of Famer and member of the 1984, 1988 and 1992 U.S. Olympic fencing teams, Sankofa will be calling the Women’s Individual Sabre event scheduled to air on the USA network on Saturday, August 9. Then on August 14, the Women’s Sabre Team event will be broadcasted on MSNBC followed by the Men’s Sabre Team event on August 17.

In 2007, Sankofa was featured in the NCAA’s 100-year commemorative book. He was recognized for having won four consecutive national championships as a New York University student-athlete marking his accomplishment as one of the 50 greatest moments in NCAA history. Furthermore, Sankofa has posted 34 wins through his four years as head coach of the Ducks. He recently helped to produce the first foilist in Stevens’ history to have advanced to the NCAA Finals.

Summer Olympics 2008 – Pollution Style

So New York Times had an article yesterday about how athletes should be training themselves for the upcoming conditions in Beijing Olympics this August. The pollution is so bad there that the athletes are not sure how to train themselves and whether they should run in highway traffic or behind vehicles that are shooting exhaust into their lungs just to adjust themselves to the change in environment in China.

Should I run behind a bus and breathe in the exhaust? Should I train on the highway during rush hour? Is there any way to acclimate myself to pollution?

Mr. Wilber answers those questions with a steadfast, “No.”

“We have to be extremely careful and steer them in the right direction because the mind-set of the elite athlete is to do anything it takes to get that advantage,” he said. “If they thought locking themselves in the garage with the car running would help them win a gold medal, I’m sure they would do it. Our job, obviously, is to prevent that.”

Everyone sort of knows that athletes will pretty much try anything to try to get a competitive advantage and this is probably one of the most bizarre things you will see… but I guess it is this or shooting yourself up with HGH or something like that.