So a couple of contrarian cranky old man thoughts, a few days in...
I've watched a bit of coverage here and there - maybe a total of an hour or so a day. Obviously it's nice to see american athletes do well, particularly in great niche sports like rugby, which more kids should play.
But the whole thing is just so surprisingly...dull. First of course is the heavily edited/packaged format, some of which comes from the challenge of time zones, which produces a product that is essentially a curated highlight show. That has the effect of eliminating the drama that can only be produced by real time viewing, or at the very least, tape-delayed viewing. Second, speaking of drama, the lack of it is compounded and only underscored by the completely over the top emoting of the commentators trying way too hard to create a faux version of it. For all we know are probably not even at the event site in some cases. I long for the days of broadcasters who understood the power of silence. Third, is it my imagination or the only people attending this family and celebrities? I kid of course, but who wants to bet whether the celebs are paying their own way or coming over on NBC/IOC's dime so they can be cut to on the broadcast?
And then there's the river Seine. Does it strike anyone as strange that, for a "problem" that was so significant that it entailed a 1.5 billion dollar "solution", the French government didn't actually think it important enough to address until someone wanted to take some pics of athletes swimming in the river?
