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Post by ComradePig on Aug 7, 2016 1:50:37 GMT -5
I'm much too lazy to set up my cable box even though I own one, what is the best way in the US of A to watch the Owlympic games on the internet?
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 7, 2016 17:29:32 GMT -5
I'm much too lazy to set up my cable box even though I own one, what is the best way in the US of A to watch the Owlympic games on the internet? Emigrate
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 7, 2016 19:34:01 GMT -5
Any of you see the horrible crash in the women's road race today? That poor woman.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 7, 2016 19:36:29 GMT -5
I'm much too lazy to set up my cable box even though I own one, what is the best way in the US of A to watch the Owlympic games on the internet? I have cable! How does that help my viewing experience?
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 7, 2016 21:17:57 GMT -5
2. Gymnastics. All gymnastics, all the time. Short people of the world, unite! For this is our sport and this is our salvation. You can also be the libero in volleyball. You get a different jersey and you get to be like "Substitution rules? Fuck that noise."
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Post by MarkInTexas on Aug 8, 2016 10:31:36 GMT -5
Ahh, NBC. Your awful coverage continues to be awful, no matter how frequently and often the awfulness of your coverage is.
I haven't watched much so far this year, but in the past, NBC actually does pretty well everywhere except the main prime-time show. The daytime and late night network shows are usually pretty good. So is the coverage on the various cable channels. It's only the primetime coverage, the show that most of the audience actually watches, does the network insist on covering it like a reality show rather than a sports competition. And, as I've said before, the network assumes the primetime audience is only interested in five sports: swimming, diving, track, gymnastics, and beach volleyball. Weirdly, the Winter Olympics, despite boasting far fewer sports, actually has far more variety in primetime coverage. Sure, there was plenty of figure skating, but there was also downhill skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, speed skating, bobsled, luge, and skeleton--pretty much everything other than cross-country skiing events and team sports.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 8, 2016 10:35:54 GMT -5
There's been a lot of weird sexism in the swimming coverage, including the claim that the Hungarian who broke the world record did it exclusively because of her husband, hearing that Katie Ledecky "swims like a man", and then a male swimmer got praised for the shocking act of taking care of his own children.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 8, 2016 10:45:57 GMT -5
There's been a lot of weird sexism in the swimming coverage, including the claim that the Hungarian who broke the world record did it exclusively because of her husband, hearing that Katie Ledecky "swims like a man", and then a male swimmer got praised for the shocking act of taking care of his own children. That's comforting somehow.
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Baron von Costume
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Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 8, 2016 10:47:37 GMT -5
There's been a lot of weird sexism in the swimming coverage, including the claim that the Hungarian who broke the world record did it exclusively because of her husband, hearing that Katie Ledecky "swims like a man", and then a male swimmer got praised for the shocking act of taking care of his own children. To be fair knowing NBC the Hungarian thing is equal parts sexism/the fact that he's AMERICAN and therefore the reason for her accomplishments. ...my swimming nerd friend also says he's rumoured to be the mastermind of her steroid program since she's like doubled in size this quadrennial but I always take her gossip with a hefty grain of salt.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 8, 2016 10:47:51 GMT -5
There's been a lot of weird sexism in the swimming coverage, including the claim that the Hungarian who broke the world record did it exclusively because of her husband, hearing that Katie Ledecky "swims like a man", and then a male swimmer got praised for the shocking act of taking care of his own children. That's comforting somehow. Do explain.
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Post by ganews on Aug 8, 2016 10:47:57 GMT -5
It's nice when USA medals in the events I like because it increases the slim chances of the event being on TV, but it also means that Googling to find the stream page means I'm going to see the result in News before I can find the link for the streaming.
What's that? I could just go to the previously bookmarked streaming for the event? Good idea, except NBC puts the medal winners' countries right next to the "replay match" link.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 8, 2016 10:48:53 GMT -5
There's been a lot of weird sexism in the swimming coverage, including the claim that the Hungarian who broke the world record did it exclusively because of her husband, hearing that Katie Ledecky "swims like a man", and then a male swimmer got praised for the shocking act of taking care of his own children. To be fair knowing NBC the Hungarian thing is equal parts sexism/the fact that he's AMERICAN and therefore the reason for her accomplishments. ...my swimming nerd friend also says he's rumoured to be the mastermind of her steroid program since she's like doubled in size this quadrennial but I always take her gossip with a hefty grain of salt.I mean there's scuttlebutt that their relationship is unhealthy, and he has undoubtedly helped her improve her swimming, but like ... it's still HER accomplishment. SHE was in the pool.
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 8, 2016 10:52:09 GMT -5
To be fair knowing NBC the Hungarian thing is equal parts sexism/the fact that he's AMERICAN and therefore the reason for her accomplishments. ...my swimming nerd friend also says he's rumoured to be the mastermind of her steroid program since she's like doubled in size this quadrennial but I always take her gossip with a hefty grain of salt.I mean there's scuttlebutt that their relationship is unhealthy, and he has undoubtedly helped her improve her swimming, but like ... it's still HER accomplishment. SHE was in the pool. Yes, but AMERICA!
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Post by Liz n Dick on Aug 8, 2016 10:52:33 GMT -5
Any of you see the horrible crash in the women's road race today? That poor woman. Oh my god, that was horrifying! That said, I've never been a fan of cycling on TV, but after watching that race (and seeing parts -- but not the thrilling conclusion! -- of the men's race the day before) I'm suddenly ALL OVER IT. What magnificent television! The sweeping scenery, the grueling physical contest, the cunning strategy and whims of fate! It was awesome! (I was genuinely convinced we'd seen someone die, though. That crash was unbelievably awful.) While I adore the Olympics, I always feel a bit more lukewarm about the summer ones than the winter ones because there's just too much summer content. Like, I never feel like I can take enough of it in, because it's far too enormous to televise, and that's before considering the staggering handicap that is NBC. But we had a friend visit this past weekend for the sole purpose of spending endless hours in front of the TV watching random events together, and we had a great time. Caught some archery, some fencing, the cycling, some dressage (Zzzzzzzz... but Boomer loves it, so...), a tiny nibble of rowing, the bonkers team handball. It was a pretty solid mix of esoteric and, shockingly, not entirely American-centric in all of it. Then the gymnastics coverage in prime time was atrocious, but alas, this is what we've had to become accustomed to under the tyrannical reign of NBC, so why did I expect it to be different? (I used to really enjoy the swimming, so I thought the heavy focus NBC puts on it was fine. This year? YAWN. Has swimming always been this repetitive and dull??) Oh well -- part of the Olympics experience is bitching about the coverage, so what can a girl do? Since we're not taking any time off work or anything over the next two weeks, we'll just have to tivo the daytime stuff and then zip through it in the evenings to catch whatever we can. Not being on any social media platform really takes off the burden of "OMG, I want to experience it live!"
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 8, 2016 10:53:14 GMT -5
That's comforting somehow. Do explain. Granted, that's pretty insulting towards Katie Ledecky (right?), but I want to live in a world where I'm not obliged to care for my children. If my father had cared for me less, I'd be a much better person, trust me. But let's not derail the topic at hand- NBC's decade-plus streak of improbable incompetence the games.
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 8, 2016 10:56:07 GMT -5
When the Canadian women won the 100 free relay bronze CBC had a shot of Mark Tewksbury's (Former Canadian swimming medallist, Chef de Mission etc) reaction as he watched on monitors shortly after being interviewed on the primetime broadcast. He was absolutely adorable, kept looking away from the monitor not daring to believe it etc. If the youngsters keep overachieving he might just have a heart attack before swimming week is over.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 8, 2016 10:57:25 GMT -5
Granted, that's pretty insulting towards Katie Ledecky (right?), but I want to live in a world where I'm not obliged to care for my children. If my father had cared for me less, I'd be a much better person, trust me. But let's not derail the topic at hand- NBC's decade-plus streak of improbable incompetence the games. (All of those comments were separate from each other, so yes, kind of sexist/insulting toward Katie Ledecky and women swimmers in general.) Ugh. You shouldn't have children if you're unwilling to be an equal partner in raising them. Men shouldn't get accolades for doing the same thing women are expected to do as a matter of course without any praise. We are finally getting to a point where people stop saying things like "oh, he's babysitting his kids" when it's just basic parental duties.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 8, 2016 11:00:22 GMT -5
Granted, that's pretty insulting towards Katie Ledecky (right?), but I want to live in a world where I'm not obliged to care for my children. If my father had cared for me less, I'd be a much better person, trust me. But let's not derail the topic at hand- NBC's decade-plus streak of improbable incompetence the games. (All of those comments were separate from each other, so yes, kind of sexist/insulting toward Katie Ledecky and women swimmers in general.) Ugh. You shouldn't have children if you're unwilling to be an equal partner in raising them. Men shouldn't get accolades for doing the same thing women are expected to do as a matter of course without any praise. We are finally getting to a point where people stop saying things like "oh, he's babysitting his kids" when it's just basic parental duties. I'm not saying they shouldn't be involved at all- fathers are very important when, unlike mine, they are mentally healthy. But beyond that, we'll have to agree to disagree.
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Post by Liz n Dick on Aug 8, 2016 11:03:11 GMT -5
There's been a lot of weird sexism in the swimming coverage, including the claim that the Hungarian who broke the world record did it exclusively because of her husband, hearing that Katie Ledecky "swims like a man", and then a male swimmer got praised for the shocking act of taking care of his own children. That Matt Lauer interview feature with Ledecky was infuriating. There was much exhorting Ledecky, from my living room, to punch him in the face.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 8, 2016 11:08:26 GMT -5
There's been a lot of weird sexism in the swimming coverage, including the claim that the Hungarian who broke the world record did it exclusively because of her husband, hearing that Katie Ledecky "swims like a man", and then a male swimmer got praised for the shocking act of taking care of his own children. That Matt Lauer interview feature with Ledecky was infuriating. There was much exhorting Ledecky, from my living room, to punch him in the face. Has Matt Lauer ever not been punchable? I mean, I'm okay with someone saying she "swims like a man" in theory, but not to her fucking face. The only thing that makes me even slightly sympathetic to him is that for my entire life, my dad has insisted he's a Nazi fifth columnist because he has a German last name.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Aug 8, 2016 11:09:33 GMT -5
P (All of those comments were separate from each other, so yes, kind of sexist/insulting toward Katie Ledecky and women swimmers in general.) Ugh. You shouldn't have children if you're unwilling to be an equal partner in raising them. Men shouldn't get accolades for doing the same thing women are expected to do as a matter of course without any praise. We are finally getting to a point where people stop saying things like "oh, he's babysitting his kids" when it's just basic parental duties. I'm not saying they shouldn't be involved at all- fathers are very important when, unlike mine, they are mentally healthy. But beyond that, we'll have to agree to disagree. Obviously neither you nor I can change how your father behaved or who he is. And this is not really the thread to get into it anyway. But I implore you not to reproduce unless and until you feel up to the challenge of actually raising them. You. Personally.
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 8, 2016 11:12:13 GMT -5
Ahh, NBC. Your awful coverage continues to be awful, no matter how frequently and often the awfulness of your coverage is. I haven't watched much so far this year, but in the past, NBC actually does pretty well everywhere except the main prime-time show. The daytime and late night network shows are usually pretty good. So is the coverage on the various cable channels. It's only the primetime coverage, the show that most of the audience actually watches, does the network insist on covering it like a reality show rather than a sports competition. And, as I've said before, the network assumes the primetime audience is only interested in five sports: swimming, diving, track, gymnastics, and beach volleyball. Weirdly, the Winter Olympics, despite boasting far fewer sports, actually has far more variety in primetime coverage. Sure, there was plenty of figure skating, but there was also downhill skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, speed skating, bobsled, luge, and skeleton--pretty much everything other than cross-country skiing events and team sports. It's so weird watching coverage where none of those things are considered "primetime." The big things here the past couple days have been judo, fencing, archery, and table tennis plus a random team sport (I've seen a men's soccer game, two women's handball matches, and a women's volleyball match). Swimming is probably the closest to being a primetime thing since there is/was a Korean who could have theoretically medaled so they would show his races, but other than that swimming's pretty much relegated to "Let's see what's going on in the aquatic battledome in between halves of this women's handball game!" status. The other thing that's good is the three major networks are all airing stuff. When a "big match" is happening they all end up airing the same thing so you pick the station with the best commentators but when non-critical stuff is going on you pick between random men's beach volleyball matches or US basketball or what have you...and then there's cable. Right now, as an American I'm watching Russian and French ladies compete in handball with Korean commentary, because that's what the Olympics should be.
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Baron von Costume
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Post by Baron von Costume on Aug 8, 2016 11:18:43 GMT -5
My fave thing so far has been the Rugby 7s matches. Obviously the highlights have had the focus on the Canadian women for us but the online stream has all the matches and since they're like 20 mins from intro to game end you can watch a ton of matches in a row.
Two matches per day for 3 straight days to make it to a medal is seriously intense no matter how short the matches are though, it's still damned intense rugby.
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Post by ganews on Aug 8, 2016 16:04:32 GMT -5
Today when I followed my bookmark to a streaming video, the banner at the top said, "Breaking News! X takes gold in Y event!" Uh, good thing I wasn't planning on watching that event? I would have thought that today's spoiler-phobic culture would keep NBC from dropping this sort of thing basically everywhere. One thing NBC streaming got right though - their Page Not Found Video is awesome. ETA: and though that failure video is of an Olympic diver, note that the title of the page refers to when an NBC reporter made an Olympian cry.
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Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Aug 8, 2016 17:47:10 GMT -5
ganews When they say "watch live" do they mean "live?" I fully expect NBC to fuck that up too. The good news is that To the Point today had a whole segment dedicated to the myriad ways NBC is being terrible.
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Post by ganews on Aug 8, 2016 18:49:05 GMT -5
ganews When they say "watch live" do they mean "live?" I fully expect NBC to fuck that up too. The good news is that To the Point today had a whole segment dedicated to the myriad ways NBC is being terrible. The couple times I've streamed live it matched the scheduled time, if that's what you mean. I have no idea how closely that hews to real time. I find the best streaming is two minutes back from live to smooth the buffering somewhat.
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Paleu
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Post by Paleu on Aug 8, 2016 19:22:57 GMT -5
I just wanted to stop in and say that Katie Ledecky is like my new favorite sports person, not walk in on a debate about the ethics of child-rearing and nonstop bitching about how terrible NBC's coverage is (which, admittedly, is true).
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Post by Liz n Dick on Aug 9, 2016 9:43:21 GMT -5
Things that were awesome from my Olympics viewing yesterday: Archery! Man, I am LOVING the archery. We stumbled onto it over the weekend with our houseguest, a friend who grew up in Alabama. She took one look at Brady Ellison and said, "I went to high school with that guy. I went to high school with A THOUSAND of that guy." Then they cut to the opposing team... and we were like, "Hey, we went to high school with those guys!" I really love a sport that makes me think I'm watching all the mathletes from my school days. Synchronized men's platform diving. I gave the women's beach volleyball bikinis a pass for one day for how badly I was ogling the men's diving. That was just a parade of magnificence, and I think they did some stuff where they did flips and whatnot while plummeting into a pool, but I didn't notice much about that. It was SHAMELESS and WONDERFUL. Men's gymnastics! Oh, wait -- I didn't see any men's gymnastics because NBC's definition of "prime time" stretches to midnight, and they hadn't even switched to the aforementioned women's beach volleyball by the time I gave up at 11. I wasn't staying up another hour just to see a too-brief "oh yeah, did we promise gymnastics? Fine, here's a couple of minutes of it" montage. Thing that was less awesome: SO FUCKING MUCH SWIMMING. Here's the thing that's killing me about the swimming this year -- before every race Rowdy tells us who is going to win and whether they're going to set a world record. And he's right every time. THIS IS NOT COMPELLING TELEVISION. It seems like every event, every race, every heat is a foregone conclusion, and there isn't even any mystery of "well, yes, we all know who's going to win, but will it be a record time?" I used to really love watching the swimming, but this year it's a total snore.
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on Aug 9, 2016 20:36:10 GMT -5
Things that were awesome from my Olympics viewing yesterday: Archery! Man, I am LOVING the archery. We stumbled onto it over the weekend with our houseguest, a friend who grew up in Alabama. She took one look at Brady Ellison and said, "I went to high school with that guy. I went to high school with A THOUSAND of that guy." Then they cut to the opposing team... and we were like, "Hey, we went to high school with those guys!" I really love a sport that makes me think I'm watching all the mathletes from my school days. Synchronized men's platform diving. I gave the women's beach volleyball bikinis a pass for one day for how badly I was ogling the men's diving. That was just a parade of magnificence, and I think they did some stuff where they did flips and whatnot while plummeting into a pool, but I didn't notice much about that. It was SHAMELESS and WONDERFUL. Men's gymnastics! Oh, wait -- I didn't see any men's gymnastics because NBC's definition of "prime time" stretches to midnight, and they hadn't even switched to the aforementioned women's beach volleyball by the time I gave up at 11. I wasn't staying up another hour just to see a too-brief "oh yeah, did we promise gymnastics? Fine, here's a couple of minutes of it" montage. Thing that was less awesome: SO FUCKING MUCH SWIMMING. Here's the thing that's killing me about the swimming this year -- before every race Rowdy tells us who is going to win and whether they're going to set a world record. And he's right every time. THIS IS NOT COMPELLING TELEVISION. It seems like every event, every race, every heat is a foregone conclusion, and there isn't even any mystery of "well, yes, we all know who's going to win, but will it be a record time?" I used to really love watching the swimming, but this year it's a total snore. Phelps, tho
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Post by Liz n Dick on Aug 9, 2016 21:27:04 GMT -5
I have never much cared for Phelps. I mean, I admire his accomplishments, but he just... doesn't flip any of my switches as a sports fan. I can't explain it. I think I wish he'd had more of a rival or something? I don't know. I just found the All Michael Phelps All The Time Show in London to be exhausting, and it's built up enough residual ill will that I can't muster any enthusiasm for him now. I'll turn in my American Sports Fan card now.
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