# Watching RIO Olympics?



## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I thought it might be fun to record our observations of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The opening ceremonies - what did you think?

Now watching the parade of the nations.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I love Olympics so I am watching. I am a bit on a buffer behind on the opening ceremony. I like to do that to forward to the gazillion commercials they have on NBC. It would also be a lot nicer of the talking heads would just take a walk outside and leave me be  

Looking forward to the rest of the opening and the next 2 weeks.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Several of us had live running commentary in the KB chat room.

Both fun and sad to see how many marchers in the opening were holding their phone in front of them to video everything!

Does anyone know why each team had a potted plant in front of it?


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I was too far behind on a buffer to partake in live commentary.  

I think the plant is representative of the theme they had. Climate change, rain forrest, etc. Something green and growing. 

I think they might have broken a world record of selfie sticks used at once. That I even know what the heck a selfie stick is is amazing it itself. I tried once to take some selfies and I am apparently selfie challenged, or my arms are really short.


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## Warren Dean (May 10, 2015)

My favourite event of the games; Olympic football.  It's great to watch the young stars of the game, and to see emerging nations like Fiji mixing it with the big boys and doing well.  Germany v Mexico was a cracker, and any game featuring Neymar is worth watching.


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

Watching?  Generally -- no.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

We watched the baseball game last night (Go Nats!) . . . . . flipped to the Opening Ceremonies briefly but the hubster is SOOOO not interested that it's exasperating to watch with him. Snarky commentary every 2 minutes gets old pretty quick. So, as it was already 9:30 -- the parade of nations was just at Burundi -- I decided to just go to bed. I do plan on watching various events over the next two weeks but, again, the hubster is very NOT INTERESTED. But I might just watch any way and if he can't hold in the snark, I'll send him out of the room.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

They had a lot of commercials, holy cow


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Chad Winters said:


> They had a lot of commercials, holy cow


Yeah . . . . that seems to be about the main thing people are talking about today around the 'net . . . . . I doubt it was more than any other Olympics, but that's part of what makes it tiresome to watch. And I get WHY they have 'em . . . .

The other complaint I've seen is that they delayed the broadcast for 'prime time' when it was really only an hour different than live. Lots of people felt like that was just silly.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I want to watch so many different things at once, I have a lack of eyeballs and screens. So I thought, oh let me get the app on the Fire TV, so I can watch it all on the TV as they stream much more than they show on TV. So I can switch back and forth between the events. What do the idiots at NBC do? they make you watch a commercial, same cola one, every single time you start a stream. So when you go back and forth, you have to wait and watch it again and again and again. This is just horrible the way they did that. They are taking all the fun out of it. This early when there are so many events, you want to take a sneak peak here and there quick, to see what the standings are. But nooooooooo, by the time the darn commercial is done again, you already missed like 30 seconds each time. 

At least I don't have any talking heads on the streams. If I have to hear Bob Costas voice one more time I am going to scream. I can't escape the guy as he has done some tennis tournaments in the past too. 

I have to stream all my tennis as they are showing it on Bravo and I want to watch the match that isn't on TV. Will always be the americans broadcast of course. 

I give them one thing, the stream looks pretty darn good, considering this is Tennis, which does not do well with streaming. Ball too fast. We have come a long way from the flickering lines and a ball that looked like it had a long tail.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Read this morning that an American won the first gold medal - in shooting (air rifle). Is shooting an air rifle a sport?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

So the rugby is kind of fun . . . it's "Sevens" which is smaller teams, shorter halfs, but the same size 'pitch'.  Only thing I couldn't follow was why there was some extra time at the end of the half. They didn't really explain that very well. I gather it's something like the penalty time in Soccer.

It's not a big time commitment since each half is only 7 minutes . . . ..


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

Heard that there weren't a lot of eyeballs watching the opening ceremony and early sports competitions.  That would mean more commercials necessary to pay for air time?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Sandpiper said:


> Heard that there weren't a lot of eyeballs watching the opening ceremony and early sports competitions. That would mean more commercials necessary to pay for air time?


No . . . . . the commercial breaks are planned for well before the show airs . . . . they just sold a ton of commercial time and were then obligated to air the ads.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Swimming and men's gymnastics mostly tonight.


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## boxer44 (Aug 6, 2016)

That tennis match between Kirsten and Venus was magic to watch a young athlete never give up.  Kirsten was down several times, and nearly out.  But she kept coming back exactly when she needed a great shot to win the point.

Shows the hype, the commercials, the money is NOT what it's all about.  It's about the HEART these athletes bring to the table.  Some folks said Venus was 'sick' -- well, she a pro, you must perform, sick or not ... or take  a med-pass.


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

I was so frustrated yesterday hearing the crowd shouting ZIKA each time that Hope Solo kicked the ball.  I thought that they would tire of it, but no, it continued the entire match.  They also booed her loudly when she handled the ball.  I get that she posted pics of herself in beekeeper hood with lots of insect sprays prior to Olympics...but get over it already.  It was a joke.  And it is one worry of being in Rio.  Though it is winter there, not cold.


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## RedAlert (May 15, 2015)

I completely loved the opening ceremony.  We had been prepped for less than greatness, due to the fact that there was a money crunch in Brazil.  But, heck!  It was awesome!  They put their money in a projection system which enabled them to create all that illusion.  I loved it!  I thought it was put together very well.  At a certain point, it went on a teensy bit too long, but that was okay.

The only part I thought was funny was the Olympic torch that was run in by the bearers.  It looked like an oversized cigarette.  Once that thought popped into my head, I kept laughing.  And, as the burning cauldron was hoisted up to the chandelier thingy, I kept wondering if the chains had been tested for the heat, or whether there would be burn through.  In which case, I wondered who was below it.  Hey, you know...

And, Giselle was...geez...was she real?  Where was Tom?  And, she marched across the field, hung a left, and disappeared in the darkness.  Wow!  Let's see that again!

I can see from the various venues how hard Brazil worked to put this together.  Don't know anything about the water (would have given me pause,) but watching the competitions is so much fun.

For instance, yesterday they showed some preliminary women's swimming heat.  The swimmer from Hungary has a crazy husband/coach who they showed losing his mind on the sidelines.  This swimmer headed out and soon left everyone in her wake.  It was hilarious!  She got so far out front that she could have toweled off waiting for anyone else to finish the race.  How did she do that?  She must not have planned to just place.  She was like a speedboat.  I got a real kick out of that!


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Currently watching the men's rugby 7 finals between Great Britain and Fiji.  How exciting must it be for the Fijians to know they will be getting their country's first ever Olympic medal.

Before the match started they were playing each of the National Anthems and I recognized the tune of the Fiji anthem and started singing along with the words I knew for the music being played.  Had to Google after it was over to confirm the lyrics are set to the music of an old hymn titled "Dwelling in Beulah Land".  I haven't yet found any information about how/why they chose that particular tune.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

So how cool is it that the young lady from Puerto Rico, ranked 34th, won the gold in tennis.  Good for her.  And it is great that Puerto Rico has won a gold in this Olympics.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Thursday night when Phelps was swimming, the Ravens, playing a pre-season game at home, stopped the game and showed his race on the stadium screen.

On Friday at the Nationals game, they paused the action to watch Ledecky swim.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I am so glad that Phelps got his problems in hand and came back to being a public hero.
I pray that his demons are behind him now.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Not much but I did just watch Scotland's Andy Murray win his second gold medal, the first male tennis player to ever win back to back gold medals in singles tennis. Yes! Go, Andy!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Happy for Andy, but I was really pulling for del Potro. I am so happy to see him back on the tour and I hope he can finally be injury free. Poor guy has been out for like 3 years, surgeries on both wrists. He was missed. They put on a fantastic match though and I see Andy really going for many more grand slams also. I remember when Andy got the gold in London, right after he had the heart breaking loss against Roger at Wimbledon and then he went on to win the US open. 
Then a year later he finally got the Wimbledon title. 

Great match to end the tennis at the Olympics. Both great fighters.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

It was a great, hard fought match. I have nothing but respect for del Potro but... It's Andy. I always root for the lad from Dumbarton.


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## boxer44 (Aug 6, 2016)

We've been Olympics fans forever - but would like to have it remain amateur instead of the same pros winning most frequently.  But, then again, some countries have 'professional amateurs' ... so, fair's fair, I suppose.

Beyond that, we LOVE it when announcers spend hours and hours predicting a hands-down winner, and some 'no name' blows it out of the box.  Sometimes, the announcer mouths should remain shut tho'.  I watched Kirsten came back time and again to finally win the match against Venus Williams.  THEN, all the commentary went to "why Venus lost" instead of giving credit to Kirsten and the 'heart' she exhibited - never gave up, even down 1-4 in the match set.  Same thing with Serena -- talking about why she lost instead of give credit where it belongs - on the winner.

One thing tho', there's a lot going on - and NBC could easily cut to athletes on the field instead of the studio and talking heads between competitions ... ain't no action in those studios, that's for sure, and little "new info" either.  We spend lots of time with a PC on our laps with the MUTE button working just fine.

Gotta hand it to Katie and Micheal tho, tremendous athletes.  Was blown away when Katie touched the button about a half a pool length ahead of second place ...


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I now have a new Olympic event to add to my list of favorites: the track cycling "Omnium", which is 6 different types of races over 2 days. I enjoyed seeing Mark Cavendish add an Olympic silver medal to his gazillion Tour de France stage wins.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

JRTomlin said:


> It was a great, hard fought match. I have nothing but respect for del Potro but... It's Andy. I always root for the lad from Dumbarton.


I never expected Del Potro to even do that well, so at the start I was pulling for Andy to win another. But then Del Potro goes and beats Djokivic, which pleased me, I do not like him very much, then he beats Nadal also. Quite a feat.

Looking forward to the US Open where I think Andy is a favorite now, even though Djoko is the best player still in the world.

I was happy with the Olympic tennis, even though a lot of guys were missing. Great matches.



boxer44 said:


> We've been Olympics fans forever - but would like to have it remain amateur instead of the same pros winning most frequently. But, then again, some countries have 'professional amateurs' ... so, fair's fair, I suppose.
> 
> Beyond that, we LOVE it when announcers spend hours and hours predicting a hands-down winner, and some 'no name' blows it out of the box. Sometimes, the announcer mouths should remain shut tho'. I watched Kirsten came back time and again to finally win the match against Venus Williams. THEN, all the commentary went to "why Venus lost" instead of giving credit to Kirsten and the 'heart' she exhibited - never gave up, even down 1-4 in the match set. Same thing with Serena -- talking about why she lost instead of give credit where it belongs - on the winner.
> 
> ...


All of that is why I have watched every single event including tennis over stream. Looks as good as TV on my end. And I don't have to deal with the babbling, or cutting away, or talking about the Williams sisters for another 5 hours days after they lost. I have not seen the studio even once. I wish I had that option at the grand slams for tennis, but no, I'll have to listen to John MacEnroe babble through serve and on and on and on and everyone else. And watch the ESPN table for an hour talking about you know who, even if there are matches going on.

I also enjoyed all the track and field over the stream. They guys they have commenting are so knowledgable, I have no clue who they are and that is how it should be. They know there stuff. They show respect to all the athletes and they have these little tidbits of back story that adds a lot to the Olympics.

The Pole vault was a nail biter yesterday. And I love the discus, hammer, all that stuff.

If anyone has access to the NBC sports app on Roku, Fire, phone, tablet, etc, I highly suggest it. You do have to sign in with your provider, but on my phone they actually had a 2 week guest pass thing and I didn't sign in.


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## boxer44 (Aug 6, 2016)

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH  ... I wish I had that option, but we're too rural ...  we get only Hotspot, and cable, so the "skipping stream" ability's not here ....  Now that would be worth the cost (is it extra?)  How do you get the streaming?  That's thru ISP not Cable - Right?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I stream through the app on my Fire TV, which I had to validate through my Comcast subscription, so a lot of the features (if not all) may be dependent on that (like maybe which NBC-affiliated cable/satellite channels you have access to?).


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

boxer44 said:


> AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH ... I wish I had that option, but we're too rural ... we get only Hotspot, and cable, so the "skipping stream" ability's not here .... Now that would be worth the cost (is it extra?) How do you get the streaming? That's thru ISP not Cable - Right?


There is a list of TV providers you have to sign into. I don't recall what all was there as it keeps me signed in for 2 weeks usually and can't go back to that screen. Its how I had to activate the FireTV. Its included with your cable/fios subscription. I have ATT Uverse, I think that is not cable but fios? I don't even know.

On my phone though, they just let me watch last week at the dentist and I didn't even sign in. I just downloaded the app and started playing and it said something like guest for 2 weeks. Not sure what that was. It was funny to watch tennis on my phone though and I have a fairly large screen, 5.5 inches. Still, the ball was like a pin prick size. 

If they continue to have that for the Olympics and I still have access to it, it will be the only way I'll ever watch it again. I haven't seen a talking head since the opening ceremony. They are heard, but different once that in the NBC studio. No Bob Costas thanks you much. 

I already dread the US Open tennis. Sigh. The ESPN stream does not look quite as good as the NBC Olympic stream. Best stream I have watched yet for tennis. Don't know if its my internet, which isn't especially fast, or my TV, which upscales, or the Fire TV. I have a Roku too, but didn't try it as the FireTV is just so darn fast for everything.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

IF you're active military and have an account with AAFES on line, you can also access the stream.


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## Warren Dean (May 10, 2015)

Does anyone have any idea why the commentators keep saying that Usain Bolt's retirement from athletics is imminent?  I realise that he is not getting any younger, but he is still winning his finals going away...


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Warren Dean said:


> Does anyone have any idea why the commentators keep saying that Usain Bolt's retirement from athletics is imminent? I realise that he is not getting any younger, but he is still winning his finals going away...


He said he won't be running competitively any more in an interview after the most recent race.


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## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon) (Jan 19, 2011)

I watched most of the events related to swimming, volley ball and track and field. I enjoy seeing the best of the world competing...


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> He said he won't be running competitively any more in an interview after the most recent race.


[Re Ursain Bolt] ... and does anyone really believe that?


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## Warren Dean (May 10, 2015)

Ann in Arlington said:


> He said he won't be running competitively any more in an interview after the most recent race.


He could always buy a bigger trophy cabinet if need be!


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

Warren Dean said:


> He could always buy a bigger trophy cabinet if need be!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Anyone watching the closing ceremony? I am watching the life direct feed on the app and it started at 5:15 central. NBC on TV I think started their time delay at 6pm. There are no announcers or talking heads on the life feed and for almost 2 hours now I watched the athletes walking into the stadium with fun music. I went quickly over to the NBC broadcast to see what they had on and it was some clip and babbling and not what was going on at the stadium. I have had exactly 0 commercials in 2 hours. I am in heaven with this stream. Bonus is no whats his face, Matt Lauer. He makes me homicidal.  

They have having so much fun now all the different athletes and countries. Guess takes a while to get them all in. Many are showing off their medals to the cameras sprinkled throughout. 

I am going to miss the Olympics. Thankfully the US Open tennis is coming up. Then the long winter drought begins for me as I don't watch much other sports.


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## boxer44 (Aug 6, 2016)

Watched the mountain bike race today - that was pretty cool.  Wish they would have shown some of the "not so popular" sports more.  We got tired of swimming replays, diving replays, running replays.  We saw it, we get it - replays can be a round-up at another time and place - these athletes are NOW ...   

We also tried other sports as well, but the schedule on TV was often different -- look for dressage at the time stated, and find basketball.  So, that was an effort with small reward.  We enjoyed the high-jump, pole vault, and jumps, but NBC in its non-savant self showed very little of that competition ... so the search for competition was an adventure in and of itself.

Sorry it's over tho -- was enjoyable regardless of the NBC and talking heads and replays stealing the showtime.


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

I agree that the TV coverage was horrendous & disorganized, never able to find an accurate schedule to figure out what was going to be shown


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I never once watched anything on TV. I used the Nbc olympic site for schedule and the rio2016 site. I planned my days  like that with reminders. Then I used the streams. It was so much fun, just a commercial at the start and no studio, no babbling, just commentating on the events


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## Sandpiper (Oct 28, 2008)

I'm glad it's over.  Now back to regular programming.  Except our PBS is starting two week pledge drive.  Every pledge drive they show pretty much same programs.


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## Cuechick (Oct 28, 2008)

Atunah said:


> I never once watched anything on TV. I used the Nbc olympic site for schedule and the rio2016 site. I planned my days like that with reminders. Then I used the streams. It was so much fun, just a commercial at the start and no studio, no babbling, just commentating on the events


The streaming is the best thing to happen to the Olympics since Nadia Comaneci! I love being able to watch what I want and to see _all_ the coverage, not just the US competitors. In a previous life I coached gymnastics so that is naturally my favorite, at one point I was watching on both my iPad and computer so I could watch the beam and the bars which were on separate streams at the same time. I also enjoyed the Rhythmic Gymnastics which they barely cover at all. You can also go back and replay events.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Well it is over and done with. Thanks all for participating in this thread.
I hope you enjoyed the Olympic Games and look forward to the next.


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## FitBoy01 (Jul 9, 2020)

boxer44 said:


> Watched the mountain bike race today - that was pretty cool. Wish they would have shown some of the "not so popular" sports more. We got tired of swimming replays, diving replays, running replays. We saw it, we get it - replays can be a round-up at another time and place - these athletes are NOW ...
> 
> We also tried other sports as well, but the schedule on TV was often different -- look for dressage at the time stated, and find basketball. So, that was an effort with small reward. We enjoyed the high-jump and grips for dirt bikes, pole vault, and jumps, but NBC in its non-savant self showed very little of that competition ... so the search for competition was an adventure in and of itself.
> 
> Sorry it's over tho -- was enjoyable regardless of the NBC and talking heads and replays stealing the showtime.


Road biking will help, but will be mentally ready to find it difficult at the start. This kind of fitness is entirely different. Mtb is much more similar than the steadier pace of road racing to do many short, sharp intervals. I used to race but I had been off the bike for a couple of years with a back injury. On the road bike I got more fit and decided to go out for a laugh at MTB again. Finally, I was happy to go it once around my local trail, at a speedy snails, without falling out, while I had attacked all the way before. Not much fun tbh. It wasn't very fun. It was a little bit of a shock that I lost the high strength and how much my ability to ride.


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