Last night NBC had a little blurb on that stalwart of British Ski Jumping Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards. I had completely forgotten how someone could be so famous[1] for being so crap.
Ok, perhaps that's a little harsh. He did try his best afterall... Naah, he was crap :)
[1]At least he was famous in England for a while - don't know if anyone remembers him now though.
Re:Eddie
vek on 2002-02-11T20:58:59
Yep, I forget his name and I'm far too lazy to look it up. He's supposed to be serious about his skijumping though (grin). I just mentioned this to my Sister and apparently (back home - or maybe it's just her opinion) he's not really considered a true Brit because he's really from Canada. I say it's because he's crap as well (albeit less crap than Eddie).
Case in point. If you're from Canada, your name is Lennox Lewis and you just happen to be the World Boxing Champion, no-one gives a flying one if you're not a "true" Brit:) Re:Eddie
pudge on 2002-02-11T21:31:57
LOL, good point. But yeah, I remember hearing he's not living in Britain, though I don't know if he was born there or whatever.Re:Eddie
jmm on 2002-02-12T14:51:20
I was dining with some friends this weekend and they commented on football teams that are correctly reported on as Irish. Then, when they start to have some success, they start being classified by the media as British teams.
I see the same with Canadian reporting too. If a person was born in Canada, grew up in Canada, did preliminary work in Canada, or achieved success in Canada, they are reported as a Canadian; often without distinguishing which subset of those attributes is being used to claim their achievements as Canadian.
Every community in the world emphasises their own connections to success, while ignoring to some degree the equally valid connections of other communities to that same success.
Eddie was well known partly because the media is always willing to leaven the seriousness of the Olympic movement to a certain degree. Having someone qualify to participate who is not at all close to "the best in the world", and who is entertaining to interview as well is perfect. They get to poke a bit of fun by reporting true events, but the person does come in last so the Olympic committee has their standards maintained.Re:Eddie
pudge on 2002-02-13T18:59:27
Speaking of which, the American TV broadcasts have emphasized far more non-Americans than Americans in the competitions so far. Of course, a lot of that is hockey, which lasts 2.5 hours per game, which they often show in their entirety, but still.Re:Eddie
jmm on 2002-02-13T19:15:32
I noticed that too the other night when I watched NBC for a while (CBC was showing curling which is one of those sports that is more boring to watch than to play). After the (first? penultimate anyhow) round of the woman's halfpipe, they interviewed the first place finisher rather than the second place American.
I was impressed with their balance in what I watched - good coverage of the top finishers, plus additional coverage of the remaining competitors of their own nationality - that is exactly right. Either they've improved their coverage over the years, or my mother was unlucky in the portions of the 2000 coverage she happened to watch.
What did they have to say about the judging for the pairs?Re:Eddie
pudge on 2002-02-13T20:05:02
I have to say that I am watching the Olympics in a weird way this year: TiVoing every broadcast and skimming to the events I want to see, and skipping most events I don't like want to see (halfpipe, figure skating) and ones I can only take so much of (cross-country, preliminary hockey). So I can't really compare coverage to previous years, as I've never watched it a way anything like this before. I am literally seeing every broadcast I want to see, and skipping everything I want to skip.
As to the pairs judging, everyone is saying the judges were wrong. I don't care that much, except insofar as I am glad it shows figure skating to be the non-sport that it is.:-) But everyone seems to agree that the judges were wrong. NBCOlympics.com apparently had a poll last night, and with arond 215K responses, 96% said they thought the Canadians should have won. That's overwhelming, even for a web poll. :-D
But it is getting too much. NBC spent well over an hour this afternoon covering the press conference instead of showing actual events. Bah.Re:Eddie
jmm on 2002-02-13T21:02:29
Well over an hour? We got a bit more mention of it here.:-)
There were flags being flown at half-mast yesterday, and it was discussed in this mornings business news.Re:Eddie
pudge on 2002-02-13T21:33:51
No, just an hour at one sitting. An hour+ straight of the pairs-figure-skating-scandal press conference this afternoon, with no commercial interruption.Re:Eddie
jdavidb on 2002-02-12T17:41:38
The new jumper did not come in last. I'm thinking he beat five or six people.
So, he's serious, and he's not the worst Olympic ski jumper in the world, either.
