I’m So Tired
I can’t stop watching the Olympics. Even though I DVR (I used to Tivo it, but that’s another article)?it I feel compelled to watch it live. Here are some cool things I’ve picked up from a branding standpoint.
1. Speedo has crushed everyone from a product branding?standpoint. They’ve invented a swimsuit that makes swimmers swim really, really fast. Kudos for technology in a swimsuit (who’d a thunk it). But will it translate into consumer sales? The jury is out.
2. Scoring in Gymnastics. What the hell happened here? Gymnastics used to give a perfect 10. Trillions and Gazillions?of people around the globe have accepted the PERFECT 10. Movies, TV shows and kids aged 4 and up have used the PERFECT 10. It’s gymnastics freakin brand image!!!!!! For the love of God why have they changed their scoring system? to?something only someone?in Mensa can understand?
Last night I watched Nastia Liukin tie in the Uneven Bars?for what I and everyone in America thought was a Gold Medal. Liukin and China’s He Kexin both posted scores of 16.725, but He?was awarded the gold medal over Liukin due to a tiebreaker based on deductions.
Why? The same thing happened in the men’s Vault. A tie. Why not award Gold Medal’s to both?? This has become so convoluted to the average Joe that it makes for frustrating times. What happened to simple and easy for fans to understand the sport?
Listen, I, like most people watch Women’s Gymnastics only at Olympic times. Does anyone really watch year round? No! The Olympics are the freakin Super Bowl on steroids. Make it easy for all us regular folk to understand.
Bring back the 10 I say!
3. NBC Broadcasting. Please someone kidnap these guys. I’m proud to be an American but for the love of God how much bias can one person take. When the Americans score high not a peep but as soon as they score low there’s a conspiracy. I’m so tired of hearing that Americans have been undeservingly scored too low. Shut it already. Is it possible to actually have announcers that are unbiased? If so, let’s use them.
What have you thought about the 2008 Olympic games?
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August 19th, 2008 at 8:28 am
The one thing that occurs to me is that this is most likely the last Olympics that we’ll see that isn’t genetically enhanced.
But I agree with all of your points here.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Not to mention the fact that the NBC announcers seem to have no understanding in the differences between cultures outside of the United States. Not all of the actions by athletes from other countries are going to fit into out comfortable little box of US norms.