Two years ago I went on a rant of epic proportions after Al Trautwig let loose a string of epically stupid doozies while covering girls’ gymnastics. I have grown weary of American coverage since – the sob stories simply grate on me. Yeah, life’s tough for most of us, gimme a break.
This morning, however, I got a taste of what I’ve been asking for – lighten up on the sob stories and just cover the stinkin’ sport, eh? To escape the coverage of women’s hockey (which I find almost as exciting as paint drying – too slow, too much ice) I switched over to Canada’s CBC coverage of women’s Slope Style where the announcers mostly laid off of the sob stories, just covered the event, kept the commentary to a fair minimum and didn’t shoot for the annals of idiocy in terms of over-the-top one liners. I should have been in Olympic coverage Heaven… And it was dull, almost lifeless. Now, the two fellas covering the event were completely lacking on the snowboarding lingity so that was definitely a factor but even so, after the Slope Style competition they switched over to coverage of the Skiathlon and it just so happened the American channel was covering the same sport so I switched back and forth between the two for comparison.
Sure enough, the canadian coverage was dry and dull again while the American coverage seemed much livelier. Of course, Al Trautwig wasn’t flailing about at idiotic one liners either, so there’s that. The point, I suppose, is that I should watch what I wish for… And wait for the figure skating coverage so I can fire off another epically idiotic on liner rant.
Oh my God, won’t have to wait. Johnny Weir. Nice necklace, sweetheart.
Speaking of figure skating, Yevgeny Plyushchenko was awesome. Way to take advantage of a man’s strengths rather than flail about trying to skate like the women (and look horribly out of sorts doing it). He was Chaz Michael Michaels to everyone else’s Jimmy MacElroy… When the Canadian kid started flapping his arms like a bird I almost shot coffee out of my nose.
Oh, and how did Michigan become the figure skating training center for the world? Kind if cool, that.
Fit Recovery 
I don’t have a TV so I haven’t watched any of the coverage yet but I remember hating some of the commentary from past Olympics. Specifically, I recall a diving event where the commentators were really immature in the way they pointed out the mistakes of non-American competitors. Obviously, they’re cheering for team USA, but I think the rules of sportsmanship should also apply to the commentators.
In regards to your last question, I remember a lot of Olympians started training at the Detroit Skating Club after they had a huge renovation in early 90s. It was so cool for me as a kid to see some my idols in person every week.
The crazy thing is only one team was training in Detroit, they’re all over – Novi, Canton and West Bloomfield to name three more, it’s unbelievable.
Maybe the abundance of skating facilities is luring them in. Whatever the reason, it’s nice to have something positive associated with the Detroit area 🙂
Good point