They pulled show jumping coverage for tonight. I just checked their website TV schedule. GRRRRRRRRRRRr 
You mean you weren’t thrilled by the exciting sport of rythmic gymnastics?
I just want to join the chorus of the pissed-off. I sat up till friggin midnight waiting for SJ. 4:30 a.m. came even earlier today.
Perhaps we should ask NBC to announce during the broadcast all the sports they will NOT be covering each evening.
Being an avid NASCAR follower, I really admire how they treat their fans. There are driver introductions at each race and many opportunities to go to the pits and watch the crews work on the cars.
I think NASCAR is a more “fan personalized” sport, meaning fans get more of a chance to be part of the action. At Grand Prixs - fans get to walk the course some times, watch the riders warm up sometimes and then go sit in the stands.
Another thing that is different about NASCAR is that it is the same field of drivers competing each weekend. Whereas, Margie may only show againt Hap Hansen twice a year.
If there are any NASCAR fans out here - please feel free to email me to discuss the sport further. I am a Winston Cup junkie!! Go 24!! 
Okay, I do agree with everyone about the “fluff” that NBC has been showing to “fill out” their coverage, but who else was really touched by the story about the three athletes from East Timor who all finished last or close to last in their events but were still absolutely thrilled to be there? I cried, I’ll admit it, I did. The announcer said something along the lines of “Americans expect results, but these athletes will be heroes when they get home regardless.” (pretty poorly paraphrased but that was the gist)The footage of the three of them dancing around during the opening ceremonies was so moving I am crying again just thinking about it… Well that, and the fact that my baby brother is getting married tomorrow then moving away to Thailand which has me in tears all day!!!
The other clip I saw this morning was the swimmer from Equatorial Somewhere who just learned to swim nine months ago and finished a minute or so after the rest of the swimmers and got a standing ovation. We should all be so lucky to have that kind of fortitude and guts… Inspiring!
okay…my observations:
Anyone noticed how very little clothing even the indoor volleyball players have been wearing? The commentators even said something about Cuba! Hmm…notice how much coverage they got on t.v.? I watched a good 3 hours…
~Erin
So, what are we down to, 1 hour so far?? UGH! They all seem to think that people don’t care about the horses, period. We really need to PR our sport better. Yikes, if the WWF can do it,ewwwwwww, why not us?
I know my VCR is getting a workout taping everything but the riding. The VCR did catch some of the cross country. My girlfriend (a very non-horsey person) caught the dressage and was very impressed with it and wished they showed more! Unusual from her as I get her to the barn once a year!
VT Rider -
I moved to Charlotte, thinking racing, oh, it’s for hicks. Now I have a driver - Bobby Labonte and I listen to ROCK N ROLL RACIN with John Boy and Billy on my drive out to the barn on Saturdays. UhOh.
At any rate, my friends were at the Winston (gotta love the free carton of cigs for all the fans…) , they were next to this guy and for the WHOLE race, everytime Earnhart went by, he’d do a thumbs up and Yell 333333333333333333. Everytime Gordon go by he’d do the middle finger and say “24 sucks”. Funny once or twice, but kind of annoying as time went on.
Oh to see that at a Grand Prix “GO NONA” “Crash Now Mclain”
GO SHILOH!!! YEAHHHHHH!! Not only the Whitebread, but the America’s Cup, hellllooooo??? No one person, could possibly ever afford that. That excuse is blown out the door. How bout we find out if the NBC people just don’t like equestrian events. They’ve shown lots of stuff we did not metal in…
[This message has been edited by wtywmn4 (edited 09-29-2000).]
I wonder how the “Horse-Sports” coverage in other countries compares to our miserable offerings?
I was in London some years back during the Summer Olympics. The BBC had live coverage of EVERY equestrian event which they rolled non-stop. I actually reached horse-competition-saturation-overload from watching the “telly”. I went out for a walk, and low and behold it seemed every T.V. in London was tuned in. From the hotel lobby to the one in the pub to the ones in stores, there was a crowd of absorbed watchers.
In England that year, the Olympic Equestrian events were watched by one and all with studied reverence for the sport and its heroes. Maybe our coverage [or lack thereof] merely reflects what the current “culture” in the U.S. demands.
NBC doesn’t get it. We want to see the competition, not just our competitors.
Ohnowwhat -
Actually, my statement was that if we tried hard enough, maybe we could have the success NASCAR enjoys. Apparently, 15 years ago, it wasn’t the most popular thing going.
I have no clue what Nascar did to be soooooooo popular? It has many parallels to showjumping - ie, all but the dedicated find it boring, until there is a crash. Maybe the riders need to be marketed, as well as the horses, not the sport itself.
People go to Nascar to see Dale and Jeff, not necessarily to enjoy the technique of racing.
There are plenty of boring sports on TV - golf, tennis etc. But golf has Tiger and tennis has Venus and Serena. Maybe we need to promote some riders, for example, Rodrigo Pessoa - a very handsome, very accomplished rider. We need more people like that to draw fans.
And maybe the sport needs to be less stuffy… have meet and greets with the riders.
Which brings up another point, in some ways, our top people are too approachable. I can compete against Margie Goldstein or Nona Garson in a training jumper course and even beat them… They don’t have much mystique… I certainly can’t compete with Jeff Gordon, or Tiger Woods.
Not NASCAR, but as I type, sitting in my office high on the 42nd floor of the big oil company/law firm building, the warm-ups for the Texaco Havoline Grand Prix of Houston are happening on the streets directly below my window. Site preparation going on for well over a month, a week of downtown streets being closed, millions upon millions of dollars of race cars and associated paraphenalia, live national TV broadcast of the race, and tickets going for well over $100 dollars. They’re doing something right.
One other thing I’ll say for motor sports – they are a lot louder than horses. A lot louder. Really, really loud. Even from the 42nd floor.
The team jumping was aired at about 9:40 AM yesterday, according to Saddletude.com. I hate NBC. I may never watch NBC again.
You guys this is unacceptable!!! Showjumping has had 1 hour of coverage over the olympics! All the gymnastic events have had at least 15 hours of coverage! (I know because I have 12 or them on tape) As you all know equestrain is one of the most amazing sports in the olympics because me and women compete as equalls in all events. (Can’t say the same for sycronized diving…) Anyways, here’s my suggestion. We forward all of our past an current complaints about unacceptable olympic coverage to NBC and lodge a formal complaint. Because Im really sick of all the negitive press equestrain has been getting lately (ie: that anti-equestrain adidas commercial aried on NBC). We deserve an explanation here guys! So, if any of you are interested in persuing this, email me at Benbrdg@aol.com and we can figure out how to make this work.
wtywym4 - Heck, look at Nascar! If Nascar can do it, so can we.
Boo Hiss to NBC. Boo Hiss.
Check the NBC website and their TV schedule there. They update what is to be aired and they took riding off the roster, which is how I knew. No riding on today either.
Well, I kind of like Rhythmic Gymnastics (the hula hoop thing) …
How about this interesting little factoid - read this somewhere - the reason they refuse to show more equestrian related sports is because it’s perceived as too elitist, too catering to the wealthy/select few who have the money. And it’s too slow. Oh and showing YACHTING isn’t?!!!Yachting?Yachting!? Puh-leeze! What could be more elitist - only the extraordinarily wealthy can afford to do this “sport” competitively. I figure this - if they can televise the Whitbread 'Round the World Race, they can dang well show some more horses.
I like rhythmic gymnastics. I’m fascinated by people who have that kind of hand-eye coordination. I picture myself completely snarled up in that ribbon-thingie, or braining myself with those club-whatsits or hurling the ball into the audience.
[This message has been edited by shiloh (edited 09-29-2000).]
I’m not 100% on this, but I bet there are a lot more amateur adult riders out there than there are amateur track runners, gymnasts, or divers…
