Olympic Excitement

[Grey Fox]

I have no memories of any olympics Pre-Atlanta & barely any from Nagano.

Jean-Luc Brassard & Miryam Bedard are the only thing I remember from SmallHammer

[Syt]

I have no memories of any olympics Pre-Atlanta & barely any from Nagano.

Jean-Luc Brassard & Miryam Bedard are the only thing I remember from SmallHammer

Not Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan?   

[Syt]

Also, tonight Maria Riesch is going up against Lindsey Vonn (who are good friends and know each other since childhood).

[Syt]

Another nice thing about Olympics in Vancouver on German tv: after 8 pm German state tv can't show commercials, making this largely ad free.

[Grey Fox]

Syt, whats the story behind that rule?

[Syt]

Syt, whats the story behind that rule?

You pay a "tv fee" for public tv (ca. 25 EUR/month or so). Public tv is allowed to "earn a bit on the side" with commercials, but not after 8 pm to differentiate them from commercial tv. Some public channels have no ads at all (cultural Austro-Swiss-German channel 3sat, German-French channel arte, regional programs). It doesn't mean that e.g. soccer matches or other major events can't have a "presented by" mini-ad.

Austrian tv can have commercials all day, but they don't have commercial breaks during a show or movie. Overall, German tv quality is much superior, esp. with documentaries, political reporting, sports, news ... than Austrian (though price is about the same, but you have 10 times more payers in Germany).

Extensive coverage of Olympics, Soccer Euro and World Cups and other sports events are staples of German public tv. Especially during winter you'll have half a day of biathlon, cross country, luge, bobsled etc on weekends.

[Josephus]

I see the tradition of atleast 1 fuckable curlers is not a Canadian exclusive.

the three on the right are all OK.

[Agelastus]

It makes sense for the British media to downplay these games - lower the bar so it'll be that much easier to declare London 2012 a success.

And disguise the fact they still haven't won any medals.

The man in the street knows we never win anything at the Winter Olympics and doesn't expect it. We are neutrals hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

I suspect there's some truth in PRC's comment though; Beijing and the recession have kinda given London an almost guaranteed losing hand, even assuming the traditional British incompetence at major infrastructure projects doesn't raise its ugly head.

[Vricklund]

Syt, whats the story behind that rule?

You pay a "tv fee" for public tv (ca. 25 EUR/month or so). Public tv is allowed to "earn a bit on the side" with commercials, but not after 8 pm to differentiate them from commercial tv. Some public channels have no ads at all (cultural Austro-Swiss-German channel 3sat, German-French channel arte, regional programs). It doesn't mean that e.g. soccer matches or other major events can't have a "presented by" mini-ad.

Austrian tv can have commercials all day, but they don't have commercial breaks during a show or movie. Overall, German tv quality is much superior, esp. with documentaries, political reporting, sports, news ... than Austrian (though price is about the same, but you have 10 times more payers in Germany).

Extensive coverage of Olympics, Soccer Euro and World Cups and other sports events are staples of German public tv. Especially during winter you'll have half a day of biathlon, cross country, luge, bobsled etc on weekends.

Watching sports with artificial commercial breaks is the pinnacle of stupidity. The "power breaks" (sounds like a candy bar) in hockey is particularly painful. It's like making everyone in a cross-country race pause every 5 minutes while they cut for commercials.

[Grey Fox]

I have no memories of any olympics Pre-Atlanta & barely any from Nagano.

Jean-Luc Brassard & Miryam Bedard are the only thing I remember from SmallHammer

Not Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan?   

I am not an american. In 1994, I did not understand english.

[Ape]

WTf is up with the music in the breaks in hockey? Playing ABBA? Crazy canucks 

[crazy canuck]

WTf is up with the music in the breaks in hockey? Playing ABBA? Crazy canucks 

We wish to make our Scandi friends feel at home. 

[Ape]

WTf is up with the music in the breaks in hockey? Playing ABBA? Crazy canucks 

We wish to make our Scandi friends feel at home.

Then why the heck are you playing it when the Finns play the Belorussians?

[crazy canuck]

WTf is up with the music in the breaks in hockey? Playing ABBA? Crazy canucks 

We wish to make our Scandi friends feel at home.

Then why the heck are you playing it when the Finns play the Belorussians?

Because the Finns dont have any music of their own worth playing.  ABBA was the closest thing that we could find.

[Barrister]

WTf is up with the music in the breaks in hockey? Playing ABBA? Crazy canucks 

You mean Scandis don't play music during breaks in the action in hockey?