Wednesday, February 17, 2010

An Olympian TV effort
Kudos are in order for NBC and its presentation of the Winter Olympics from Vancouver. If there ever was a sporting event that lends itself well to the television camera, it's the Winter Games.
Despite its terrible start when a young luger from the Georgia Republic was killed during a training run on the dangerous Whistler Mountain slide course, coupled with some embarrassing glitches in the mechanics at the opening ceremony and the uncooperative weather for the alpine skiers, the Games have moved along with some terrific performances, especially in speedskating, men's figure skating and snowboarding.
Bob Costas never seems to lose his touch as the best in-studio host for these kind of events. And the top events are still to come with the women's figure skating and the alpine skiing races on the horizon.

*****

add Winter Olympics: The Canadians chose star appeal when they drafted Wayne Gretzky to light the outdoor Olympic torch at the end of the Opening Ceremony. The Great One, as he will always be known, looked somewhat uncomfortable riding in a truck through the streets of Vancouver in the rain that night.
No knock on the selection of Gretzky to do the honors but my personal choice would have been Bobby Orr, who was one of the torchbearers during the indoor ceremony. In his prime, Orr was every bit an equal to Gretzky, in the eyes of his fans, and certainly a better all-around player.

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