Cycling in the 2012 Olympics (spoilers allowed)

[malkin]

Watching women's rowing (skull?)...

Doesn't "Gentle Liam" shine up nice?

[redrhodie]

I don't want to hear our anthem unless I can hear everyone else's when they win. It's disrespectful to only play ours.

Off my soapbox.

[Koronin]

I don't want to hear our anthem unless I can hear everyone else's when they win. It's disrespectful to only play ours.

Off my soapbox.

Personally I'd rather hear anyone's national anthem than all the little stories they do. Those things annoy me to no end. I want to see the events. I do NOT want to see back stories. Tell me something relative while watching the event fine, but I don't care one little tiny bit about watching a back story.

[pll]

+1 on redrhodie and koronin

I like the medal/anthem ceremonies, but if its focused on the US, not so much. The athlete profiles should be online, on demand features, not an interruption from live coverage. [But then, how would NBC justify sending so many people to London, including several talking heads that do not know about any sport?]

Watching the women's race now.

ETA: It seems Specialized "uniformed" its riders' bikes, both in the men's and the women's races -- anyone riding a Specialized bike has a bright red one.

[Crankin]

I like the back stories. To me, it puts a little human interest in what sometimes is boring. This applies to all sports watching for me.
Watching the women's race. Ugh, rain.

[lovelygamer]

I too love the back stories. I want to know what made this person into an athlete. It also inspired me to do even more in my pursuit of fitness.

I loved the USA story featured today in the road race. Not everyone is born an Olympic athlete! From wall street banker to Olympic cyclist. You go girl (Evelyn Stevens).

The womens road race was great. Hated the rain, and that Stevens didn't get up in that lead pack with Vos. Vos was SO strong for the whole 3.5 hours.

Great race.

[colby]

I too love the back stories. I want to know what made this person into an athlete. It also inspired me to do even more in my pursuit of fitness.

I loved the USA story featured today in the road race. Not everyone is born an Olympic athlete! From wall street banker to Olympic cyclist. You go girl (Evelyn Stevens).

The womens road race was great. Hated the rain, and that Stevens didn't get up in that lead pack with Vos. Vos was SO strong for the whole 3.5 hours.

Great race.

I found it much more fun to watch than the mens race and I'm so glad my NBC feed showed the entire race! I was amazed there wasn't more crashing with how hard the rain was coming down. All of the repeated attacks and response from the peloton, the way the race thinned out the longer it went on, and finally the attack that broke away. I was sad to see the American drop from the pack, but what an awesome finish.

One of the announcers at one point said (I don't recall of which athlete, there are so many that were cross-discipline) "if she were a man, she would be famous." So true.

[BikeDutchess]

Once again I am really annoyed that only certain U.S. time zones get the live feed from NBC and others get tape delay. Saw the women's cycling results posted on FB by my east coast friends before I saw the action on TV.

[lovelygamer]

Once again I am really annoyed that only certain U.S. time zones get the live feed from NBC and others get tape delay. Saw the women's cycling results posted on FB by my east coast friends before I saw the action on TV.

In today's electronic age I find it impossible not to know ahead of time. London is five hours ahead of us in the east and all of my phone news apps, twitter and facebook always have the results immediately when they happen.

[Koronin]

+1 on redrhodie and koronin

I like the medal/anthem ceremonies, but if its focused on the US, not so much. The athlete profiles should be online, on demand features, not an interruption from live coverage. [But then, how would NBC justify sending so many people to London, including several talking heads that do not know about any sport?]

Watching the women's race now.

ETA: It seems Specialized "uniformed" its riders' bikes, both in the men's and the women's races -- anyone riding a Specialized bike has a bright red one.

Putting that stuff on line seems like a great idea to me. I'll change the channel when those things come and hope I change it back in time to watch an actual event. I turn the Olympics on to watch the events not the stupid stories. Personally I don't think they need to send so many people over in the first place. They need 3 to 4 anchor people to be the inbetween to go to and from different events and that's it. Then they need all the individual sport announcers.

[hebe]

I loved the womens race today, amazing riding and even more so given the dreadful weather. Such an inspiration.

I was watching the "live" coverage on my laptop, but still ended up getting spoilers as the video dropped and restarted a few times and I stupidly updated twitter on my phone a few minutes before the end. Of course everyone watching on the tv already knew the ending.

[malkin]

I liked seeing all the spectators who watched the road races "for free."

Then, I remember that for the LA Olympics I got to do the same thing!