A Review of Olympics Coverage - what's hot and what's not, Part One

OK the Olympics in Beiling is officially over. So, how did prime time coverage go, and how did our emerging sports fare? Not surprisingly, the sports that got the most prime time coverage were those that featured superstars and (nearly) naked people.

The water sports were big, of course, even though the new, faster swimsuits covered more skin. Still, you could see all the nearly naked women and men that you wanted. In diving, both springboard and the high dive, the men and women wore more traditional swimsuits which showed more skin. And, of course, there were many superstars, the greatest of which being Michael Phelps. The women had their stars as well, including 41-year old and five-time Olympian Dara Torres, who brought home three silver medals to add to her collection. Many world records were broken, and there were lots of close races in the pool, which makes for good TV. Also, the indoor swimming races didn't last long, which is great for TV. I saw no prime time coverage of the open water swim, and no coverage of the triathlon. Meanwhile, synchronized diving got lots of air time. And yes, everyone found that synchronized diving is just weird. "Not that there's anything wrong with that..."

The other two sports that got a lot of play time were gymnastics and track and field, or athletics, although most the coverage there was on the sprint races. The American women's gymnastics team had many stars, including the Mary Lou Rettonish Shawn Johnson and her slightly more winning teammate, Nastia Liukin. The networks airing the Olympics always want to cash in on a good story, and the story here are the coaches. Liukin was born in Moscow and moved to the US with her parents, who are both champion gymnasts. She is coached by her father, a (former Soviet) Olympic gold medalist who defected to America to found his own club. And Johnson is coached by Béla Károlyi, the Romanian coach of Nadia Comaneci, who also defected to America to coach gymnasts for the US, including Mary Lou Retton, and Kerri Strug. There is a list of parallel stories among African sprinters who defected to the US and were adopted by the American team.

In track and field, more time was given to the sprints. As with swimming, shorter races on the track don't last as long, so they can air more preliminaries and background stories in between short bits of action. The Jamaican Usain Bolt rivalled Michael Phelps' role as hero of the athletics, so a lot of coverage was obviously spent there. Not as much media coverage was spent on middle distance and long distance races.

The best overall sport, in regards to prime-time watchability, was beach volleyball, especially the women's team. It had everything: huge American superstars; all the women jumping, diving, and hugging in bikinis; and non-stop action. And for the US, the story had a happy ending, as the men's team (Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers) won gold, as well as the women's team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh.

Link of the week: these Science of Sport guys. Great Olympic previews and analysis. In the network programming you get many dramatic background stories, which is nice, although it's usually focused on only the most popular of the American athletes. But here, you get the story behind the performance - the how and why, and that's even better.

Triathlon gets ever-more popular with exposure in the Olympics and here in Portland

USA Triathlon announced the 2008 Age Group National Championship and Elite National Championship will be held at Henry Hagg Lake on Saturday, Sept. 20. Last year's event was also held at Hagg Lake, but it was for age-groupers only. This year, USAT officials decided to add in professional competitors. And some of these competitors will be competing in this year's Beijing Olympic Games. So, watch the coverage of the triathlon, and then come down to Hagg Lake in September to watch them in person.

USAT is eating up the coverage, having added an Art & Science of Triathlon International Coaching Symposium (sponsored by Training Peaks) in Portland from September 21-23.

This "Olympic distance" race consists of a 1.5k swim, 40k bike, and 10k run, and will work as a qualifier for the 2009 International Triathlon Union Age Group World Championship in Australia. The top 16 in each age group of the World Championship earns a spot on Team USA. Also, Age Group National Championship athletes will be representing their states during competition. Using cross-country scoring system, points will be awarded according to the top three overall male and female triathletes, the fastest master, and the fastest grand master. The winning state will earn bragging rights as the nation's best.

Where the marathon and half marathon surged in popularity, so goes the triathlon. The combined sport of running, cycling and swimming is almost more popular than the individual sports, themselves. Running is still king among actvities of the active, and then hiking and walking, but cycling and triathlon are not far behind. Swimming, as a competitive sport, is popular to warch during the Olympics, but as an activity it's not quite as popular as swimming, biking and running.

Soon, mountain / ultra / trail running will catch the triathlon...sometime after it reaches its peak. As far as races go, there's less available new non-trail urban areas to make a course, merely because of population growth and increased traffic. Which is one reason why the trail is such a popular choice. But for now, there are plenty of large-scale events happening around town, such as the City of Portland Triathlon.

basketball tries to keep up

"OK, now you've fudged the bucket. You've gone and given me too many things to know." - Arab rap sensation Group X.

Is basketball unable to keep up with the rest of our fast-paced world? Here in Portland, the addition to a new all-star (yet curiously unproven) center Greg Oden was promoted by the Trailblazers as something fantastic. And just before the Oden mania could quite take hold, the team elected to have him miss his first season so he could undergo knee surgery and properly heal. Had I actually seen him play, I might have been let down. But the point is that Oden, now back in the gym and ready for the new season, was their best bet to reignite flailing ticket sales. Their motto "Ready Or Not, Here We Come," was strangely fitting for the young team aiming to prove themselves during the 2007- 2008 season.

So, how can basketball hope to compete with new, exciting sports such as box lacrosse? Perhaps by playing three-on-three? Please welcome the second annual Trailblazers Street Jam, a benefit for Special Olympics Oregon. The idea has apparently caught on, as a brand new summer leage has formed, calling itself the 3BA.

The 3BA is three-on-three basketball action based loosely on the idea of arena football - with former college and current professional players matched against each other in a shorter court. The shot clock is also shorter, prompting more action, more dunks, and more three-pointers, which is the best part of the game. Basically, the idea is to make this new summer basketball league quicker and more exciting, much like indoor lacrosse. Oregon Live has a great write-up on the first match between Portland's team, led by A.C. Green, and Seattle's team, coached by Shawn Kemp.

And as for the emerging sport of cheerleading, what is there to say? Really - our emerging sports writers are new at this - what is there to say? Does anyone know when the cheerleading season starts? Is it in the fall, during football season, or in the spring, after basketball? Does it have a season?

Here's a question we can pose: who is the best all-time celebrity cheerleader?
Paula Abdul Hayden Panettiere Gwen Stefani