Musings - Olympics edition

So have you been watching the 5 rings, er I mean, the Sochi Winter Olympics? (5 rings is how you write Olympics in Japanese, as 五輪, which is technically pronounced "gorin" even though everyone says Olympics). I have some, but the time difference makes it hard to see too much. It is as always interesting to watch, not just for the games themselves but to see them through the lens of another country's broadcasting. Which leads me to today's post. So here are some random things that popped into my head watching the sporting events on TV.

• Any sport featuring country vs country competition is bound to bring out a patriotic/nationalistic feel wherever you go. Of course the evening broadcast in Japan almost exclusively focuses on the Japan team, but at least here you can watch a lot of the events in their entirety on normal TV if you set the DVR to tape late at night. I don't recall being able to see so much of the games back home, not since I was a kid and they had a cable channel devoted to just the events with little or no commentary.
• I always find it irritating to hear the standard commentary about the Japanese athletes (within Japan). If they win it's because of their determination and years of training. If they lose it's because the foreign athletes are taller, bigger, stronger, or whatever. Yes, sometimes the non-Japanese athletes dwarf them in height, but this isn't always the case, especially not nowadays. Have you ever seen the Japan women's volleyball team? They're giants. But not once will you ever hear a commentator mention a size advantage when it's in favor of Japan.
• Just like in the US the Japanese media always picks a few favorites but the coverage here is much better. Yes, they focus on the fan faves or people most likely to get gold, but everyone gets their chance to shine. I always find it really irritating just how much the US coverage focuses on the few they decided most likely will win, or who have the most heart-wrenching back story.
• So what's with those creepy-ass mascots they had in the opening? If someone hasn't made a parody video showing them running amok by the time the games are done I will be very disappointed.
• As a camera guy, I found the footage of people recording the opening with their cellphones pretty laughable. Ordinarily I'm a big fan of shooting pics when you see something cool and get the chance, but you know how good a video taken in a giant, dimly lit stadium on an iPhone is going to turn out? Pretty shitty at best. Take a pic of your friends, take some selfies, but when stuff starts put the phone down and watch.
• One final comment. The anti-gay laws and crackdowns happening in Russia these days are despicable, and it's pretty pathetic when people just let it slide without commentary, like the total absence of any discussion on the subject you see in Japan. But it's nice to see some athletes, fans, and countries using the events as a chance to give Putin the bird.