Is it true Americans don't give a damn about the Olympics ?

My Aussie sister in law works in NYC and said that at her neighbourhood bar, all the TV screens are tuned to the baseball. She reckons that most Americans don't really care about the Olympics, that they're so parochial they care only for how the [insert US sports team franchise here] are doing.
Is that true? Could Americans care less about Beijing 08?

I don't think so. Everyone I know has been watching the Olympics, mostly watching basketball, swimming, and gymnastics.

If a European wants to go skiing, they go to the alps. If they want sun, they might go to Italy. For gambling, Monte Carlo. But an American doesn't even have to leave the U.S. for any of these. They can ski at Aspen. Go to beaches in San Diego or Miami Beach. For gambling we have Las Vegas. If you want to witness the best athletes, they're already here too, (as the Olympics proves). So it's hard for Americans to get interested in what's outside the U.S. borders. American events like the baseball championships are called the World Series. The winner doesn't take on the Japanese team. They feel they don't need to. So how likely is it that the Olympics will have a big appeal?

I was eating at chilis wen phelps was going formthe record and everyone in the bar was fixed on the screen including myself. I personally watch the olympics for entertainment, maybe an hour or so a night, but I haven't watched any the last 2 or 3 days.

EDIT: wen to WHEN and formthe to FOR THE.

The problem I have is the poor coverage. I cant make heads or tails of the programming on TV. Its on a couple channels, but in 8-hour blocks listed in the guide like: weightlifting, men's soccer, tennis, baseball. Cant figure out when something I wish to watch is going to be on so that I can plan to watch it, so I pretty much dont, unless I wish to turn it on and watch something random, which I do from time to time.

Otherwise, I love the Olympics. I rather wish I could watch several events (tennis, cycling, soccer) and follow them closely, while tuning in to gymnastics and possibly a few other things, but I need a better programming routine to do it. I dont have 12 hours a day to sit and watch random things.

ive been hearing updates here and there, no real interest to go see it myself tough, i much rather be out playing tennis,
the time when it comes on its bad too, i think its like 3 or so in the morning, now unless you have some serious interest, i dont think you'll find too many people watching at that time
but as far as americans not carring, i dont think thats correct, i think is more about convenience, if its playing on tv people will watch

I'd be bloody pissed if the swimming finals are held in the day for their sake and nobody's watching

where i am we are olympics crazy. my colleagues are all saying it will be good for them when it is over because they are exhausted staying up to watch. i personally have watched every night and am waiting on the coverage to start on the main nbc station right now b/c i don't have cable. i made sure to be at my sister's on the nights phelps broke the all time overall medal record and then last night when he equalled spitz's record for 7 in a single olympics. i thought it was important for her kids to watch. seeing how there is so much going on outside the us...although the covereage is obviously tilted here in the u.s. we also had a family party night before last for a niece that's going off to college and all the tv's were tuned to the olympics. by night's end all the guests were on the couch watching the swimming and beach volleyball.

i've been dying b/c i can't see the tennis....grrrrrr. all that i can see is the tiny video on the nbc web-site. hoping to find something better before tomorrow's final. i love the games.

I care about them but to the majority of Americans, the Olympics are a combination of the two things Americans hate:

Foreigners and gym. :lol:

americans are into the olympics but, unfortunately, it is often followed for the medal count to show off american superiority rather than the love of sport. i wish nationalism was secondary but i don't believe it is,

MAXXply said:

My Aussie sister in law works in NYC and said that at her neighbourhood bar, all the TV screens are tuned to the baseball. She reckons that most Americans don't really care about the Olympics, that they're so parochial they care only for how the [insert US sports team franchise here] are doing.
Is that true? Could Americans care less about Beijing 08?

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1 neighborhood bar in NYC is not a true indication of what 'Americans' think. A better indication is the TV ratings, and an even better indication is the online ratings for the NBC website streams. Apparently, all of the numbers have been very impressive for NBC (despite what they are doing to the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones).

Americans don't agree on anything, never have and never will, but I would say that the majority of Americans have at least some interest in the Summer Olympics.

i would also the say the majority of americans do like, and care about the olympics. they might not make it a number one priority to watch it all, but they could also be taping it at home to watch it later on their own time. i know that most people i know are very in tune with what is going on in beijing.

I won't just watch anything. Basketball=boring, Baseball=watch, Boxing=boring, etc

But I have to keep up on the Cardinals and college football!

Majority of Americans care deeply about the Olympic games and want to see the US strive in each category. The only thing I ask is if all Americans support American athletes during the Olympic games.

Char said:

The problem I have is the poor coverage. I cant make heads or tails of the programming on TV. Its on a couple channels, but in 8-hour blocks listed in the guide like: weightlifting, men's soccer, tennis, baseball. Cant figure out when something I wish to watch is going to be on so that I can plan to watch it, so I pretty much dont, unless I wish to turn it on and watch something random, which I do from time to time.

Otherwise, I love the Olympics. I rather wish I could watch several events (tennis, cycling, soccer) and follow them closely, while tuning in to gymnastics and possibly a few other things, but I need a better programming routine to do it. I dont have 12 hours a day to sit and watch random things.

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I agree with the crappy coverage timing. Over here, a lot of the olympic sports just aren't popular and cannot hope to compete for ratings outside of the olympics. You'll never see badminton or cricket here unless some crazy fluke thing happens in the sport and it makes a 10 second spot on espn.

In the rest of the world, those sports are played casually so people want to watch. Most of the people I know have sports that are either on too early/late and they are bamboozled by the promised coverage on tv.

quest01 said:

Majority of Americans care deeply about the Olympic games and want to see the US strive in each category. The only thing I ask is if all Americans support American athletes during the Olympic games.

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for the most part thats true for me, i am not an american born citizen, but i have spend more than half my life here now and consider myself to be an american, i support american athletes, but i also support bolivian athletes (if they even made it there),
thats the great thing about america, it is made up of several nationalities making it a very diverse country,
most naturalized americans i think will always support american athletes, but a small part of themselves wil also support their country of origin, just like anyone would support a player from their hometown

quest01 said:

Majority of Americans care deeply about the Olympic games and want to see the US strive in each category. The only thing I ask is if all Americans support American athletes during the Olympic games.

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I also agree. My entire family has been very excited about the entire event. My boys have enjoyed the news pieces NBC does to educate the rest of us on some Chinese culture. The story about the artist that did the all main symbol they are using and all the individual sport drawings for example.

I have been watching on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA and online.

The boys have said most of their friends are also into it. My youngest got a call from a friend who was at the Rangers/Devil Rays game and asked him to call with the results of the 4X100 IM that got Phelps his 8th gold.

So I think the experience of one foreigner at a bar in NYC is not a good sample! Perhaps that bar always show Yankee games and has loyal customers.

The media would lead you to believe Americans don't care. Everytime I turn on the radio or tv it is some kind of negative comment. My impression is these people had bad memories of gym class, and/or are paid to promote sports franchises. I get the feeling it is major propaganda.

I'm in the Mountain Time Zone. NBC is playing some strange games with us regarding broadcasting. It is diminishing my interest during these Games.

Coverage has changed the Olympics -- making them worse -- for me. NBC's choice to tape-delay (and give the pretense that we're seeing it in Real Time) is annoying. Also the ... segmentation ... NBC is doing of having certain groups of sports broadcast from different NBC affiliates is tiresome. (For some reason my Cable package does not include CNBC, so what's on there I can't watch.)

I used to watch the Olympics to learn about sports I wasn't familiar with, or sports I don't normally get to watch. (This year I *did* learn Trampoline was an Olympic sport(!). I didn't know that.] But I have yet to see one Cricket game ... Fencing ... Wrestling (either G-R or regular) ... Weightlifting ... Boxing ... or Synchro Swimming. (Yeah. I don't "get it" either, but I *am* impressed they can hold their breath that long and do such vigorous swimming -- together!)

Just about the only time I watch Equestrian competition is during the Games. (My wife *loves* these events, as she is a "horse person.") We haven't seen any of this....

I've only seen a few minutes of Cycling in the Velodrome -- which usually fascinates me. And I really enjoy the "original" sports of Track & Field ... but these have not been covered enough for me. I haven't seen *any* "Field" events and I usually enjoy them....

I detest Soccer, but I've noticed they've broadcast plenty of that. (That is even more boring than watching a Shriekapova -vs- Pierce snore fest!) But I'm sure we'll be inundated with the stupidest "sport" I've ever seen: Rhythmic Gymnastics. (I agree with Leno. That should be considered "playing with your cat.")

I already knew the results of the (2) Tennis matches which were on the USA Network. (I have almost zero interest in matches when I know the outcome already.)




Lastly, I can't stand how NBC is *participating* in Chinese propaganda:

I. That's mostly SMOG -- not "haze" as they are pretending. (A tennis buddy of mine works for the OTC in Colorado Springs. Each time he returned from his business trips to China, the last two years, he's had the "China Crud" for about two weeks.) Just wait and see how many of our athletes come down with "the flu" during, or right after, the Games are finished....

II. The "special interest" pieces (which usually do interest me) are *so* politically slanted in their attempts to favorably depict China, almost make me vomit.


Ooh! I gotta go. I might miss the skinny little girls throwing hoops in the air...!

- KK

MAXXply said:

My Aussie sister in law works in NYC and said that at her neighbourhood bar, all the TV screens are tuned to the baseball. She reckons that most Americans don't really care about the Olympics, that they're so parochial they care only for how the [insert US sports team franchise here] are doing.
Is that true? Could Americans care less about Beijing 08?

Click to expand...

Your sister went to one bar, saw that they weren't showing the Olympics on television and decided that Americans generally don't care about the Olympics?

What other great observations does your sister have about Americans?

For the record, I went out to dinner last Saturday evening and could see all 4 televisions that were in the bar area. All 4 of them were tuned into the Olympics.

In the United States, we do have a lot of choices when it comes to watching sports. That probably isn't the case in Australia. In non-Olympic years, what do you have to to watch their. Aussie Rules Football? Kangaroo hunting?

^Agreed. Everywhere I go, the olympics are on. Everyone is talking about it.

We even had a Opening Night party, to watch the opening ceremony. On the meun>> everything Chinese.

Sry I'd rather watch CSI..... bahahahahaha

Vermillion said:

Sry I'd rather watch CSI..... bahahahahaha

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Why is that funny?

Right now China is kicking everyone's asses, so americans pretend that they don't care.

MAXXply said:

My Aussie sister in law works in NYC and said that at her neighbourhood bar, all the TV screens are tuned to the baseball. She reckons that most Americans don't really care about the Olympics, that they're so parochial they care only for how the [insert US sports team franchise here] are doing.
Is that true? Could Americans care less about Beijing 08?

Click to expand...

One bar in NYC didn't have the Olympics on so the conclusion is that Americans don't care about the Olympics? :roll: Assuming people were drinking in this bar are all Americans are alcoholics?

Instead of stereotyping, a much better thing to do is simply check the Nelson ratings: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr...sion/news/e3i483ca3e33c7ae3868d2dbc9f3d09e900

helloworld said:

Right now China is kicking everyone's asses, so americans pretend that they don't care.

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Not in swimming!

Actually, the medal count is a lot closer than I thought it would be, and HOORAY for Great Britain moving up to thrd place with all the boating events yesterday, yippee!

helloworld said:

Right now China is kicking everyone's asses, so americans pretend that they don't care.

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Every host country kicks butt, that's not news. It was news when Canada played poorly at Montreal.

China is destroying right now in gold medals, but USA has overall more total. For whatever thats worth.

I think whoever the OP reffered to that visited the bar in question in NYC, was probably during a Yankees game. It may have even ben when they were playing the Twins. When it gets into August the Yankees are numero unoin NYC. So that does not surprise me. But overall most of USA does care to a certain extent. I think Americans are more events based. We don't care about weight lifting or badminton or table tennis

hollywood9826 said:

China is destroying right now in gold medals, but USA has overall more total. For whatever thats worth.

I think whoever the OP reffered to that visited the bar in question in NYC, was probably during a Yankees game. It may have even ben when they were playing the Twins. When it gets into August the Yankees are numero unoin NYC. So that does not surprise me. But overall most of USA does care to a certain extent. I think Americans are more events based. We don't care about weight lifting or badminton or table tennis

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i agree with you in a way, but i think its more about the self interests of people, i mean look at us, we are chating about it on a tennis forum, because we love this stuff
thats the beauty of this country, the platora of options to choose from, there is everything for everybody here, you just got to go out there and search for it, if its not convenient, you choose something else
in NY the yankees are a big deal, more so than the NY giants, NY jets, NY Mets, NY Red Bulls, etc, etc, so, if a game is on for the Yankees, you bet they are gonna choose it over gymnastics or what ever, but even then, you will also see that updates at the bottom of the screen

hollywood9826 said:

China is destroying right now in gold medals, but USA has overall more total. For whatever thats worth.

I think whoever the OP reffered to that visited the bar in question in NYC, was probably during a Yankees game. It may have even ben when they were playing the Twins. When it gets into August the Yankees are numero unoin NYC. So that does not surprise me. But overall most of USA does care to a certain extent. I think Americans are more events based. We don't care about weight lifting or badminton or table tennis

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Yes my sister in law did say that it was a Yankees game on-screen at the time so I'd concede that one Manhattan bar isn't wholly representative of the rest of the country

MAXXply said:

My Aussie sister in law works in NYC and said that at her neighbourhood bar, all the TV screens are tuned to the baseball. She reckons that most Americans don't really care about the Olympics, that they're so parochial they care only for how the [insert US sports team franchise here] are doing. Is that true? Could Americans care less about Beijing 08?

Click to expand...

So one neighborhood bar not showing the Olympics is indicative of the entire US? I thought you non-Americans prided yourself on being smarter and more worldly than the Americans? :lol:

For the record, the Olympics TV ratings in the states have been better than the Athens Olympics ratings. But don't worry, plenty of us are also still watching baseball. And football. We can multitask our sports watching habits, unlike the parochial Aussies, who only watch soccer.

Everyone I know is watching the olympics. My family and I have watched at least some every day that is has been on.

Most folks I know don't even know the medal count. I have no clue what it is.

As far as rooting for americans, it is getting more difficult to tell who is who because so many Kenyans, Jamaicans, russians, live and train in the US or attend US universities.

I love the olympics. What a great and inspirational event.

I don't think China was the best place for it, but I still like them Olympics. Overall , I think the Chineese have done a pretty good job as hosts except for a few instances.

MAXXply said:

My Aussie sister in law works in NYC and said that at her neighbourhood bar, all the TV screens are tuned to the baseball. She reckons that most Americans don't really care about the Olympics, that they're so parochial they care only for how the [insert US sports team franchise here] are doing.
Is that true? Could Americans care less about Beijing 08?

Click to expand...

I would say overall compared to other major sporting events Americans don't care as much. There are obviously groups of people that do care, but compared to

NFL superbowl
World Series
NCAA basketball tourney
BCS football bowls
NBA finals

probably all garner more interest from sportsfans. Olympics probably get more of the casual sportsfan or nonsports fan.

As for the person who said its because Chinese are kicking everybody asses- you are an idiot. Americans have about as much interest compared 2004 Athens when America had almost double the number of medals of China. The ratings are actually higher now so How do you explain that? Chinese are doing well in sports that Americans could truly care less about- table tennis. badminton, weightlifting, ect. There are some exceptions like in women's gymnastics.

LuckyR said:

Every host country kicks butt, that's not news. It was news when Canada played poorly at Montreal.

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Not even close. Last time Greece was the host and they barely won any medal. Australia hosted the Olympics in 2000 and they came in fourth. It's not very often that the host country tops the rank, unless they are powerful countries like USA, former Soviet, or China.

helloworld said:

Not even close. Last time Greece was the host and they barely won any medal. Australia hosted the Olympics in 2000 and they came in fourth. It's not very often that the host country tops the rank, unless they are powerful countries like USA, former Soviet, or China.

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What do you mean not even close? In 2004 Greece won 16 medals (6 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze). Currently in Beijing they have 3 and are there even any events left they have a chance in medalling maybe 1 or 2? That's a huge difference.

In 2000 Australia had 58 medals and only 49 in Athens.

Of course the host country always does better on their home turf. Kicking butt doesn't mean winning the overall medal count, it just means doing better than what your country normally does.

I'm not watching the Olympics. The athletes are on drugs or otherwise cheating, the judges and IOC seem corrupt and arrogant. The whole thing smacks of idolatry. And choosing China just rewards its atrocious human rights policies, the way it did with **** Germany. No I'm not too impressed with the Olympics. :-|

p.s. esp. since now you can get a gold medal for beach volleyball, just doesn't jibe for me.

goober said:

Sure total medal counts are important. If bronze and silver medals meant nothing than why even hand them out? Why not just hand out only gold medals if that is all that is important? A country which gets some medals that are bronze and silver did better than one that didn't get any medals at all.

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You don't get it do you. You said that Australia did better in 2000 than they did in 2004, but the truth is they won 17 golds in 2004, while in 2000 they won only 16 golds. That's the fallacy of your argument. Australia as a host in 2000 did not perform better than they did in 2004 Olympics.

helloworld said:

You don't get it do you. You said that Australia did better in 2000 than they did in 2004, but the truth is they won 17 golds in 2004, while in 2000 they won only 16 golds. That's the fallacy of your argument. Australia as a host in 2000 did not perform better than they did in 2004 Olympics.

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No I said Greece and Australia did better. You conveniently ignored Greece. Australia overall had 58 medals to 49 medals in Sydney versus Athens. The overall strength of a country's performance is total medal count. Let me make it simple for you since you have a hard time understanding.

Country A : 1 gold medal, zero silvers and zero bronze.

Country B: 0 gold medals, 10 silvers and 15 Bronze.

Which country do you think has a stronger olympic team? Which country is happier with their performance?

goober said:

No I said Greece and Australia did better. You conveniently ignored Greece. Australia overall had 58 medals to 49 medals in Sydney versus Athens. The overall strength of a country's performance is total medal count. Let me make it simple for you since you have a hard time understanding.

Country A : 1 gold medal, zero silvers and zero bronze.

Country B: 0 gold medals, 10 silvers and 15 Bronze.

Which country do you think has a stronger olympic team? Which country is happier with their performance?

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You just don't give up with your flawed logic do you? 1 gold medal is more valuable than 100 bronze. Any country would be willing to trade all their bronze medals for just one gold. Even if we use your logic in which 1 gold is equivalent to 10 silvers and 15 bronze, Australia would need 74 medals to equate their performance in Athens. Apparently, neither of your logic can prove that Australia performed better in Sydney than in Athens.

helloworld said:

You just don't give up with your flawed logic do you? 1 gold medal is more valuable than 100 bronze. Any country would be willing to trade all their bronze medals for just one gold. .

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So if your country had a choice of winning a single gold medal 100 years ago and nothing after that ever again or winning 100 bronze medals for the next 100 olympics, you would take a single gold medal? Ok step away from the Bong or whatever you smoke over there.

Wow I guess by your logic the USA is the greatest Olympic country in history.

All time medal count (pre Beijing)

USA 894 golds

China 112 golds


Don't worry at this rate China will pass the US in about 500 years or so

goober said:

So if your country had a choice of winning a single gold medal 100 years ago and nothing after that ever again or winning 100 bronze medals for the next 100 olympics, you would take a single gold medal? Ok step away from the Bong or whatever you smoke over there.

Wow I guess by your logic the USA is the greatest Olympic country in history.

All time medal count (pre Beijing)

USA 894 golds

China 112 golds


Don't worry at this rate China will pass the US in about 500 years or so

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Considering that China just entered the Olympics in 1984, that is quite an impressive achievement. Believe it or not, China may surpass the US in terms of all-time medal count much faster than you think, since America is the fading power and China is pretty much the opposite.

helloworld said:

You just don't give up with your flawed logic do you? 1 gold medal is more valuable than 100 bronze.

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Oh, the irony!

Your assertion is whacky. (Speaking of "flawed logic.")

Of course, this is just an opinion forum....

- KK

Greece did amazingly well in Athens,and back to normal now in Beijing.Same for Australia.

xtremerunnerars said:

I agree with the crappy coverage timing. Over here, a lot of the olympic sports just aren't popular and cannot hope to compete for ratings outside of the olympics. You'll never see badminton or cricket here unless some crazy fluke thing happens in the sport and it makes a 10 second spot on espn.

In the rest of the world, those sports are played casually so people want to watch. Most of the people I know have sports that are either on too early/late and they are bamboozled by the promised coverage on tv.

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Most olympic sports are not popular outside of the Olympics,in the rest of the world either.

helloworld said:

Considering that China just entered the Olympics in 1984, that is quite an impressive achievement. Believe it or not, China may surpass the US in terms of all-time medal count much faster than you think, since America is the fading power and China is pretty much the opposite.

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China is acheivng all of these medals because they take the kids from their homes at the age of 4 and put them into state sports academies. I wonder if government threatens the athlete's families if they don't win.

helloworld said:

Considering that China just entered the Olympics in 1984, that is quite an impressive achievement. Believe it or not, China may surpass the US in terms of all-time medal count much faster than you think, since America is the fading power and China is pretty much the opposite.

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What?!?! are you going to ignore

-Liu Changchun 1932 olympics 100 and 200 m sprinter- China's first Olympic athlete.
- 1936 China sent 69 athletes to Berlin games - no medal.
- 1948 China had a 52 member delegation