Saturday Hello’s

I’ll give you some links, but before I get into the linkage, I wanted give you my thoughts on the Olympics Opening Ceremonies and NBCOlympics.com.

First, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know I make references to China as Communist China. Being of Taiwanese descent, I’m not a supporter of the Communist government, especially of its poor human rights record, but I can also be fair when necessary. I have linked to stories about media censorship at the Olympics as you’re well aware if you visit here regularly.

As far as the Olympics Opening Ceremonies are concerned, it was the best I have seen. China was trying to prove several points. First and foremost, it’s arrived as a world economic power. That’s one of the points. Second, China was showing the contributions it has made to the world. Third, the ceremonies showed that China can use a lot of manpower to do anything. Fourth, the presence of the Army to raise the Chinese and Olympic flags was a show of intimidation. Finally, China was also saying to London, “Try and top this in 2012.” China definitely set the standard for Opening Ceremonies for several years to come.

As I mentioned in the megalinks yesterday, I was able to watch CBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremonies live through Justin.tv. The person who put that channel up most likely has been banned because I haven’t seen him again. Also, the International Olympic Committee has been trying to take down the channels to protect its TV partners who have paid lots of money to stream the Games. But if NBC wants to prevent this four years from now in London, it either can show the Opening Ceremonies live in the afternoon or stream them on NBCOlympics.com. It was nice to also see parts of the ceremonies again online in crystal clear high definition, but it would behoove NBC to put the event live on the internet in 2012. Vancouver in 2010 won’t be an issue since the next the winter games will be in a time zone that will be more friendly for NBC and CBC.

Last night, I was watching the men’s cycling road race on NBCOlympics.com. It took a while to get used to not hearing announcers and following the race through live blogging, but it was actually quite nice. NBC tapped into the world feed and just let the pictures run while every five minutes, the blog updated. It’s a nice feature, but I would prefer to hear some announcers.

This morning, I watched some of the equestrian, women’s basketball and volleyball. Quite impressed with the quality of the picture and blogging, but again, I would like to her some announcers, but I’m sure the cost is prohibitive for NBC.

Now to the linkage.

Newsday’s Neil Best gives Cablevision customers pointers on how to access NBCOlympics.com material. And Neil is not as angry as others who did not like NBC delaying the Opening Ceremnonies last night.

Neil linked to a New York Times story in his post, written by Brian Stelter which mentions people going to the internet to watch the Opening Ceremonies while NBC was in other programming on Friday.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says Beijing’s Opening Ceremonies set a ratings record for NBC.

James Hibbard of the Hollywood Reporter also writes about NBC’s record ratings for the Olympics Opening Ceremonies.

Barry Garron of the Hollywood Reporter was concerned about NBC’s lack of candor during the Opening Ceremonies.

The Sports Media Watch has a whole host of links reviewing NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremonies. And the SMW has its weekend ratings predictions.

Stephen Kaus of the Huffington Post is not a fan of NBC hoarding Olympic events for primetime.

Rafat Ali of Paidcontent.org agrees with me on missing the commentators on NBCOlympics.com, but he does like the four screen feed and I agree with that as well.

Chris Matyszczyk of CNET is bewildered by NBCOlympics.com’s uncensored live blogging.

Over to William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail who says CBC just narrowly averted disaster during the Opening Ceremonies.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty writes that local sports anchor Andrew Catalon had his Olympics debut today on MSNBC.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says NBC has begun its marathon Olympics coverage. And Barry was disappointed in the season premiere of HBO’s Hard Knocks.

If you want to read up on the Olympics, ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap lists the five best books on the Games for the Wall Street Journal.

Alan Pergament of the Buffalo News reviews WGRZ’s story about the University of Buffalo rejecting a 1958 bowl bid over racial prejudice.

The Green Bay Post-Gazette says the local CBS affiliate is looking into carrying as many New York Jets games as possible to give Packers fans their fill of Brett Favre.

MaryEllen Fillo of the Hartford Courant talks with Hannah Storm as she prepares for her ESPN debut on SportsCenter on Monday.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun likes DirecTV’s move to put MASN and MASN2 on consecutive channel locations.

Joe Guy Collier of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Lee Corso’s mascot head pick on College Gameday will now be sponsored. I’m sure the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick will complain about this.

Jeffrey Sheban of the Columbus Dispatch says the Big Ten Network is expected to pick up the Ohio State season opener. And Sheban writes that talks are continuing between BTN and Time Warner Cable, but once again, time is running out for the start of the season.

Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press looks at the CBS Sports production crew who are working hard to put the PGA Championship on the air.

Missy Frederick of the Washington (DC) Business Journal says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s studio shows will have new looks starting tonight.

Clea Simon of the Boston Globe writes about the annual WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Telethon which takes place next week.

Greg Oliver of the Daily Journal of South Carolina will miss Skip Caray.

That will do it for now. I’ll be back tomorrow.