A Sign of Things To Come

[rusty epee]

I absolutely could not believe it. I saw an interview regarding televising the Games with the NBC pres; his excuse for not having the ratings was that, "people were back to work and kids were back to school..."

BS!

Their coverage left much to be desired. As much as I enjoy watching T & F, swimming and diving, that coverage was exclusive and the rest of the Games went largely ignored.

So!! Americans, let's get it together. This guy obviously doesn't have a clue. So before they decide which cameras go where, we need to write in and let these folks know what we want to see! Somewhere (we'll probably find it in the archives) someone posted the e-mail link to NBC. (Gee whiz, if that person is reading now, it'd be really kewl if you could post it again...?) Just so you know, this means all of us -- competitors and lurkers alike. Let's get it on, guys. The time has come.

Allez-y!!!!! -- k

[Peach]

Here's the generic address - anyone know who the current sports director is?

Sports Director
NBC
G.E. Building
30 Rockefeller Plaza
NY, NY 10012

The televising of the last Olympics was pathetic. Watered-down pap about the athletes and darn little competition, and only a few sports shown.

[edew]

Isn't it DICK (head) Ebersol?

[Peach]

Is Ebersol still there? I wrote him a cranky letter in '96, for heaven's sake. He's ancient as far as network execs go, where longevity is generally figured in squared dog years.

[veeco]

And while we're at it, I just went to ESPN's website, and there's nothing about fencing there. That's inconceivable.

They actually publish articles about some guy who was able to eat more than 40 hot dogs in less than 12 minutes (great achievement), but fencing is not even a recognized keyword in their search tool on the website.

The worst thing is I know they have published and broadcasted things about fencing before, they made a feature presentation of Derek Snyder for example, but it's not even possible to see anything about fencing there.

Sucks.

[its_me_mango]

its too commercial, all sponcers RULE the airwaves, that's one reason for not having tv. hey-la, i just had a terific thought, concept. can anyone imagine a world, without tv? what would happen? (everyone here saw Network, but beyond the usual decries of over sponsorship $$$ etc, there is a quality of life that is gone down the TUBE that is retrievible if we get rid of the TUBE.

[Cutter]

Well, I hope that I have some good news for those out there looking to see this sport get more exposure. Many of you may have seen some tv cameras around at Nationals. One of them happened to be an independant film maker and myself (I made my onair debut as a sports anchor, quite an experience). We spent about 5 hours filming and talking to people in an effort to make a documentary about fencing. With the exception of a few attitudes from some of the spectators and one fencer, it went really well and we got a lot of great stuff. It will definately be airing on Cable Access in the fall and we have a good shot of being picked up by PBS and ESPN. We are also going to market it to some other stations that broadcast such things, i.e. Lifetime, etc. We are beginning editing today and will have the final version within the next month or 2. We are also going to have it available for publicity purposes for clubs around the country.

I will keep you all posted as to how things are going.

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Cutter
"It's just a flesh wound."

[Peach]

Woohoo, Cutter, you were REALLY busy, weren't you? So that's the guy you were taking around that day!

The deeply impressed Peach

[Fleche]

Life without TV? Interesting experiment. Actually, just a few weeks ago, a switch broke (or something) and three channels were off for three hours. These channels were the most popular, and that night people swamped the tv stations, the tower where the antennaes are, the newspaper, the police, everywhere! A whole town in turmoil! It was actually funny the reaction of people who are so obsessed about tele that they can't handle three hours without it. and all these people were missing was ally mcbeal. pathetic.

Fleche
******************

We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction.
-General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)

[Cutter]

Peach, I saw the tape for the first time last night and other than getting over seeing my mug on TV, it was very good. The interviews were great and I think we really caught the excitement of the sport on tape. We even got some good clips of Chris Becker throwing a fit (we are cutting that part out). Editing will take a while but a few of the producers of the TV station saw the tape and they say it has potential to win awards. Not bad for my first attempt.

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Cutter
"It's just a flesh wound."

[Peach]

What? And you call this a sports film? Cutting out an athlete throwing a fit instead of featuring the fit from several different angles, in slow motion, over and over again, to the exclusion of any actual athletic performance?

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film some time. It sounds wonderful.

[Stryder]

Unless Mz. Becker looks like a fool, leave the fit in! Passion sells!
Unless things get ugly, I think a little temper tantrum is good press.

Ask yourself: "What would SportsCenter do?"

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www.geocities.com/strydermike

[Cutter]

Ms. Becker did look like a fool unfortunately. She was throwing a hissy fit because our camera was in her way. We were filming on one strip and she was on the one behind us. She actually said when I tried to explain that we were doing the film for the betterment of the sport that it wasn't "about the sport it is about me." I think she was ticked off before all this started as their team got beat in the prior match to go for the gold and she was determined to take bronze. I know Chris and she is not normally like that so I would never leave such a derogatory piece to stay in the film. We have enough drama during bouting segments that we don't need to demean someone so valuable to the sport. But it was funny to see on film.

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Cutter
"It's just a flesh wound."

[rusty epee]

Way to go, Cutter! Keep me posted!!

(Your nick, by the way, wouldn't have anything to do with your sideline, would it, hm?)

-- k

[Foil Girl]

Hey cutter, there was a guy from TV or something asking girls about cute guy fencers and stuff. He also interviewed Nat Burke. Was that you? He said he was from national TV though, so I dunno.

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-Foil Girl
"Nadie nace sabiendo"

[Cutter]

Rusty, yep you got me...I'm not a poker I'm a cutter.

Foil Girl, yes that was us.

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Cutter
"It's just a flesh wound."