Just Like Being There ... Almost

Its origin, I must rather sheepishly admit, escapes me at the moment. Especially because it's a phrase I've heard a thousand times.
Perhaps you've heard it, too: It's the next best thing to being there.
Yes, there's nothing spectacular about it. But it seems the best (and simplest) way to sum up the coverage that Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium brought into this country's living rooms from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games over the past 17 days.
Grumble about the work of some of the CTV/Rogers commentators if you will. Harp on some of technical glitches that cropped up at times. But this much can't be denied: The consortium promised it would deliver the most comprehensive Olympic viewing experience ever to Canadians and on that count, it surely came through in the hugest of ways.
Whether it was on your television screen or your computer screen, Canadians literally had their choice of what to watch and when. We were handed ultimate control over the big clicker and, if you're like me, you wore it out big time over the course of these Games.
The consortium was criticized early on — and rightly so — for not exactly doing the best job of directing traffic in terms of what was on where. But the point was, chances are if you weren't enamoured with what was on CTV, something more to your liking could be found on TSN or Rogers Sportsnet. And if you had your eyes on two faves, tough decisions weren't needed. Just put one on the big screen and fire up the other on CTVOlympics.ca and you were all set. Simple as that.
And in today's day and age, it says here that viewers should expect nothing less. On that count alone, the consortium's work deserves much more than a passing grade. But it wasn't always a smooth ride.
Indeed, it might be suggested that the consortium's work mirrored that of Canada's athletes — a little slow to get out of the gate but oh, did they bring it home in a big way. And Canadians ate it all up, tuning into Vancouver 2010 television coverage in extraordinary numbers.
The CTV/Rogers group was at is best when Canada's athletes were at theirs, though the red and white pom-poms were out a little too much at times. But some might suggest that attitude was merely reflecting that of a nation, which celebrated Olympic success like never before.
As might be expected, the Games sports that matter most to Canadians — hockey, curling and figure skating — were consortium strengths in terms of coverage, with voices familiar to all of us doing their usual fine job. And it was no surprise that the booming voice of Rod Smith, for example, would stand out at the long-track speed skating venue.
The Olympics wouldn't be the Olympics without the venerable Brian Williams and it was good to see him back where he belongs, in the prime-time anchor's chair. It also shouldn't surprise anyone that James Duthie sounded like just the right guy to succeed him someday.
That is, of course, if the consortium is in this for the long haul. They signed off with a 'see you in London' message tonight (in reference to the 2012 Summer Games) but after that, it's open season. Canadian TV rights for Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 should hit the table within the next year and there's no doubt CBC wants back in the Games. Whether CTV/Rogers wants back in without the lure of another Vancouver ... well, we'll see just how much they 'believe' in the five rings.

Golden Finish, Golden Games

Okay, Canada, are you happy now?
With a gold rush of epic proportions over the last 48 hours, your athletes pushed their victory total to an almost unthinkable 14 at the Vancouver 2010 Games — a record for any country in a single Winter Olympics. More importantly, the record-breaker came in the sport that matters most of all to Canadians, that being the breath-taking 3-2 overtime victory over the United States in the men's hockey final.
In just about every way, it was a golden finish to a golden Games. For Vancouver, a stunningly beautiful city which embraced the Olympics like no other host city before it. And for Canada, which swelled with a national pride that hasn't been seen for generations, if at all.
Canada's identity, it's been suggested, has been transformed by what has gone on over 17 glorious days in Vancouver. It began with the country-wide trek of the Olympic flame that started in the fall, igniting the Olympic spirit at every stop along the way. By the time the cauldron was lit on Feb. 12, it had reached a fever pitch.
Even when our athletes weren't bagging medals with great regularity in early days of the Games, our national pride never wavered. Spontaneous renditions of O Canada were often heard breaking out on the streets of Vancouver, in the picturesque village of Whistler and at pretty much every sporting venue at the Games. Always, with a joyous gusto.
The singing reached a crescendo as Canadian athletes made an unprecedented charge to the top of the medal podium in the Games' final few days. No, we didn't "own the podium" — the U.S. topped the medal count for the first time in Winter Games history — but nobody won more than we did. No country heard its anthem played more often at a victory ceremony at these Winter Olympics. That's no small feat.
And yes, we got the last one, the cherished hockey gold in a game that most likely produced the largest television audience in Canadian history.
Friendly folks that we are, the world surely wasn't surprised that we were wonderful hosts. But the thirst for victory ... with this was something new for us to put on display. And it was there right down to the end. Give a listen to a tearful Devon Kershaw, who produced a best-ever Canadian result (fifth) in today's 50-km cross-country skiing finale but made it clear he was anything but satisfied.
"I'm 1.5 seconds short of being Olympic champion and that stings," said the native of Sudbury, Ont. "After two hours and 50 minutes (of skiing), to come up 1.5 seconds short of a gold medal is a bitter pill to swallow."
This is the new Canadian mentality and, I say, what's wrong with it? Why not strive to be the world's best and to beat the world's best. And enjoy the heck out of this wild and crazy ride for as long as it lasts.
But alas, the fun is about to end. The closing ceremonies are underway at B.C. Place and soon, we'll bid goodbye to this grand party. It will be a sad parting, indeed, for all who felt the magic of these Games.
"Can we vote to make this last for another two weeks?" snowboarding gold medallist Jasey-Jay Anderson asked on CTV earlier today.
Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm in if you are.

How High Can They Go?

The cheers could be heard all the way from Vancouver.
And we're not just talking about the rabid hockey fans who all but blew the roof off Canada Hockey Place on Wednesday night during their hockey heroes' 7-3 demolition of Russia in a quarter-final showdown (that really wasn't much of one) at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
Rather, we speak of the suits that run Canada's Olympic Media Broadcast Consortium, who no doubt erupted with glee when they saw the enormous (but hardly surprising) audience figures for the game.
BBM Canada figures released today indicate Canada-Russia was watched by an average audience of 10.5 million, making it the second-most watched sports program in Canadian television history. Only Sunday's Canada-U.S. matchup (10.6 million) rated higher.
There's more. The game had a total reach of 21.6 million (two-thirds of the Canadian population) and was watched by 9.3 million on CTV alone.
The best might be yet to come. Consider that the Canada-Russia game was a) never really competitive, b) played on a Wednesday night and c) was only a quarter-final game. Canada-Slovakia in semifinals has the potential to be record-breaking, given that a berth in the gold-medal game is on the line and it's being played on a Friday night.
(yes, the 9:30 p.m. start time seems odd, but that means everyone in the Mountain and Pacific time zones will be home from their jobs in plenty of time to watch it. As for those out east ... hey, it's a Friday night. Break out those six-packs and just give 'er).
It boggles the mind to think what kind of number a gold-medal game involving Canada on a Sunday afternoon might produce. Some 10.3 million tuned in eight years ago at Salt Lake City 2002. I'd say 15 or even 20 million isn't out of the question this time (factoring in that the new personal people meter measuring system has inflated all TV ratings).
So yes, it's pretty easy to presume some of those cheers coming from the Left Coast on Wednesday night emanated from the offices of CTV's bigwigs in Vancouver. And they might well just be warming up, indeed.
*****
The weather outside is a bit frightful, which has had the predictable effect on my satellite TV system. Meaning I'm giving extra thanks for all the live Olympic coverage available at CTVOlympics.ca.
Not a bad way to go, if you ask me. Nope, not so bad at all.

The People's Choice Wears Sequins

Yeah, I know it's another night for Canada's hockey heroes.
Sudden death time has arrived in the men's tournament and a nation will hold its collective breath for however long the Canadian ride lasts at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
Even though Canada-Germany isn't a matchup with much in the way of cachet, expect the audience numbers for CTV to soar through the roof one more time. Maybe it won't quite match the all-time Canadian sports television record of 10.6 million who watched Canada and the U.S. on Sunday, but rest assured it'll blow away the competition tonight.
Now all that being said, the best story of the Olympics tonight won't involve pucks and sticks (blasphemous as that may sound). Rather, all eyes should be pointed toward Pacific Coliseum and the women's short program in figure skating, where perhaps the most emotionally heart-rending story of these Games will continue to unfold.
We speak of the drama surrounding six-time Canadian champion Joannie Rochette, who is dealing with the unimaginable — the shocking death of her mother, Therese, of a heart attack at age 55 early Sunday — as she prepares for the biggest competition of her 24-year-old life. It is impossible to fathom what she is feeling right now.
By all accounts, Rochette has shown a steely focus in practices in the days since her father, Normand, delivered the terrible news early Sunday morning. Clearly, skating is her sanctuary right now, the place where life still seems normal — or as normal as anything can be in the pressure cooker that is the Winter Olympics.
There is no doubt that, when she glides to centre ice tonight around 11:30 for her short program, Rochette will have the support of a nation behind her — and not just because she is a medal contender. Not anymore. Through her coach, Manon Perron, Rochette expressed gratitude yesterday for the thoughts and prayers that have been pouring in since Sunday. They have been a needed source of strength.
The Rochette story is sure to touch a nerve south of the border, with NBC no doubt poised to champion the courage that she'll show tonight just by stepping on the ice (especially with no American woman expected to be a serious contender in what is considered perhaps the marquee event of the Winter Olympics in the U.S.).
For those of us who know her so well, it is a virtual certainly that we'll have lumps in our throats as we watch this sweet young woman deal with personal tragedy in her own way. No matter what happens, we will cheer her every move and want to give her a warm hug afterward.
Joannie Rochette, you see, has that effect on people. She is a caring, giving person who always asks how you're doing and is sincere in wanting to know. Rochette was deeply moved by a World Vision trip to Peru last year and can't do enough to help the less fortunate.
Now, in her time of greatest need, it is time for all of us to give something to Rochette. Give her the strength to be brave tonight on the biggest stage of them all, when her heart is so heavy with grief.
On a night when hockey is front and centre once more, let's not forget about a petite young fighter from small-town Quebec who needs a country's support more than ever. She's one of our heroes on skates, too.

The Kids Are All Right

So what next, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir?
You're 20 and 22 years old, respectively, and now the youngest Olympic ice dance champions ever. And you did it right on home soil at Pacific Coliseum on a memorable Monday night at the Vancouver 2010 Games.
All of which makes it easy to ask ... does it get any better than this?
To hear and watch the fetching Canadian couple afterward, it's hard to imagine. And, as Virtue told CTV's Sara Orlesky, this one's been in their thoughts for awhile.
"We've been dreaming of this moment our entire lives," said Virtue, who bounced with excitement behind the boards before dashing to the medal podium with her partner and best friend. "We've pictured it in our minds so many times. But actually living it is so much better."
They belted out O Canada with gusto and pride on the top step of the podium as the red maple leaf rose to the rafters before a wildly cheering throng. That, too, was always part of the dream.
The topper for Virtue and Moir? They did it on the heels of one of the most sublime, magical performances in Olympic history, knowing full well that nothing less than that would get it done. You know that when you train every day with Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who were full value for the silver medals they earned on this night.
It was an unprecedented result in an Olympic discipline traditionally dominated by Europe and Russia in particular. But there is now no doubt that the world's two best ice dance teams share the same training ice and coaches (Marina Zoueva and Igor Shpilband) in Canton, Mich.
Skate Canada, no doubt, couldn't be more thrilled to trumpet the achievements of their first Olympic gold medallists since Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in pairs at Salt Lake City 2002. But the association also has to wonder just how much longer they'll get to enjoy them.
Many an Olympic champion has chosen to take a pass on the ensuing world championships, figuring they've got nothing to gain in the wake of the ultimate triumph. But given they're the ultimate team players, it's easy to see Virtue and Moir heading off to Torino in a month's time and trying to help land Canada a third ice dance berth for the 2011 worlds. They've also never won a global title themselves, so there's the matter of checking that one last major goal off their list.
Creatively, Virtue and Moir are still only scratching the surface of their potential, and they've always struck me as the kind of people who want to keep giving to their sport and making it better. And while their ages suggest Sochi 2014 is well within reach, four years is a long time to commit to chasing a goal you've already achieved — and in the best way possible, right at home in the most pressure-packed Olympics of all.
These are interesting times, indeed, for Virtue and Moir. And despite the magnitude of what they achieved tonight, they've really just begun.
Maybe it's best we let them enjoy this one. Their glee was so wonderfully evident as they celebrated a dream come true. Perhaps somewhere inside, they've got a few more in mind yet to chase. We joined them for a remarkable ride at Vancouver 2010. We should be so lucky to have them invite us along for another one someday.
*****
Sometimes, you've just gotta love Brian Williams' honesty.
While the Canadian Olympic Committee has run up the white flag in its bid to 'Own The Podium' at Vancouver 2010 — they're now conceding catching the United States in the medal standings is pretty much impossible — matching or beating our medal total at Turin 2006 (24) is still very much within their thoughts. Even if that would require at least another 14 of them over the final six days of competition.
That certainly didn't sit well with Williams, as the CTV prime-time anchor made eminently clear during a studio interview with Own The Podium program architect Roger Jackson.
"They are absolutely dreaming in technicolour," Williams said bluntly. "To me, they're putting an incredible amount of pressure on the athletes who have yet to perform ... that's not fair."
Hard to argue with that point, I'd say.

Super Sunday Sets Bar High

To a lot of Canadians, Super Sunday quickly became Sucky Sunday as the fortunes of their hockey heroes began to wane against the U.S.
But not everyone associated with the red maple leaf was down in the dumps about the final numbers produced by the dramatic game.
Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium reported today that an average audience of 10.6 million tuned in to the final preliminary-round contest at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. That made it the most-watched sports program on record in Canadian television history, surpassing the 10.3 million who witnessed the same two countries play for hockey gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.
More impressive numbers: The audience peaked at 13 million of the Canada-U.S. game, which was watched in part by nearly two-thirds of the country's population (21.5 million).  Some 9.48 million took in the game on CTV alone, surpassing the audience for the opening ceremony.
Needless to say, the broadcast consortium wants this story to keep building, even if the 5-3 loss to the U.S. made the road to hockey gold longer and much tougher. While many predicted a Canada-Russia matchup for the gold, that showdown is set to happen in Wednesday's quarter-finals now (assuming a win over Germany tomorrow).
In other words, another record-breaker may be just around the corner.
*****
NBC continues to report strong audiences for its Vancouver Games coverage, which has the network steadfast in its belief in tape-delaying and packaging a number of events in the evening. "Protect the prime-time show" is priority No. 1 for NBC Olympics boss Dick Ebersol.
""It's no secret: the prime-time show is the flagship" David Neal, the executive vice president of NBC Olympics, told Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch. "That show has to be protected. That show has to be compelling every night. That is the mother ship, and we have to maintain it as an attractive vehicle no matter what."

Which means, of course, that all the griping by American viewers is conveniently ignored — they're still watching, right? (you'll hear most of that beefing coming from the Pacific time zone, where NBC holds its Olympic coverage until 8 p.m. local time, meaning events shown live in the East are long over before they're aired on the west coast).

But in Deitch's column, Neal insists "we believe in what we are doing here. The amount of time and effort that we put into preparing for the Olympic Games surpasses anything that I've been around. We have the strength in our convictions. We believe in what we are doing. We believe in the way that we present the Olympic Games. And I think the ratings back us up."
And that, as they say, is the bottom line.
*****
American networks have traditionally been accused of being wildly pro-U.S. during their Olympic coverage. But Deitsch had this interesting thought about CTV's work in Vancouver.
"Canada's CTV, which most Olympic journalists are watching in Vancouver, presents events live (TSN and Rogers Sportsnet are also art of the Canadian Olympic broadcasting group)," he wrote. "Broadcasting its first Olympics in 22 years, CTV has done good work, though it is far more jingoistic than NBC, occasionally to the point of silliness."
Feel free to discuss among yourselves.

Straight From The Heart

Put your heart on your sleeve and you never know who'll touch it.
You've got to love the story of Canadian skeleton racer Mellisa Hollingsworth, who couldn't hide her devastation a few nights back when an almost certain medal dissolved into a fifth-place finish with a crushing mistake near the end of her final run.
In an emotional post-race interview, a teary-eyed Hollingsworth told CTV she felt like she "let the entire country down" and all kinds of people who had supported her drive for Vancouver 2010.
Such brutal honesty is both rare and astonishing in an era in which far too many athletes want to point fingers elsewhere when something doesn't go their way instead of taking a hard look in the mirror. But this was a moment that was important to Hollingsworth and she also was very aware of how much Canadians crave success at their home Olympics (the boastful Own the Podium pre-Olympic medal proclamations notwithstanding).
There's a familiar saying that goes something like this: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Hollingsworth's from-the-heart reaction to her setback has touched a nerve with Canadians from coast to coast, and the Albertan has been overwhelmed by the positive reaction she's received from people who want her to know she did them all proud.
All of this has Hollingsworth, an Olympic bronze medallist four years ago in Turin, now contemplating a run at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games. And if it comes to pass, she'll no doubt thank the many people who lifted her up exactly when she needed it. Further proof that while talent is a wonderful thing, Canadians value those who show heart more than just about anything. Hollingsworth surely has plenty of that.
*****
Sometimes, it's fun to dig back into the archives of your past.
Like earlier tonight, when something about watching Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir take command in the ice dance event reminded me about a cover story I wrote about them in International Figure Skating Magazine back in the summer of 2008.
This was shortly after Virtue and Moir had earned a silver medal at the '08 world figure skating championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, in only their second crack at the global event. It was a clear statement that it was only a matter of time before they ruled the planet.
Their time appears ready to arrive. Virtue and Moir hold a 2.60-point lead over Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, their training partners in Canton, Mich. In ice dance, that's a significant margin, though Virtue and Moir will tell you the battle is far from won yet.
Anyways, take a ride along with Virtue and Moir through this story.

Cheers to You, Golden Boy!

Sometimes, as the old saying goes, you just have to be there.
If you missed that impromptu celebration in Whistler that surrounded Canadian Jon Montgomery's gold-medal triumph in men's skeleton Friday night — and being that it happened around 2 a.m. in the East, it's entirely possible that you did — head over to CTVOlympics.ca and fire up the video right now (you'll find it in the archives section).
Trust me, you'll be more than happy that you did.
What you'll see is one of those unique moments that remind you why you love sports — and the Winter Olympics in particular. CTV's cameras followed Montgomery through a cheering throng as he made his way to the network's outdoor Whistler set, where Jennifer Hedger was waiting to do a interview, along with his parents and girlfriend. When one of the fans handed Montgomery a pitcher of beer, he didn't skip a beat — the new Canadian hero took a hearty swig and gave a thumbs up.
Montgomery was barely seated in the interview chair when a loud and raucous chorus of O Canada broke out, a spontaneous happening that is becoming an almost regular display of patriotic pride on the streets of Vancouver as these 2010 Olympics roll along.
As the interview progressed, it became fairly obvious that Montgomery was indeed someone who Canadians could truly embrace. An ordinary guy from small-town Manitoba who had just done the extraordinary.
Now if that's not cause for celebration, I don't know what is.

Stories From the Sidelines

A lot of folks — especially the ones on the other end of the conversation — might brand them as the necessary evil of televised sports.
We speak of the genre known as the sideline reporter, that intrepid person you'll often hear cut into a game broadcast with some breathless tidbit of information. Sometimes, it's entirely useful stuff but way too often, it's wasted airtime (you no doubt know of what I speak).
But that being said, a few of these folks who stand so close to the action deserve a hearty thumbs up for their work at Vancouver 2010. Indeed, they've helped provide some of the most compelling interview moments so far during these Winter Olympics.
Allow me to elaborate. Canadian speed skater Christine Nesbitt is a rather shy sort who was left all but speechless by her gold-medal triumph in the women's 1,000 metres earlier today. But TSN's James Cybulski got Nesbitt to reveal some true emotion when he asked her about sharing the moment with her longtime coach, Marcel Lacroix.
"He's the only one who always believed in me," Nesbitt said, her eyes welling up with tears as she spoke.
Now I have to admit I posted a smart-assed remark on Twitter about that — Cybulski and I are both from Ottawa and we've known each other for awhile — but I also felt a lump in my throat watching it.
All because someone asked just the right question.
It was more of the same the night Alex Bilodeau won Canada's first gold medal of these Games in men's moguls. TSN's Katherine Dolan, who's done some fine work of her own at Cypress Mountain, asked Bilodeau what it meant to do it in front of his older brother, Frederic, who suffers from cerebral palsy (Alex calls him his biggest inspiration). The response was raw and emotional. But very, very real.
Great television? You bet. But that's the Olympics are all about. And why millions of us can't get enough of it every four years.

The Day The Music (Almost) Died

Eight years ago tonight, the eyes and ears of the world were glued to one of the most bizarre scenes in Winter Olympics history.
Four figure skaters — two of them Canadian, two of them Russian — standing on the top step of a podium, every one of them wearing gold medals. It was the final chapter in one of the most sordid tales the sport had ever seen. And one that almost struck it with a death blow.
We speak, of course, of the judging scandal that enveloped Canadian pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Within hours of the final verdict in the event — which saw Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze declared the winners despite the fact Sale and Pelletier clearly outskated them with one of great performances in Olympic history —it was revealed back- room dealing between Russian and French officials rigged the result.
The scandal almost immediately ignited a global media firestorm that wasn't quelled until International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced, in an unprecented move, that Sale and Pelletier would be awarded duplicate gold medals.
Cue the awkward double medal presentation. While we heard the words "special ceremony" used to describe it earlier today on CTV, I got an entirely different viewpoint from Sale and Pelletier when revisiting "Skategate" in an Ottawa Sun feature four years ago before the 2006 Turin Games.
Pelletier called it "a great TV moment, not a great athlete moment" and that about summed it up. Clearly. neither he nor Sale wanted any part of the ceremony (we'll assume the Russians felt the same way) and just did it to appease NBC in particular.
What can't be denied, however, is that the aftershocks of that dark moment in figure skating history are still being felt to this day. The sport is still struggling to regain the popularity it enjoyed before Salt Lake, even in Canada, where its support has always been the greatest.
Perhaps the scandal's biggest legacy: the code of points scoring method that replaced the old (and easily manipulated) 6.0 system of days gone by. While it is still a mystery to far too many people, it says here that figure skating is much better off with what it has today. But much work still needs to be done to satisfy a public that, seven years later, finds the whole thing entirely too confusing.
Figure skating, it must be said, does a horrible job of explaining the system to its paying audience. They see all kinds of numbers and a huge segment of them haven't a clue what they mean. That's something that absolutely must be addressed, and sooner rather than later.
And much as the system is an improvement over the old way, it still must be tweaked regularly to help the sport evolve. There has been a great outcry this week about the lack of quadruple jumps in the men's event, and it's valid criticism. But until the point value for the jump is increased to make it worth the risk, nothing will change and the sport stands still. It's also been proven, by Canadian Jeffrey Buttle in 2008, that you can win a world title without one if the rest of your repertoire is top notch and your execution is of the highest level.
But here's what I like the most about COP. Canada's Patrick Chan is about nine points out of the medals heading into Thursday night's Olympic free skate final — a veritable mountain to climb, indeed, but not beyond the realm of possibility.
Under the old 6.0 system, Chan's hopes would be dead and buried. But COP makes the impossible seem possible and the fans feel that, too. And when it comes to figure skating, anything that makes the fans believe is a very good thing, because they're the lifeblood of any sport.
But COP is far from perfect yet. A few tweaks here and there and maybe figure skating can find its way back to its glory days again.

Is Anybody Happy Out There?

You know they're out there somewhere.

For some of them, it's almost a way of life.

No matter what the sports event, be it big or small, it's almost a given that somebody's gonna complain about the television coverage. Be it the people announcing the event, the network's style of presentation ... pretty much anything is game for certain people. They're just never happy. Unless they're bitching about something or someone.

With that thought in mind, it might be wise to take what you're about to read with a rather healthy grain of salt. But there's a part of me that also wonders if maybe there's something to what I'm about to describe.

Troll around some of the commentary about the Vancouver 2010 Olympics coverage and there seems to be a growing level of dissatisfaction — and outright outrage — at what's being presented on both sides of the border. Or, more precisely, what is not.

The whining about NBC's slick, thoroughly package coverage is rather predictable. It's a refrain we've heard many times over the years, even if some are taking it to a new level.

What's a little more startling is the level of vitriol being directed in some corners at the CTV/Rogers consortium that's carrying the "home games" in Canada (check out the comments section in this blog post and this one to see what I mean).

What's got these folks up in arms? Among the complaints:

— Too much style, little substance on Olympic Morning.

— Difficulty in knowing what's on what network and when.

— Too many technical glitches.

— Over the top cheerleading for Canadians athletes.

— Not nearly enough coverage of non-Canadians.

In short, the overriding sentiment is the consortium isn't CBC, the public broadcaster which set such a high standard in bringing the last seven Olympics to Canadians. And yes, there are plenty of 'bring back the CBC' cries already (even though bitching about the Mother Corp. is almost a hobby for many folks in this country).

While there is a certain level of validity to the above (ahem) concerns, painting the entire operation with the same brush is probably more than a little unfair. For the most part, the pictures presented during Vancouver 2010 have been outstanding. Several of the packaged features are extemely well done (we're fans, in particular, of Rick Hansen's Difference Makers segments and the fascinating science of sport features, titled Super Bodies).

The work of Rod Smith and Catriona Le May Doan at the long-track speed skating venue is worthy of acclaim. Figure skating is in good hands with Rod Black and the pairs analysis of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier was widely judged to be first rate. John Kucera and Kelly Vanderbeek have been nice additions on alpine skiing. And the always quick witted James Duthie and Mr. Olympics, Brian Williams, have delivered as usual from the studio.

No, this hasn't been the complete disaster that some are painting it. But the message is clear: Canadian Olympic viewers have high standards and if you don't meet them, you'll hear about it.

Over to you, CTV/Rogers consortium ...
*****
No matter what you may or may not think of the coverage, one thing is indisuputable — Canadians are invested in the Vancouver Games like no other television event before it.
Huge ratings numbers continue to roll in each day and show no signs of stopping. Some 7.1 million viewers tuned in to see Alex Bilodeau receive his men's moguls gold medal. Rogers Sportsnet has broken network audience records for two straight nights. Online views at CTVOlympics.ca and RDSOlympiques.ca are through the roof.
And this was before the men's hockey tournament began. Much as Canada-Norway turned into an ugly 8-0 blowout tonight, we're betting plenty stay glued to their TVs right to the end.
It's been that kind of story at Vancouver 2010.
And we've only just begun.

Olympics Pickings Sometimes Slim

Twenty-two years ago, something rather significant happened that changed the face — not to mention the pace — of the Winter Olympics.

Not surprisingly, television had its hands all over it.

Until Calgary 1988, the Winter Games were a tighter, smaller version of the Summer Olympics beast that would follow it several months later (both were held in the same year at that time). All of which made sense at the time, given that the winter version of the five-ring circus offers up about half the amount of sports.

But then, a television executive — I want to say the late Roone Arledge of ABC Sports, which was a major Olympic player at the time — decided adding a third weekend to the Winter Games was a bright idea, undoubtedly with the thought of bigger ratings in mind.

(don't kid yourself. Those numbers decide just about everything that happens in TV Land ... and exactly when you watch it).

Suddenly, the Winter Olympics occupied the same amount of days on the calendar as their summer counterpart. And given the television universe at the time, that seemed about right. It's not like anyone ever planned to devote massive amounts of airtime to the thing, did they?

Flash forward to Vancouver 2010, when the 500-channel universe is in full bloom and multi-platform conglomerates on both sides of the border (CTV/Rogers in Canada; NBC Universal in the U.S.) have great gobs of airtime to fill. Only one problem — the Winter Games haven't exactly kept up over the years in terms of volume.

Toss in weather postponements and delays (inevitable at the Winter Olympics, it seems) and you get situations like this. For a couple hours early this afternoon, your viewing choices for live action were men's curling and ... that's it. Sure, Canada-Norway was a tight extra-ender, but the Olympics are all about bouncing from one sport to the next.

And that's the rub about the length of the Winter Games in this day and age. There simply isn't enough action at times to fill all those hours on all those channels, meaning excessive room for features, repeats and the like. Which sometimes give you the sense you've seen it all before.

Not that anyone saw this coming 22 years ago.
Yes, things have changed. But who says bigger is always better?

Olympic Hero ... Or Zero

It is an indisputable fact that a whole lot of people pay more attention to certain sports — well, pretty much all of them — at the Olympics than they do at any other time.

Okay, let's be brutally honest. Without the world 'Olympics' in front of it, the vast majority of North American sports fans don't give a crap about things like luge and bobsled and skiing and speed skating. A cynic might suggest it's as simple as this: if you can't bet on it, who cares?

Point being, there are a lot of folks caring about such winter sports right now that ordinarily don't. And more than just a few of them happen to be media types who, for two weeks, have to be 'experts' on things they know little about. And there's a not-so-significant audience that counts on them to feel informed about it.
(those that actually realize the Winter Olympics are about more than just hockey, but that's a story for another day).

All of which means that reputations are often forged in a large way by what goes on underneath the five rings and not so much by when the spotlight is turned off. And depending on how you handle the crucible of the Olympics, some become instant celebrities. Others, eternal goats.

Yes, it's hardly fair, but it is what it is. Which brings me to the subject of Jeremy Wotherpoon, the Canadian speed skater who finished ninth in the men's 500 metres tonight at the Vancouver 2010 Games. That means, at age 33, the Red Deer, Alta., will walk away from the five-ring circus with an oh-fer on his resume after four cracks at the Olympics. One silver in 1998 in Nagano and zero golds.

All of that has led to Wotherpoon being branded as a massive underachiever in far too many eyes. But that doesn't begin to tell the tale of an athlete widely regarded as one of the greatest sprint speed skaters of all-time. Nobody has won more World Cup races in the sport's history than Wotherspoon, a 12-time World Cup overall champion. He's also an eight-time world champion who broke a raft of world records.

But cruelly, he'll be seen as much less by a public that only sees such athletes every four years. And, it says here, that's just plain wrong.

Ask anyone in figure skating and they'll tell you Kurt Browning, a four-time world champion, is one of his sport's all-time greats. Does the fact he came up empty at two Winter Olympics change that?

It's a thought that former U.S. sprint speed skating star Dan Jansen — who found himself in the same boat as Wotherspoon until he broke through for 1,000-metre gold in Lillehammer in 1994 — related during a CTV interview earlier today.

Jansen, who's working for NBC at these Games, said pretty much everybody in speed skating regards Wotherspoon as one of the all-time greats, perhaps the best ever in the sprints. And a huge number of them were not-so-quietly hoping that Wotherspoon would get that elusive gold in his final 500 at the Olympics. Alas, it wasn't to be.

Not that it mattered to those in the know. In their minds, Wotherspoon's place in history is more than secure. Much as they wanted to see it, they knew an Olympic gold wasn't needed to justify it.

Too bad everyone who's watched him four times at the Olympics — and not anywhere else — can't say or see the same. History just might judge Wotherspoon a whole lot differently if they had.
Sadly, that simply isn't the case.

What's On First, Who's On Second?

Perhaps by now you've heard that CTV's Olympics website has a handy-dandy viewer's guide that allows you to 'customize' your Games watching experience.

And come hell or high water, they're determined to make you use it.

How else to explain the lack of direction we get from Canada's Olympic broadcast consortium when it comes to figuring out what's on where at any given time during their coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Games.

Allow me to explain it this way. About an hour ago, the CTV Olympics Twitter feed posted a note advising that, because of delays at the speed skating venue caused by ice problems, full live coverage of the pairs figure skating short program was being shifted from Rogers Sportsnet to TSN. The men's 500-metre speed skating would stay on Sportsnet.

If any mention of that was made on CTV, I'm still waiting for it. And in my mind, when it comes to a venture of this scope and size (i.e. lots of viewing choices on lots of channels), telling people where to find what qualifies as Programming 101.

Now, I'm hardly suggesting CTV should have cut into its dissection of the all-important first practice by Canada's men's hockey team in Vancouver (yes, that was sarcasm folks). And it's a bit much to ask busy anchors such as Brian Williams and James Duthie to spend every second on the air playing traffic cop (though it is part of their job, admittedly).

But CTV and Rogers, you created this multi-network beast. It's up to you to tame it for the viewers. And no, the answer isn't just your fab programming guide at CTVOlympics.ca, because the millions of Canadians tuning in aren't all doing it with a computer by their side.
(I'm still trying to figure out how to 'customize' that guide by sport, by the way. Which doesn't seem like much to ask. But I digress).

To me — and I'm hardly the first to suggest this — the answer is remarkably simple. Put a freakin' ticker across the bottom of the screen and load up your programming updates there, along with all the latest results updates. TSN and Sportsnet wouldn't live without one during most of the game coverage I see on their channels. So why not now?

As thin as these things are these days, they do anything but intrude on the TV picture. And we all cast a glance at them every now and then.

So there you have it. Problem solved. You're welcome, folks.

Every Picture Tells A Story

Sometimes, you really do get to write the final chapter exactly the way you wanted to, with the happiest of endings.

Perhaps you saw the touching feature CTV aired earlier today about moguls skier Alexandre Bilodeau and the special relationship he has with his older brother, Frederic. While Bilodeau came into the Vancouver Games as a prime medal prospect, it's pretty clear he considers Frederic the true champion in his Quebec household.

Bilodeau, it could be said, wouldn't be where he is today without his brother. He started out playing hockey but switched to skiing as a youngster because it was more accessible to Frederic, his "best friend."
Doctors told Frederic he wouldn't walk past the age of 10 but at 28, he's still defying the odds today. "That's such an inspiration," Alexandre said of the determination his brother shows each and every day.

When Bilodeau was down about his performance at the 2006 Torino Olympics, it was Frederic who reminded him just how special it was to even compete at the Winter Games and that he'd achieved a goal he'd set for himself at the beginning of the year. But Frederic knew even better things were to come in Vancouver.

"He's going to win the Olympics!" Frederic said of his brother.

And there he was in the front row at Cypress Mountain tonight, leading the cheers as Alexandre stood on the top of the moguls run with a chance to make history. Would he be the one to end Canada's wait for a gold medal at a home Olympics, a drought that lasted all the way back to Montreal 1976? (we're the only host country to come up empty on the gold front at the Olympics; we also baked a donut at Calgary 1988).

We didn't have to wait long to find out. Bilodeau blasted his way down the hill with breath-taking speed, posting a score that was a scant 0.17 points better than defending Olympic champ Dale Begg-Smith, the Canadian ex-pat who now represents Australia.

There was still Guilbaut Colas of France, the top finisher in qualifying, to come. But in the end, it wasn't close and a nation erupted with golden glee right along with the roaring crowd at Cypress. But it's a safe bet that Bilodeau noticed right away who had his hand thrust in the air with the No. 1 sign, cheering louder than them all.

"It's really getting me right now," Bilodeau said afterward when asked about Frederic, his eyes clearly tearing up. "My brother is my inspiration. Growing up with a handicap puts everything into perspective. He has taught me so much in life."

And now Bilodeau has showed the gang wearing the red maple leaf that it is possible to dream big at home, then go out and make it happen. He is certain his gold will be the first of many for a country to celebrate.

"The party's just starting for Canada," said Bilodeau.

What a ride it figures to be.

It's Official ... We've Caught Olympic Fever

For the record, it caught my attention for all of about five minutes.
And that might have even been a stretch.

But apparently, Canadians won't be kept from watching their hockey at the Winter Olympics — no matter how ugly the score gets.

Case in point: Canada's record-setting 18-0 flogging of Slovakia in its women's puck opener, a beating so one-sided that even CTV prime-time host Brian Williams admitted boredom with it.
Others, apparently, begged to differ. And lots of them.

According to ratings figures released earlier today, an average audience of 2.5 million tuned into that wipeout — which blew away the numbers for Hockey Night in Canada (747,000) for a Canadiens-Flyers and Senators-Red Wings combo that was infinitely more interesting.

(another 609,000 watched the women's game in French on V).

Such is the power of the five rings, though, that it appears ready to steamroll over everything in its path in the next two weeks. An average audience of 1.1 million watched Jenn Heil chase gold in the women's moguls — the third-largest number in Rogers Sportsnet's 11-plus year history. That was only a fraction of the 6.6 million total viewership for the event, which also aired on CTV.

Online, the numbers are pretty staggering, too. CTVOlympics.ca and RDSOlympiques.ca have attracted 20.6 million page views through the first two days of the Vancouver Games, with 3.5 million videos totalling some 190,000 hours already streamed.

Yes, Canadians are clearly nuts about our home Olympics. Even if it seems their interest level is on the nutty side at times.

The Numbers Don't Lie ... Or Do They?

There's an old saying about the reams of statistics we often use as a tool to win arguments that involve just about anything in sports.

The numbers never lie.

It's a thought that came to mind earlier today when the Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium announced that Friday night's opening ceremony at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games produced a whopping average audience of 13.3 million, making it the most viewed television event ever in Canada (we're guessing the old mark was the 10.6 million who watched the 2002 Olympic men's gold-medal hockey game).

Now on the one hand, that number shouldn't be entirely surprising. These Games will wind up being the biggest sports event we'll ever see in most of our lives in Canada and the opening ceremony is typically the biggest must-see event of an Olympics.

So what's the rub, you ask?

First of all, the measuring method for the Canadian television industry was changed to a people meter system that is said to more accurately reflect viewers' habits (and, most significantly, takes better account of group viewing). The end result is that ratings for every sports event have skyrocketed since the new system was put into place. There are new records aplenty.

Also, it most be noted that the above-mentioned figure is an aggregation of viewership on 11 different television networks, although most (nearly nine million) tuned in on CTV. Whether that number would have been higher without the participation of networks such as TSN and Rogers Sportsnet ... well, who really knows?

Perhaps the most revealing number is this one: the opening ceremony broadcast drew an 84 share, which means 84 per cent of Canadian televisions in use Friday night were tuned into one of the consortium networks airing the Olympics. That's nothing short of astounding.

Nope, that number doesn't lie, either.

We're a country going ga-ga already over a home Games.

And the fun has just begun.

Will CTV Pass The Olympian Test?

For anyone watching from the comfort of their homes, it is the question of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

How will CTV deal with presenting the biggest sports event of our generation (at least) to the millions of viewers for whom they'll be the window to these Games of ice and snow?

Already, the cynics are out in force about that essential query.

(more on than in a bit).

Longtime Olympic watchers now doubt remember the last time CTV was front and centre at the five-ring circus. The network's coverage of Barcelona 1992 was widely panned and while the reviews were slightly better for Lillehammer 1994, I can still hear the widespread cheering that ensued when the CBC got back into the Games in Atlanta in 1996 (with TSN's help — and extra available airtime — it should be noted).

Flash forward to today and CTV is again the Canadian network of record at the Olympics. And not just any Olympics, but our Games. The first ones to be held on Canadian soil since Calgary 1988 (also a CTV production, if memory serves me well).

For a country used to seeing a certain standard from the CBC (which always set the bar high in that area), there was great apprehension about what CTV might give us at a time when we might care about the Olympics more than ever. And if you saw the MuchMusic style hot-tub schlock that was included as part of an "Olympic preview," that only increased your fears.
There has also been more than a fair amount of criticism with the way the network handled the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvilii in the hours preceding the opening ceremony.

Given that CTV seemingly can't help itself when it comes to celebrity worship and so-called "entertainment news," we'll have to grit our teeth at times — and be judicious about how much time we spend watching Olympic Morning, when the action hasn't really started in Vancouver.

The good news is, these really aren't solely a CTV Olympics. The broadcast consortium that is bringing us these Games happens to include TSN and Rogers Sportsnet, two networks that do sports for a living. And very well, it should be added.

Now this is very early, but we've noticed a distinct change for the good since the games (and Games) have truly begun. TSN is full-bore on ski jumping right now (a spectacular sight at any Olympics) and over on CTV, we've been treated to a bit of that action and some interesting features and scene-setters about events to come (and lots of James Duthie, which is never, ever a bad thing). In other words, we're watching the Olympic story as it was meant to be told.
The Olympics will surely seem like the Olympics later on tonight, when the venerable Brian Williams, the dean of Olympic TV coverage in Canada, takes his familiar prime-time anchor seat for the first time since Turin 2006 (when he worked from a Toronto studio, not on site).

So there is reason for hope, and plenty of it. Let's hope they give us plenty more of it over the next 15 days — and keep the hot tubbers and the like as far away as possible.

This Kid Will Be All Right

Read with interest a Chris Zelkovich column in today's Toronto Star about the "newbies" the Canada's Olympic media broadcast consortium has brought into the fold to tell the stories of the game.
Mostly, I took note of the focus on Jennifer Robinson, the former six-time Canadian women's figure skating champion who has tasked with being an ice dance analyst (along with Victor Kraatz, a former world champ with Shae-Lynn Bourne) at Vancouver 2010 (of course, she'll also work the women's event there).

Now, I've known Jen (who's a new mom, if you haven't heard) for years and covered each of those national titles she won (and a whole lot more). This is someone, you should know, who willed herself into being the very best she could be. If there was an ounce of untapped potential, I rarely (if ever) saw it.

And there she was, at two skating events I covered earlier this season, cramming her brains out to learn the ins and outs of ice dance (with the help of a Skate Canada technical expert who could talk rings around both of us). No doubt the homework has continued non-stop when she wasn't at the rink. And had her mind on much bigger things.

Point being, she'll do just fine for CTV. Sure, she won't come across like Tracy Wilson, who's working these Games for NBC and is, quite frankly, the best there is when it comes to figure skating analysis. But count on learning a thing or two from Jen before these Games are over.

Can't imagine her having it any other way.