Midway Point: TV Coverage, some insight, and statistics…

Today is the halfway point. We are midway through the 2006 Winter Olympics and have 8 more days to go before the Closing Ceremony.

At this point, I would like to share some insight and statistics with my fellow readers and bloggers.

1. It seems that the Winter Games is not very well received in the U.S. Not only is there no live coverage on the subscription-free NBC channels (only games like hockey is broadcast live at an UNGODLY 4 am EST), the recorded events are broadcast so late in the evening, 8 pm EST, (and in alternating segments, i.e. hockey, figure skating, snowboarding, and the back to hockey) that most people would rather get the scoop on the internet.

   This is also evident in the fact that our Canadian counterparts always receive the news well ahead of us. Doesn’t help either that I’m living on the West Coast.

   CNN as well as other news agencies reported that the Winter Games time slot is up against intense competition from programs like “American Idol” (FOX), “Lost” (ABC), “Desperate Housewives” (ABC), “Survivor” (CBS), and “Dancing With the Stars” (ABC).

   CNN reported that this is the least watched Winter Olympics (17.9 million viewers) since Nagano in 1998 (read the Nielsen Ratings from the previous week).

2. And now, some interesting statistics from “Light the Torch”: The largest ‘CONTINGENT’ of Bloggers is from the United States (10), followed by Canada (3). The United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, and the Netherlands each have 1 (ONE) Blogger.
3. The Blogger with the highest output is HART (50 posts), followed by YC (Yours Truly) with 30 posts (including this one), and ScottG (16 posts).
4. The top 3 contributing bloggers from countries with at least 3 bloggers are:
   U.S.A. – YC, ScottG, Squib
   Canada – HART, BREM, Jeremy
5. The are 154 posts on “Light the Torch.” The breakdown is as follows:

   Alpine Skiing – 11
   Biathlon – 4
   Bobsled – 1
   Coss-Country Skiing – 6
   Curling – 24
   Doping – 1
   Figure Skating – 7
   Freestyle Skiing – 5
   Ice Hockey – 19
   Luge – 4
   Miscellaneous – 27
   Nordic Combined – 3
   Opening Ceremony – 4
   SBX – 6
   Short-Track – 4
   Skeleton – 5
   Ski Jumping – 1
   Snowboard – 3
   Speedskating – 13
   Tech-related – 6


A breakdown of contribution by nations
6. The top (or top 3) event(s) covered by the different countries are as follows:

   U.S.A. – Ice Hockey, Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating

   Canada – Curling (almost single-handedly covered by HART), Ice Hockey, Speedskating

   U.K. – Snowboarding, Skeleton, Cross-Country Skiing, Curling

   Netherlands – Speedskating

   Australia – Freestyle Skiing

   Norway – Alpine Skiing, Ski Jumping, Cross-Country Skiing

7. What’s the point of all these statistics? No point…just to ‘STIR UP‘ a little friendly competition among the nations/bloggers (if that didn’t already get your patriotic blood boiling).
8. Jeremy, how close are we to achieving our goal of helping the Olympic athletes?
9. This is not a knock on my idol, Lindsey Jacobellis, but don’t celebrate before crossing the finish line. We have seen victories taken away all too often by premature celebrations. Case in point: Don Beebe stripped the football off Dallas Cowboy Leon Lett at the 1 yard line in Superbowl XXVII when Lett held out his arms to celebrate.
10. What is it with Canada and Curling?
    Why is it exciting to watch people skating on ice with brooms and a heavy stone? [Let the mud-slinging begin] ;->
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