I'm so tired of banging my head on the wall when it comes to NBC. Since moving to the US, I've written to them pretty much every four years about this issue, and, obviously, nothing at all has changed. But still, I wrote to them again, though probably not as politely as in the past. The lengths to which they go to avoid metric units is truly ridiculous. When watching the bike road race, I could tell Paul Sherwen (the color commentator) was having a very hard time avoiding km and km/h. It seemed like every time he used metric units, some producer shouted into his earpiece because you could hear him instantly "correcting" himself and gaving us the distance in miles. So here's my terse email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]:
Hello: It is once again time for my quadrennial message to NBC imploring you to display results in Track and Field events in the units in which they are actually measured, namely metric units. Results in feet and inches are meaningless to so many people that you disrespect a very large portion of your viewing audience by omitting them. You seem to have no problem giving us swimming and track distances in meters, so it's difficult to understand why the field events should be any different. Now, if you feel that your audience is too unsophisticated to understand the metric system, by all means include the old colonial units parenthetically, but please honor the sport and your viewing public by displaying results properly. Thank you. Sincerely, Walter Meier Beaverton, OR On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 8:44 AM, Ziser, Jesse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I guess that must be their reasoning, but the thing is we haven't heard a > peep from anyone > complaining that Michael Phelps' near-mockery of his sport has been > measured entirely in hundreds > of meters. Why would it bother anyone if those other sports were announced > in proper units? I > mean it just seems like based on the success of the swimming measurements > they should get the > idea, "oh, hey, Americans can handle meters after all". Is there somebody > in some office at NBC > who really believes that ratings would suffer were the shotput not given in > feet and toes? > > Maybe they just think they're doing the "right thing" by doing the > conversions, and maybe they > could be convinced otherwise, if we could find the person who makes those > decisions. Do you > think? > > On a side note, am I the only one annoyed when the commentators use "a body > length" or "half body > length" as a (variable) unit of distance, when "two meters" and "a meter" > would do just fine? I > mean they keep saying things like "the last five meters of the race," so > why not be consistent > about it? > > --- Carleton MacDonald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > You really wonder what is going through their minds. They don't dumb > down > > the foot races or the swimming. > > > > The only thing I can think of is that the latter are even-number > distances > > (100 m, 400 m, etc.), and converting those to odd wombat measure would > look > > really strange. But things like shot put are random distances, depending > on > > the ability of the athlete. So in most cases the distance achieved will > not > > be a round figure, so it doesn't seem as "dumb" to show it in feet. > > > > Nonetheless, it gives an entirely misleading indication to the American > > public, and makes them think that the Olympics use the measurements they > > hold near and dear. Of course, the Olympics does not. > > > > Carleton > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf > > Of Harry Wyeth > > Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2008 21:28 > > To: U.S. Metric Association > > Subject: [USMA:41589] Olympics > > > > I told you. NBC is giving track and field--actually field--events in > > feet and inches. I just watched womens shot put reporting showing the > > shot landing at the 19 m line, and the announcer and the on-screen > > display showing feet and inches. Same old...same old.... > > > > > > HARRY WYETH > > > > > > > > > >
