[USMA:46666] RE: NBC's Annoying Luge Coverage at the Olympics

[Michael Payne]

Hope you asked how many grams that might be?

Mike Payne
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: br...@bjwhite.net 
  To: U.S. Metric Association 
  Cc: U.S. Metric Association 
  Sent: Monday, 15 February 2010 22:31
  Subject: [USMA:46661] RE: NBC's Annoying Luge Coverage at the Olympics


  I also watched over the weekend on CTV, but I was in Whistler for the 
Olympics.  Had tix to the men's downhill, which was postponed until today and I 
couldn't stay.  :(   

  Funny thing though, if you've ever been to Whistler in the past, you know 
it's very 'international'.  Whistler attracts many young people from around the 
world to work there during the winter ski season...as well as summar 
golf/hiking/biking season.  So it's not uncommon for your waiter to be French, 
your liftie to be Australian, your hotel check-in person to be from London or 
your ski shop dude to be German.

  We ate at Araxi, one of the posh joints in Whistler villiage.  As I checked 
out the menu, I asked about the steaks.  My server was French....and they 
talked all about the meat prices in ounces.  WAIT....here I was, a French 
server in a Canadian (metric country) restaurant and here I am hearing meat 
sizes in ounces?

  mon dieu! 

    -------- Original Message --------
    Subject: [USMA:46659] RE: NBC's Annoying Luge Coverage at the Olympics
    From: j...@frewston.plus.com
    Date: Mon, February 15, 2010 2:12 pm
    To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
    Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>


    I am currently watching the winter Olympics on the Canadian television
    station CTV, which has the rights to all Olympics broadcasting in Canada. 
    100% metric, as it should be.

    John F-L



    > For the US, Summer Olympics are a USC-fest due to track and field;
    > everything is converted, and you have to go to the Olympic website to get
    > the correct results in metric.  In the Winter olympics, most events are
    > times.  In ski jump, I never heard the announcers use anything but meters
    > for the length of jump. 
    >
    > The Olympics Committee operates three or four speed guns on the luge,
    > reading in km/h.  NBC gets that feed and displays it unchanged on the
    > screen, yet the announcers talk about it (instantly) in miles per hour. 
    > Since the speed increases considerably (65 to 145 km/h typically) from the
    > first to last gun, seeing figures in one set of units and hearing them in
    > another, and the cycle repeating for the next contestant leaves you with
    > NO idea of what you've seen/heard.
    >
    > I don't think there are many other events they can ruin in this manner.
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > ________________________________
    > From: "ezra.steinb...@comcast.net" <ezra.steinb...@comcast.net>
    > To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu>
    > Cc: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu>
    > Sent: Mon, February 15, 2010 4:46:03 PM
    > Subject: [USMA:46656] RE: NBC's Annoying Luge Coverage at the Olympics
    >
    >
    > I'm still not surprised that NBC, as an American network, uses US
    > Customary units as much as possible.
    >
    > However, there has been talk from correspondents in the UK that local
    > coverage oriented towards Britons (rather than a world audience) typically
    > uses Imperial.
    >
    > Can anyone over there tell me which units the local BBC and local media
    > outlets are using to cover the Olympic events?
    >
    > Cheers,
    > Ezra
    >
    > ----- Original Message -----
    > From: "Martin Vlietstra" <vliets...@btinternet.com>
    > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
    > Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 1:31:41 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
    > Subject: [USMA:46655] RE: NBC's Annoying Luge Coverage at the Olympics
    >
    >
    > At the Athens Olympics, the British woman’s marathon hopeful, Paula
    > Radcilffe was suffering from a stomach bug.  Although she led for much of
    > the race, things caught up with her and she visibly got to the 36Â km mark
    > (denoted by a huge “36”).  She stopped, summoned up strength, and
    > then withdrew a short distance afterwards.  Even though millions of
    > Britons saw this on television and the commentator used the word “36
    > kilometre mark”, the press was divided as to whether she had covered 21
    > miles, 21.5 miles or 22 miles.
    > Â 
    >
    > ________________________________
    >
    > From:owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf
    > Of John M. Steele
    > Sent: 15 February 2010 00:01
    > To: U.S. Metric Association
    > Subject: [USMA:46650] NBC's Annoying Luge Coverage at the Olympics
    > Â 
    > In the end, the luge is scored entirely by summing finish times. 
    > However, during the run, some split times and speeds are available.  The
    > speeds, like everything else are SI, kilometers per hour, and NBC flashes
    > those graphics on screen.  Apparently the announcers get instant
    > coversion and yack endlessly in miles per hour while you are looking at on
    > screen graphices in km/h.  The disconnect is both annoying and confusing.
    > Â 
    > NBC:  Please let have the REAL results.  Don't bother converting.
    > (You will be less confused if you mute the announcers and just read
    > on-screen graphics.)
    > Â 
    > Fortunately, there are fewer Winter events they can screw up with
    > unnecessary conversion. compared to the Summer Olympics.