Thursday, February 18, 2010

5 Recommendations for the Olympics Organizers

1. Get the commentators from snowboarding to do figure skating, just to spice things up a little. Instead of the Peggy Fleming *gasp* at a competitor's mistake, we could hear a comment like, "that dude biffed." When I heard a snowboarding commentator remark "that dude went down," I had to rewind it just to make sure I heard correctly. It cracked me up!

2. Competitions like snowboard cross and the speedskating relay, where multiple competitors are going head-to-head on the same course and risk wiping each other out, are much more exciting than individuals competing for a score or time. Create more events like that.

3. Use even more computer graphics to help us compare each competitor against the "gold standard" in height, distance, form, etc. We want to be awed, but it's hard when we aren't expert enough to spot the key differences that separate the participants from the podium.

4. Update the commentators' garb and hair styles, especially Bob Costas's. The suit and tie with the Ken doll plastic-mold hair just do NOT fit with the Winter Olympics style. Maybe bring in Ralph Lauren as a consultant.

5. Speaking of Ralph Lauren, do NOT let him put hats on the American team any more. The knit caps with the moose on them? I would love to have heard the muttered remarks among the American snowboarders about those hats! Wonder what Stacy and Clinton have to say about them. Yet I hear people have been paying as much as $400 to get their hands on one of those goofy toques. I'm not one of them and I won't apologize for it. Not to mention, it was 70 degrees inside the stadium where the opening ceremony was held, yet another reason why I was very surprised how many U.S. Olympians kept the hats on. But to give credit where due, I do think Ralph did a commendable job on the snowboarder's outfit that looked like faded jeans with a plaid flannel shirt.