The Spokesmen #120 – The Muppet Show

1. 

   Don B

   July 16, 2015

   Regarding NBC Sports broadcasting. This is probably not a big deal to some folks, but it drives me crazy that they have to re-calculate distances and elevations into miles and feet. I guess they do it for us dumb Americans who don’t understand metric units. (sarcasm).

   But seriously, it does not make it simpler or ‘”dumbed down.” It makes it more confusing. I’ve heard the commentators themselves confuse km and miles. “The’ve got 23 miles to go… make that 23 km.”

   Then they’ve got the alternating units in the graphics. Every 10 seconds or so it switches from miles to km. Tell me that’s not confusing.

   Bottom line, the athletes think in km. The sport is spec’d in km. Races are measured and marked, distance to kom, distance to sprint, to finish…all in km. So why do we need to be confused with miles?

   Again, it may not be much of an issue for some. Maybe even some appreciate the “translation.” But I certainly hate it. Just talk in km and meters. km/h is fine, too. I’ll be fine with that. I prefer it. It is much less confusing than trying to live in two worlds.

2. 

   David Bernstein

   July 16, 2015

   I totally agree. This drives me crazy too. Also, when you watch cycling coverage in other countries they also include the distances between each break, chase, peloton, and gruppetto. Why doesn’t NBCSN do that?!?

3. 

   Greg H

   July 29, 2015

   I enjoy this podcast. Thank you for the great content.

   That being said I was disappointed with the discussion that you had regarding the way that you watch the tour. I purchased the $20 app for Ipad/Iphone and have been enjoying the coverage (I still haven’t gotten through all of it). I have certainly gotten $20 of entertainment out of it. It seems contradictory to me that most of you were complaining about the lack of coverage in the States and the lack of people that watch the tour here and the poor quality, but you are unwilling to spend $20 to legitimately watch it here. One comment was something like “I’m not going to give those blood suckers my money.” Don’t you think that if more people purchased this app that the quality and quantity of the coverage might increase? It is one thing to make this decision on your own and find a “work around” (which in many cases is the same as any other cheating), but when you express this opinion and condone the practice to your listeners it increases the problem.

4. 

   David Bernstein

   July 29, 2015

   Greg:

   I appreciate your comment, but I don’t recall anyone making the “blood suckers” comment. If they did, I have a feeling it was in jest.

   I watched the Tour on the NBC Sports Network which is offered on my Dish TV subscription. From talking to the other Spokesmen, it sounds like most, if not all, of them were also watching using their cable or satellite TV services. As a bonus for me, I was also able to watch on the Dish TV app on my iPad using the Sling Player built into my Dish DVR. I have issues with NBC’s coverage of the Tour (Phil & Paul, repetitive inane commercials, failure to cover the women’s race [they showed a repeat of the previous day’s men’s stage instead], the use of miles instead of KMs, the dumbed-down on-screen graphics, etc.), but I appreciate the fact that it is on at all so I watch it there. Give a listen to the most recent episode and I think you will hear me say something similar.

   All that being said, my original intent in bringing up the subject was as an intro to the issues that were recently revealed with the free Hola VPN service that so many use for watching lesser-known races (i.e. anything other than the Tour de France) which do not get live coverage here in the States, even on NBCSN. I know that many of our listeners have used that service, and since the Hola issue was quite serious, I felt it important to bring to the listeners. When races aren’t covered live here in the States, I have no problem firing up my paid VPN service and watching the Dutch, French, Italian, or other live feeds. Comparing that to doping or cheating, as you did, is a bit of stretch.

   I hope this helps explain where we were coming from.

   Thanks for listening.

   David

5. 

   Greg H

   July 29, 2015

   David,

   I can appreciate that. Thanks for the reply. I have already listened to the following episode and I enjoyed it.

   Greg

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