During my Aug. 23 browsing of the Daily Bruin, I came across a
column in the sports section, “Olympic voices should focus on
positive to keep viewers,” by Sonya Palathumpat. The author
did acknowledge that she is not a true Olympics fan, yet she
apparently believes she has the ability to criticize expert
commentary on the Olympics.
Unlike Palathumpat, I must admit that I am a die-hard Olympics
fan. Palathumpat took strong exception to phrases such as
“clobbered” and “dream-killing 9.137,”
which were used by the NBC commentators to describe the disastrous
start by Paul Hamm in the all-around gymnastics final. Any
gymnastics follower or Olympics fan would know that given the
intensity of competition, stress and demand for perfection that
constitutes an Olympics final, the result of the first routine
executed by Hamm on the pommel horse was nothing short of a
disaster. Hamm himself has said in post-competition comments that
after that first routine, he expected at the most to win a bronze
if he performed to the best of his abilities in subsequent
routines.
Palathumpat claims that what irked her was that the
commentators’ candid analysis of Hamm’s initial
performance amounted to a negative portrayal of American Olympians.
It prompted her to switch channels and inadvertently venture into
the Telemundo broadcast, which she found to be a relief. She said
that she had little incentive to watch the rest of the all-round
gymnastics competition because the commentators had written off
Hamm as a probable medalist. While someone not opting to watch the
proceedings after a setback to one’s favorite sports person
is perfectly normal, it is annoying when that someone wrongly
attributes her lack of interest to the quality of the
commentary.
The purpose of good commentary is not to provide fans with false
hopes of victory, but to be able to convey accurately the tension
and emotions being felt by the participants and spectators at that
moment. Could you imagine the viewer disgust and disappointment
that would be evoked if an expert commentator paints a picture of
buoyant optimism when the darling of the crowd is actually doomed
to lose? While successes are to be lauded in due measure, failures
must be strongly pointed out. If the purpose of watching the
Olympics is just to get one’s daily dose of feel good-ness,
then watching “Friends” reruns might be a better
choice.
Das is an urban planning graduate student.