Olympics Letters

Thank you, Howard Rosenberg, for your column July 29 ridiculing NBC's mishandling of its Olympic coverage ("Some Olympic 'Moments' Worth Forgetting"). NBC was our preferred channel prior to the Olympic event. However, we are so disgusted with its performance that my family vowed not to watch NBC after the Olympic broadcasts. TIM WU Adelanto

The U.S. Department of Justice, as expected, has notified the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Games that it will not be prosecuted for its corporate role in the worst corruption scandal in Olympic history, officials said Thursday. In a letter dated May 12 that was received Wednesday by the committee's Washington attorneys, the department said it has "no present intention" of seeking an indictment of the nonprofit corporation.

Like most Americans, I laughed along with the late-night comics at the folly of NBC's Olympic TripleCast. "Why pay $125 for Olympic coverage when I can get all I need for free?" I chortled. Then I began to watch NBC's network coverage and realized that I would pay, all right, in subtler ways. Interminable profiles, features and music videos steal precious time from the reporting of actual competition. Coverage of a single event is spread out over an entire evening to string the viewer along and keep him watching the endless advertisements.

I was not pleased with NBC's handling of the Olympic opening ceremonies July 25: bad camera angles, ranting commentators, too many commercials. This sort of butchering and commercialization of an event that happens only once every four years is inexcusable. As a politically aware teen-ager and a writer, I consider it one of the most offensive forms of censorship to use the camera angles that were chosen for the opening ceremonies. It did not please me to hear Bob Costas and Dick Enberg making stupid jokes in the broadcast booth.

The U.S. Department of Justice, as expected, has notified the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Games that it will not be prosecuted for its corporate role in the worst corruption scandal in Olympic history, officials said Thursday. In a letter dated May 12 that was received Wednesday by the committee's Washington attorneys, the department said it has "no present intention" of seeking an indictment of the nonprofit corporation.

In the letters responding to the pulling of Nike's "Slasher" commercial, the word "hypocrisy" came up ["Nike 'Slasher' Commercial a Loser at the Olympics," Letters, Sept. 24]. Sure, the commercial can be seen as making light of violence toward women. Then again, it can be seen as empowering by showing how a woman can survive an actual attack. What was missed is the fact that the "Slasher" commercial was pulled, while Nike's "Gladiator" commercial still airs. I guess it's OK to depict violence against a man (specifically, a gladiator trying to decapitate, skewer and otherwise dismember a man on a skateboard)

Like most Americans, I laughed along with the late-night comics at the folly of NBC's Olympic TripleCast. "Why pay $125 for Olympic coverage when I can get all I need for free?" I chortled. Then I began to watch NBC's network coverage and realized that I would pay, all right, in subtler ways. Interminable profiles, features and music videos steal precious time from the reporting of actual competition. Coverage of a single event is spread out over an entire evening to string the viewer along and keep him watching the endless advertisements.