THE STORY vs THE STORY TOLD

View of the LH Nordic combined event from the booth.  Pouring rain.

K125 team event Monday night and then Nordic combined large hill event Tuesday afternoon was a whirlwind.  As usual everything was called live with bridges and "wild lines" recorded so the main studio down in Sochi can piece things together to to fit whatever programming holes they had to fill.  In both cases the live feed also went out over NBCSN during the day.  Virtually all the pictures we talk over are provided by the host broadcaster who is producing what's called the world feed.  NBC only has two cameras at the jumps that they can rely on, usually one at the top showing athletes getting ready and one in the mix zone at the bottom where athletes can be interviewed.  The host has made a number of mistakes- wrong graphics (labeling Morgenstern as Hayboeck), focusing on 2nd place athlete celebrating instead of winner (Kasai instead of Stoch in K125), but by far the biggest party foul came during the team event.  GER Freund was the last to jump and it was unclear whether he had jumped well enough to beat the current leaders- the AUT's.  World feed held the shot on German team watching the scoreboard and when points were posted laid in a graphic with the AUT point total.  Bob saw the AUT points go up and assumed they had won (and said so emphatically).  Such are the perils of live tv.  We mopped up the mess live and then recalled the finish so that the late night viewers would not be as confused as we had been.  It took until 2:45 am.  Below- short clip Al Trautwig and Chad Salmela in our booth calling XC portion of NC.

But speaking of TV- I've been interested that many people whom I respect and consider thoughtful have been weighing in that Kristin Cooper went too far in her interview with Bode (link here).  With TV there is always the story and then the story that is told.  The Bode interview is actually the compilation of two interviews.  He came back to Kristin because he felt like he had short-changed her initially (or maybe had more to say).  You notice in the opening that silver medalist Andrew Weibrecht is to Bode's right.  There's then a cut to another camera just on Bode, then a return to a Bode frontal shot, framed similarly to the initial tight shot they'd left.  When Bode walks away in tears Weibrecht is nowhere to be seen.  This interview took place at +/-3 pm local time for a show that was shown to USA audience some 15 hours later.  Long/short- it was a highly produced piece that was well scripted (tampered with?) to be shown as it was in order to tell a story.  I share none of this to defend Kristin but to say that while TV may indeed feed on our weaknesses, it does not create them.  The response to the interview is further proof.  While some of it is civil, alot of it, just based on language used, is 20X worse than the initial alleged foul.  Jumping way off point here- both reality TV and Congress are a mess, but also a reflection of who we've become.  They are simply the messengers for our voices (which could use some work).  Someone get me off this #$#@! soapbox.

Another point- on whether it was invasive to mike Bode's wife.  Bode's wife had to say yes to being miked.  In the end she is the one seeking the exposure that NBC offered.

Final point- assessing winners and losers in the deal.  Bode- HUGE winner... people love him more and are 100% in his court, plus he gets to look gracious in defending KC.  NBC- BIG winner- people are talking about their coverage.  Kristin Cooper- TBD- under the bus for now.

Another guest to the list for Apt 70605 as alpine researcher and new friend Tik Root (friend of Jeff Colt, Middlebury '12) got a brief respite from the IBC in Sochi (where researchers are on the job 24/7) and came to the mountains to ski a bit, watch bob sleigh and the team jump.