Bob Costas Stands Up For American Joey Cheek During Olympic Opening Ceremony
By Logan Murphy Friday Aug 08, 2008 1:30pm
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American speed skater Joey Cheek has done a great deal to bring global attention to the immense suffering of the people of Darfur, forming Team Darfur and even going so far as donating his $40k Olympic bonus to the cause in 2006. Unfortunately, the gold and silver medalist was punished for his activism by the Chinese government -- who has contributed to the genocide in Darfur by fueling and supporting Sudan's murderous military government -- when they revoked his visa this week, preventing him from attending this year's Olympics in Beijing.
During the opening ceremony NBC's Bob Costas discussed the controversy surrounding Cheek and the Chinese government, noting that he made it clear he would not protest the Chinese government during the Olympics:
Costas: "Joey Cheek had planned to invoke the Olympic truce, the time-honored concept of an Olympic truce, to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. He did not intend to directly protest the Chinese government. The fact that they pulled his visa is so contrary to the Olympic ideal it is simply outrageous."
I wondered if NBC was going to cave on this or take a stand and defend Cheek against the reprehensible actions of the Chinese government. I applaud Costas for choosing the latter.
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The Chinese government doesn't give a rat's ass about what someone says... they decide how things will be and that's it. Unfortunately, most of the worlds doesn't operate that way... or at least in my little mind that's not the way to do things.
China is run by a communist government that works for itself, period. Time to wake up to the facts about that country and its rulers.
While its nice Costas said this, what would it have sounded like had he not? It had to be said, the nature of this action so petty and so wrong on so many levels. Bush should have boycotted the games over this, but that would have required character and integrity, and he has not a shred of those qualities.
I do not believe he said anything that was not 100% accurate. His commentary, along with that of the dude from the 'Today' show, was very good.
right on! @ 1:
And we strive to reach the fascist ideals of China. We dont't have far to go.
Business goes on as usual...
Seriously, kudos to Costas for actually saying something worthwhile during this non-stop stream of "news reporting" from the Olympics....now we need some more of it from others!
http://liberalretort.blogspot.com/
Bob Costas for VP!!!
Well, honestly... that sort of barelly makes up for the brain dead commentary that was going on during the American transmission of the opening cermonies.
Costas wasn't Dixie Chicked?
"Shut up!! Were watching to be entertained not to hear your politics!"
Wow!! Bob Costas really deserves praise from all freedom loving people! The fact that Joey Cheek is an incredible Olympic athlete and winner of medals should make it no problem for him to attend. The Chinese should be told how dreadful they are for booting him, a regressive move from a regressive government.
This may get a bit off topic, but Dumbya said in his pathetic dribble speak a while back that the USA athletes should send a message of freedom when they participate. Well Dumbya has other motives of course, but the true spirit of these games is tainted by both Dumbya's and China's use of the games as a propaganda tool. Nothing new, but China is almost as arrogant as the Dumbya Regime.
Didn't a family member of a USA coach get murdered? That must have a few of those authoritarian chumps a bit worried. Well, the Dumbya Regime has been murdering innocent folks for years now so no big deal!
L.A. Confidential @ 8:
{ Deleted, I've asked you repeatedly to tone down the insults. Last chance Doc.SiteMonitor}
Not sure which thread to post this comment to: this one or the previous.
Anyone else note the Bush's and the Putin's seated next to each other at the games. I'm watching George & Vlad chatting, and I'm thinking, beside the fact Russia just invaded another country, but also, "since when does Putin speak English"?
Mugsy @ 11:
As a KGB colonel, you'd kinda think that would have been part of Soviet secret police education.
The Olympics have always been political, from the time where they were an attempt to cease internecine warfare among battling tribal Hellenistic peoples, to nowadays. No sympathy from me for the Chinese, who opened this can of worms to begin with.
Costas also made a couple of gratuitously snide cracks about Chavez of Venezuela.
Ron @ 3:
Excuse me, you can read that the guy put the word "Communist" there, can't you?
Communism and Fascism are entirely different in ideology and methodology of dictatorship. They both suck equally, but Communist =/= fascist.
yes...this is a big story
but an even bigger one is that nbc, in its infinite wisdom of delaying online broadcasts to american viewers, has opened the door for millions to use piracy in order to watch the olympics
when the fuck is the dinasor media gonna get it?
and i would say good for costas, but he is a hypocritical angry midget...and i hope someday barry bonds pummels him with a very large bat
hey bob...why dont you do some investigative journalism and explain how the chinese, in a very short period of time, got so much better in strength sports like weightlifting
but he wont do that....he just hates barry
eff the midget
The "modern" Olympics are themselves a massive human rights violation.
Every city or country that hosts the "games" uses them as an excuse to destroy "slums" (ie, where all the poor people live) and replace them with high priced corporate real estate.
"Undesirables" are routinely bussed out of town, or locked up, or worse.
Hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars are spent on the aforementioned "urban redevelopment" and an enormous party for the relatively well-to-do that could be better spent on infrastructure, agricultural development, eradication of disease, etc, etc.
so i watched the vid twice
costas gets kudos for that???
wanna tell me why former prez bush and current chimp bush went to china???
joey cheek has his visa pulled because of his activities and the us doesnt place a formal protest and our heads of state show up anyway???
in mexico 68 our brave track and field guys gave the black power salute....who will have the balls to protest the chinese totalitarian gov
and again i say...eff that midget
Mugsy @ 11:
Well you can be dam sure GW isn't speaking Russian.
MountainMan23 @ 17:
that didnt happen in los angeles...remember, that olympics was corporate sponsored and most of the venues were already in place
im sure some homeless got a vacation...but they were right back in front of their fav 7/11's immediatly after the games ended
Long Tooth @ 14:
see...eff the midget
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 18:
Bingo!
Bob Costas can suck my %$&*
I tried to watch the opening ceremonies from the greater Denver area, but thanks to NBC/Comcast I didn't always have sound or a picture; I guess 12 hours wasn't enough of a time delay to piece this thing together correctly: Hey i can always Google China's national anthem right? What a damn embarrassment.
Anyway, getting back to Bob. One of the first things I did catch was Bob and some other guy talking about the coming ceremony and they said "We're going to put politics aside..." Well for the love of Christ and Richard Nixon, that promise lasted for at no more than 6 maybe 10 seconds at the most. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to put a sock in Bob's mouth so I could stop the political dribble and enjoy the opening ceremonies. Did you know that watching a large number of guys play drums is "intimidating". Did you know there's something really scary about "precision". Someone should tell Michael Flatley that some of his dancers need to miss a beat now and then because precision can intimidate Americans. My eyes witnessed one of the most incredible displays of art I have ever seen on this scale, and Costas tried to paint a picture of fear on top of it; its foreign and bad, and scary, and not American, and scary, and so big, and scary, and so precise, and scary, and so forth.
What a weasel.
Letterman said "the Olympics, also known as the competition amongst the best pharmacists in the world"....LOL
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 21:
He was accurate however, as Chavez has a considerable number of his detractors in Venezuela as well. However, I respect him on many levels for being honest about the neocons and not falling into their sphere of influence like Colombia has
odanny @ 25:
South America's the US's informal empire. Chavez is just as vulnerable to the Colossus of the North as any other leader, oil be damned. Don't believe me? Just ask Salvador Allende.
I cant believe I am going to do this- but Matt Lauer also raised some good points and did not shut down the conversation about this issue, for him that was showing some guts - I thought for sure he would walk away from the issue....( and yeah, hell it is a big deal...millions listening- and the Minders in China listening too....they don't like it when journalists tell the truth- remember? )
I always knew Costas had guts..and if CNN had any brains they would pick him for the next Larry King Host Slot....
And sure as shit, I turn on the TeeVee and they are discussing Preident Bush's visit with the beach volleyball team.
Announcer in breathless voice: "Yesterday marked the first time a sitting President attended a beach volleyball competition" Wow.
Next announcer went on to chuckle how Bush stuck around and discussed tips on beach volleyball with someone. Video of chuckling Bush hitting volleyball. More discussion on Bush doing the mountain bike course. Ugh.
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 18:
Your reference to the Olympics in Mexico in 1968, and specifically to Tommy Smith and John Carlos, was well taken, as was your query regarding the Chinese government. But that begs the question of which of today's athletes, either from other countries or especially from the United States, will have the moral courage and integrity, as well as the use of critical thinking[!], to protest against the imperial policies of the United States regarding the illegal and immoral occupations of both Afghanistan and Iraq. Five will get you ten that there will be extremely few athletes, if any, that one will see doing this on national and world television. Even more remote is the possibility that Bob Costas will even raise this topic while doing his analysis in front of the television screen.
ScrewBush @ 23:
You're silly. The talk about "intimidating" drummers was to explain why the drummers added smiles to their performance: to appear less intimidating. From what I could gather from Lauer and Costas, the smiles weren't present in earlier rehearsals.
As for the supposed fearmongering over precision, there was none. "It's so precise it's scary" is just an expression, like "the sports team is so good it's scary". It was a compliment. He was expressing awe over 2008 people coordinating their movements so well. That was a common theme of commentary during the ceremony; they also marvelled at how Tai Chi performers could form large, near-perfect circles, without any reference markings on the ground.
The comments about the ceremony being big happened because the ceremony was, uh, big. Everything from the budget (like $300 million, iirc), the number of performers (15000, outnumbering the 11000 or 12000 Olympic athletes), the giant LED screen on the ground, and the giant TV screen that spanned much of the top of the stadium (putting other "Jumbotrons" to shame). The announcers also tied the scope into the size of the country, China being the most populous nation on earth.
The NBC announcers were genuinely impressed, and conveyed that through their comments. Would you have preferred they be blasé about it?
"The NBC announcers were genuinely impressed, and conveyed that through their comments. Would you have preferred they be blasé about it?"
I would have preferred they shut their pie holes let us enjoy the opening ceremonies without their inane blather, do the get paid by the word!?!
What did Joe-Sixpack expect? Get used to it, fat boy. We take orders from the Commie dogs now.
MountainMan23 @ 22:
Surprised? Puh-lease.
It is ludicrous that China is allowed to host the Olympics. I wonder how much slave labor was used on the venues? How many of those people who appeared in the ceremonies go home hungry and supressed. How many organs were harvested yesterday or how many babies were killed, or people imprisoned for thinking freely and aloud.
Ludicrous, indeed!
How are your seats, Bush and your Stepford wife? Why would you care, you pig!
So, I'm watching the OC at the olympics and the cameras keep coming back to Bush and the Missus sitting there and Bush is flapping himself on the leg with the American flag, looking bored as shit. The Missus has got that inked-on smile pasted on crookedly. Bush looked like some third-rate car salesman sitting there without his coat on half the night, whacking himself with the flag like it's a bic pen or something. If it had been a Democrat doing that, the rightwingers would be all over it today.
Putin looked more presidential; hell even Sarcozy looked better than our good ol' boy...
Assassin,
I couldn't disagree with you more, but you already knew that. I was not impressed. I would have like them to flap their lips in an effort to explain more aspects of the culture to me, as in what was the cultural importance of this and that, from the music to the costumes and beyond, just keep educating me would have been okie-dokie. They did a far better job of this with the Sydney and Athens Olympics.
Yes, we all know its big and they have more people than anyone can imagine. The tone was that this wasn't just big and impressive, but big and ominous. You can choose all sorts of expressions and analogies to add color to your commentary. However, you can also add a not so subtle tone to the selection of all of your colorful expressions that tends towards a darker meaning. That's what I heard come out of Costas.
I've been listening to Bob for years. Bob always has a perspective he's selling, either political or commercial, and he's relentless. He'll keep selling it from the start to the finish of the broadcast. It's like pushing a talking point, and he's very good at it. I'm thankful they had at least one guy on air that spoke the language and understood the culture.
Ron @ 3:
Yes sir, ya got that right. China is so enmeshed into our economy already that it's impossible to keep track of it all.........finance furniture at Rooms To Go, AND almost all of it's from China......guess who you're paying interest to??? It's pervasive, AND we now have run up so much INVASION DEBT, that we'll all soon see how much of us they own.
I'd like to see some discussion as to how we're going to get our economy breathing again..........any chance all these medai whores could get a huge wake up call in next thirty days?????????
We've all got some real serious shit to discuss around this nation, and we better get it out on the table before they bring the curtain down.
Excuse........that's media whores.
The announcers ruined the show, and the camera crew was in way over their heads. I'm also in Denver and had the technical problems, but I gave up after Costas' astute observation about one of the tai chi performers possibly missing a step and crashing a bunch of heads (can't remember what he said exactly). They did comment on the intimidating nature of the drummers, and I didn't gather that it was scary in the "great team" sense, especially when it was around the time they were talking about the political controversies that they had said they were putting aside.
I agree with those who say Costas' criticizing the Chinese government doesn't make him anything special--particularly since he said they were keeping politics out of the coverage. If any of the athletes want to protest that is one thing, but I don't need some windbag using this as the occasion to discuss these topics. How about starting to put it on the news? How about reports explaining where the money goes when people buy things made in China? The games should be about the athletes.
I also have to add that a competition about the spirit of peace and goodwill shouldn't be divided by nation, which only fosters divisiveness--probably more amongst fans than participants, but that's just my opinion. Also, thanks to Dumya, there aren't too many places in the world that might be viewed as legitimate bastions of goodwill. At least he got one last opportunity to look into Putin's soul.
The Pharmalympics can kiss my ass from China or any other oppressive state where they pitch their sleazy tent.
Although Mr. Costas did a good thing to mention Darfur you should not forget that Costas is a tool for the republican/neocon machine. A simple check of who carries his radio show should confirm this fact.
And this is the country that our American businessmen chose to give our jobs and our money to. Do you think Wal-Mart is losing any sleep over China's horrible human rights policy? Ha!
the NBC jerkoffs should have just STFU and let us watch the damn thing. It was embarrassing and painful.
On the topic of not letting an athlete get a visa to the olympics. Taht's reprehensible. What the fuck are the olympics for then? WHAT? SOMEONE TELL ME!?!?!
Lets nuke those fucking asshats before they keep us from getting one more gold medal stripped from us!! IOC DIES!!
sorry..
I do not plan on watching any of the Olympics. If China can ban our athletes on a whim then its not worth supporting.
Bush the Moron will of course support it.
Olympics? What Olympics? Well, maybe a peak at the male swimmers and divers. And besides, the coverage is always such crap, I don't have time.
costa's remarks on the subject of joey cheek were the only positive thing one could point to in his "performance" covering the opening ceremonies. overall he and his assistant commentators were devoid of information or insight. it is a testament to the astonishing and brilliant chinese performers that i stayed glued to my set for close to the entire opening show. once they were gone, costas and his pals were just an annoyance and i turned it off.
the highlight for me? seeing george bush looking trapped and uncomfortable in his tiny little stadium seat.
Being from St Louis, I grew up with Costa and the Bucks. We produce some of the greatest sports commentators. If I remember right, even Harry Carry took his first breath in the Lou. They're intelligent and amazing speakers. I'm proud that we hail from the same city and he was great subing for... was it Charlie Rose? Maybe it was Tom Snyder... Either way he was smart and articulate. The point is that they are not politicians. They all do/did a LOT for their communities but they are at the end of the day, sportscasters and that's all. If anyone should be saying/doing something about the abuses, it should be our leaders who, not surprisingly, showed up and had a good ol' time on China's dime without a care in the world. That should be considered the problem with the opening events not a commentator's commentating.
China wanted to host the olympics to show us who they were. And with the world seeing air so brown it could turn a Young Republican into an environmentalist, athletes protecting their superhuman lungs with gas masks, and then the "New China" using their host status to revoke the Olympic dreams of an American "dissident", I think China is indeed showing the world who they are.
Why the fuck are we there anyway?!
We, along with everyone else should
have never participated in the Olympics
in China.
SHAME!
General_Rennenkampf @ 15:
For the uninformed, there are only two differences between communism and fascism. Anything else is window dressing.
1) Communists beat you up because of your religion. Fascists beat you up with their religion.
2) Communists try to control and dictate the economy for the leadership's benefit, to the detriment of the populace, and in the name of "the workers". Fascists try to control and dictate the economy for the corporations' benefit, to the detriment of the populace, and in the name of shareholders.
Yeah, communism and fascism are miles apart. 9_9
Why else would the US be using socialist methods to prop up big business?
Joey Cheek had anything to say about the 200,000 odd Iraqis, hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans, Vietnamese, we have directly affected, and the millions of Palestinians, East Timorese, Latin Americans, Africans we have indirectly affected? Perhaps Bob Costas had a comment, at least, during the Olympics opening ceremony, on these matters?
Joey Cheek has become quite the ambassador for civil liberties. You should check out the video he made for a project I’m working on I Vote You Vote. You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgrMOQ1D2cE Make sure to visit www.ivoteyouvote.com to register yourself and your friends to vote!
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