Getting to the bottom of this whole Kristen Scott Thomas business
I don't think that's her name.
No?
No. I think you're referring to Christin Cooper.
The reporter who made Bode Miller cry?
The very one.
Anyway, none of the Bode Miller business surprised me, other than his inability to turn off the faucets once they were turned on. Personally, I found the spectacle disgusting. Manipulative. Deeply intrusive. It made my skin crawl at the time and I found myself thinking I would write a long blog post about it and then, out of the blue, the whole world rises up in protest.
What, suddenly we grow a collective conscience? Re-embrace simple decency? What's next -- single payer health care?
I'm not complaining about Mr. Miller's behavior -- just so we're clear. He's had a truly shitty year. There was a while, eight years or so ago, when I was not a big Miller fan. He of the medals-aren't-the-important-thing mindset for which he received much scathing criticism from me. But now I realize that the fault was mine, not his. That he's perhaps one of the few sane people in the Winter Olympics. That the magnificence of the man's Chi is exceeded only by the magnitude of his Zen.
You don't even know what those words mean.
No, I don't. Not exactly, at least.
And I don't even find Ms. Cooper's behavior too reprehensible. Yes, she should have called it quits one question earlier, but, to quote the Pope, who am I to judge?
No. The disgusting part of the whole thing was that NBC had a long time to reflect on the 50 or 60 seconds they spent on the Miller breakdown (the prime-time Olympics are all taped and edited, if that isn't obvious) and decided that it was fine just the way it was. One can't blame this one on Matt Lauer, but his presence on the set, standing in for Bob Costas (he of the pink eyes), spoke symbolically about why The Today Show -- the bastion of gotcha television -- is in free-fall.
What, suddenly we grow a collective conscience? Re-embrace simple decency? What's next -- single payer health care?
And do you know what the worst part of the whole thing was? It happened late in the piece, after Miller had stepped away from Ms. Cooper, walked a few feet up the roped-off aisle reserved for skiers and then kneeled down in the snow with his face in his hands. Because he had changed location, they had to cut to a second camera man who had a great angle because he was on the skiers' side of the ropes. At some point one of Miller's teammates -- you don't know who it is but you know he was American because of the uniform -- walks up to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. At which point an NBC employee intercedes and tells him to move aside because he was obscuring the camera.
And that's what really bugged me. The craven admission by NBC that comforting a stricken man was less important than getting the shot.
Yuk. Were I a better man I'd stop watching the rest of the Olympics and concentrate on finishing Assassin's Creed 4, Black Flag. But there's still too much good stuff to come.
No?
No. I think you're referring to Christin Cooper.
The reporter who made Bode Miller cry?
The very one.
Anyway, none of the Bode Miller business surprised me, other than his inability to turn off the faucets once they were turned on. Personally, I found the spectacle disgusting. Manipulative. Deeply intrusive. It made my skin crawl at the time and I found myself thinking I would write a long blog post about it and then, out of the blue, the whole world rises up in protest.
What, suddenly we grow a collective conscience? Re-embrace simple decency? What's next -- single payer health care?
I'm not complaining about Mr. Miller's behavior -- just so we're clear. He's had a truly shitty year. There was a while, eight years or so ago, when I was not a big Miller fan. He of the medals-aren't-the-important-thing mindset for which he received much scathing criticism from me. But now I realize that the fault was mine, not his. That he's perhaps one of the few sane people in the Winter Olympics. That the magnificence of the man's Chi is exceeded only by the magnitude of his Zen.
You don't even know what those words mean.
No, I don't. Not exactly, at least.
And I don't even find Ms. Cooper's behavior too reprehensible. Yes, she should have called it quits one question earlier, but, to quote the Pope, who am I to judge?
No. The disgusting part of the whole thing was that NBC had a long time to reflect on the 50 or 60 seconds they spent on the Miller breakdown (the prime-time Olympics are all taped and edited, if that isn't obvious) and decided that it was fine just the way it was. One can't blame this one on Matt Lauer, but his presence on the set, standing in for Bob Costas (he of the pink eyes), spoke symbolically about why The Today Show -- the bastion of gotcha television -- is in free-fall.
What, suddenly we grow a collective conscience? Re-embrace simple decency? What's next -- single payer health care?
And do you know what the worst part of the whole thing was? It happened late in the piece, after Miller had stepped away from Ms. Cooper, walked a few feet up the roped-off aisle reserved for skiers and then kneeled down in the snow with his face in his hands. Because he had changed location, they had to cut to a second camera man who had a great angle because he was on the skiers' side of the ropes. At some point one of Miller's teammates -- you don't know who it is but you know he was American because of the uniform -- walks up to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. At which point an NBC employee intercedes and tells him to move aside because he was obscuring the camera.
And that's what really bugged me. The craven admission by NBC that comforting a stricken man was less important than getting the shot.
Yuk. Were I a better man I'd stop watching the rest of the Olympics and concentrate on finishing Assassin's Creed 4, Black Flag. But there's still too much good stuff to come.
posted by Geoffrey at 8:30 AM
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