Durban Sandshark

Important news out of NBC is that Jim Bell exits well before even heading NBC Sports' Tokyo 2020 coverage (as well as departing his Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon showrunning duties). We'll see whoever succeeds him will place his or her finger on some coverage changes, if at all. Likely not Sam Flood but someone more intimate with the Olympics coverage: https://awfulannouncing.com/nbc/jim-bell-leaves-nbc-olympics.html

I do remember that 7 Sydney 2000 promo being on the beginning of the Sydney 2000 Olympic DVDs like the 2-disc Opening Ceremony one from Warner Home Vision Australia. The Great One appears again for his endorsement of Canon's groundbreaking at the time Canon G70 photo camera back in 1985, showcasing his skills that rightfully called him the Great One and Canadian royalty. Canon was the official camera brand of the NHL at the time. Gretzky was right at the height of his powers back then happily winning Stanley Cups for the Edmonton Oilers back in the 1980s and deservedly was one of the top male athlete of that very decade. The 1980s were very, very good to Edmonton sports with not just Gretzky and the Oilers (packed with All-Stars and legends) but also the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos with coach Hugh Campbell and his QB Warren Moon winning multiple Grey Cups just before them...until that seismic August 1988 trade to Los Angeles when he was still in his scary prime brought all that winning to a screeching halt. There's actually another version of this commercial from the same shoot I hope to bring very soon from the same period with Gretzky that was also shown across Canada and the USA. Also notice not seeing the names above the numbers on his teammates' backs, which should detect to you they're not his actual Oilers teammates during filming His opponents may sport jerseys styled like the New Jersey Devils, a team he once infamously blasted the year before following a blowout game calling it "a Mickey Mouse organization" and got torched for it, but really have a fictional circular crest with a white A on it. Now here's a more recent hockey hero in Norwegian star Mats Zuccarello (with the added actual surname Aasen)--the Zuccarello is from his mother's Italian heritage--with him practicing his shooting inside all by himself. Then with the New York Rangers during filming and airing (now with the Minnesota Wild on a 5-year $30 million contract starting this season). In this Unibets commercial, Zuccarello says translated "You must bet (that is in this Norwegian context, "bet" means dedicating or committing yourself) to win. It means very tough work every day. But it's worth it, because the joy of winning is the biggest there is," bridging both working on your sport and gambling. This stands out because active players really can't endorse vices for North American-based companies and context; we're still just shedding the stigma of it (complicated story and history owing to our largely Protestant heritage) with technology playing an important role. Gambling and booking on sports are normal and accepted across Europe with huge revenue generated annually. And of course it has the age restriction and gambling help noted:

Nacho Olympic beat me to it on the Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony. Was gonna put it up yesterday. Oh well... Putting up the 2019 Africa Games Closing Ceremony from Rabat, Morocco at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium that ended the 40-year absence from hosting this. Same MCs from the Opening are back. Entertainment is a mixture of Moroccan, Arabic and French recording artists like Aminux, Mina Tiwirit, Nouamane Belaiachi, Victoire Biaku, Josey, Nataly Andria and Franco and dance troupe Pawad Nawaz (sp?). Unlike in the Olympic version, the athletes, coaches, trainers, etc all don't march as one multicolored mass in entrance. But enter as part of their national teams kinda just like they did until John Wing's Melbourne suggestion back in 1956. Also the African Union anthem is played along with the Olympic Hymn and the Moroccan national anthem. The Atlas Lion mascot is all over this as soon as he arrives before the parade. The stadium is not filled to capacity...and some of the audio in not in sync And we can't forget the 2019 Indian Ocean Island Games Closing Ceremonies from Port-Louis, Mauritius at the Anjalay Coopen Stadium taken from MBC TV. Just like with the opening, it was wet and cloudy and rainy. No English commentary? Then again, almost all the participating islands in this region are French-speaking, although some like Seychelles and Mauritius are both English and French and are Commonwealth nations. Built a grand stage for the singing entertainment inside the stadium this time. Listen closely and you'll hear the Rocky theme Gonna Fly Now from the marching band. Also interesting here, the JIOI Mauritius mascot plays a prominent role here too before leaving the stage:

Pretty cool stuff to see on the track for viewers. Sometimes it can be hard to figure out who is leading, their speed acceleration/decreasing, and who is about to win in sprints and their times due to the clustering near the finish line. Like to see this similarly done for swimming. Just hours ago this morning, NBCUniversal announced the name of the its brand new streaming service that will hold NBC/Telemundo's Tokyo 2020 cross-platform coverage in the United States: Peacock. Further details there TBA but we all know there will be a major marketing push for this as a showcase piece soon as Peacock launches in April: https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/bonnie-hammer-nbc-peacock-streaming-launch-1203338631/

The 2019 Rabat African Games Opening Ceremony took place Monday, which surely would get lost sometimes in the international sports realm out of Morocco's capital city. Parade of Nations very much started almost immediately. Nations came out to its most notable national artists--great tribute for South Africans marching to the late, great Johnny Clegg and one of his signature songs "Asimbonanga" with Savuka. But the audio from the emcees with the field one and the Olympic Channel feed sportscaster seem to compete against one another in speaking. More accurately, over each other. Obviously that will be confusing to listeners. Quite enjoyable here beyond that. Judo actually got with theirs during the three days before this OC: And then there was the Indian Ocean Island Games that took place in Port-Louis, Mauritius at the Anjalay Coopen Stadium that took place a month ago and had to deal with a torrential rainfall that delayed the Opening Ceremony for nearly 30 minutes. Show went on as the rain let up significantly. The Comoros Islands fielded a far bigger contingent of athletes than in the All-African Games right now. As you would expect with these Indian Ocean Island area, they're predominately French like Reunion, Comoros, Seychelles, Maldives, Madagascar, and Mayotte. Does add a nice element of the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony with a bicycle rider leading the delegations with a hallmark Mauritian house behind him or her:

Just this afternoon I went over thanks to a Google search to see some TV schedules that contained some past Olympics in its listings. So I spotted some Buenos Aires ones on the forum from Radio Discussions' website representing Argentina during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, you know the Centennial Olympic Games. I'll write them down if needed here; there's only a few of them right now. America 2, Telefe, and Canal 13 all were involved in the free-to-air Argentinian TV portion of these Games. Telefe is Channel 11 down there. America 2 ceased operations, I guess. What these channels did was emulating what neighboring Brazil, which was an interesting thing at the time. Not like what Argentina broadcasters do now and have just one Olympics broadcaster involved as an OTA'er. Multiple OTA channels from Argentina airing it, which certainly had a lot to do with Argentina soccer airing on all channels, often simultaneously with Argentina. And it was because of soccer, the most important sport in the nation but also aired other sports that are popular in Argentina like basketball, field hockey, and volleyball. Especially along with any other Olympic sport, mostly whenever there's Argentinian Olympians involved with a few popular foreign teams thrown in. America 2's, Telefe's, and Canal 13's coverage all weren't always nonstop, although America 2 came close to doing that but not without a break for a hour or even three before resuming to the action. Certainly had the bulk of the coverage with the other just appearing for a few hours everyday and covered both ceremonies. By contrast, TyC Sports, Argentina's premier cable sports TV network, aired more than 14 hours daily live from Atlanta from 10am until midnight Buenos Aires time and was more comprehensive with its roster of sports broadcasting most events involving many nations not just Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Something like 240 hours including the Opening Ceremony and pre-OC soccer games

In this compilation of commercials from a February 22, 1988 commercial break during ABC's presentation of the Calgary 1988 ladies' free skate comes one of my favorite Olympic-themed commercials of all time. Surely this commercial was aired all over ABC's broadcast and subsequently on NBC's Seoul coverage later that September. It's a poignant one from Dow Chemical Company coming in at 1:30 featuring Zdravko "Puska" Jezic with a black and white dramatization portrayed by an actor of a 1950s era Olympic medal ceremony anxiously getting awarded his silver medal with his Yugoslavian teammates. Interestingly, we only see he and his Yugoslav team on the podium minus everyone else on it. The Serbian-born Jezic, albeit Croatian by nationality, mentions here how much he wanted to make his nation proud in winning a medal in his sport of water polo, which doesn't get mentioned here and won two silver medals during the 1950s in that sport in Helsinki 1952 and again in Melbourne 1956. Flash forward to 1987-88. Jezic mentions he since became an American citizen working with Dow as a senior projects director "working to help make medical surgeries safer" as part of another worthy team developing polymeric materials at Dow Chemical Company in the United States from 1966 until his 1992 retirement as Dr. Jezic before joining a team photo. He co-authored numerous scientific and technical papers and 13 patents in that time. He received a degree in chemical technology from the University of Zagreb and in 1960 started working for chemical industry. Two years later, he obtained a PhD in organic chemical technology, and then spent a few years as a postdoctoral student at the University of Michigan before coming to Dow. Jezic died in New York on June 19, 2005 at the age of 75 and was posthumously enshrined in the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2010. A print ad version of this Dow 1988 Olympic-themed campaign appeared in magazines like Sports Illustrated. Don't know how he got the nickname Puska: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdCc-Gbloyg

One person we surely know early on will be involved with Seven's Tokyo 2020 coverage is Basil Zempilas, the man who called Steven Bradbury's 1000m gold medal race in short track in Salt Lake City. Australia's first Winter Olympic gold medal. He's stepping down as a popular Weekend Sunrise co-anchor on 7 alongside Monique Wright, commuting every weekend cross-country from Perth to Sydney, after two years to become more of a flexible guest co-host so that Basil will focus more on his Perth media commitments at 6PR's weekday breakfast show with Steve Mills and weeknight sports reports for Seven. Could very well do Olympic basketball and rowing and maybe canoeing/kayak again: https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2019/8/17/sunrise-on-the-hunt-for-new-host-as-basil-zempilas-steps-aside Known for his Japanese NPB baseball TV commentary along with doing some NBA and NFL games utilizing some English in calling home runs, Yuji Kondo will handle equestrian during the Tokyo 2020. Heavily influenced by American TV commentators. Even spent time in Guam playing (American) football and seeing the San Diego Chargers at home before doing that back in Japan leading as a defensive back for Ritsumeikan University to the 1994 national championship. Although we don't know what channel from the Japan Olympic Broadcast Consortium will cover it. Safe to say NHK, however: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2019/08/19/baseball/japanese-baseball/yuji-kondo-continues-chart-path-broadcast-booth/#.XVsxb-hKjcs Once again, Kiwi sports fans will watch the Olympics on SKY Sport NZ and on free-to-air PRIME like this Tokyo 2020 edition. Late last month on the 1-year stage on July 24, they were able to look back at some of NZ's favorite sports moments from Rio 2016 on One Year to Go: Rio 2016 Review that aired on SKY Sport 3 from 8pm and free-to-air on Prime, Saturday July 27 from 7pm NZT: https://www.sky.co.nz/-/one-year-to-go-olympic-games-tokyo-2020

Muhammad Ali could never stop talking about himself as The Greatest and the prettiest...and his mother Odessa Clay is getting annoyed of him saying that all the time with his "big mouth" as she makes him a beef hamburger from since-discontinued Bird's Eye 2 Quarter Pounder set to eat just to make him shut up. A funny commercial here, where she gets to throw back at him from that famous photo of her son, then named Cassius Clay, playfully jabbing her at the kitchen table in their Louisville home when she serves a plate full of juicy and tasty fried chicken. Nice to see them together. Gotta be from the late 1970s: Polish ski jumping 3x Olympic gold medalist star Kamil Stoch sporting 4F athletic gear and sneaker in a stylized brief commercial where he "challenges himself". The Krakow, Poland-based sportswear company 4F is an official partner for the Polish Ski Federation since 2007:

If the ghosts of Tiananmen Square couldn't haunt China effectively enough from being awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics, how will Hong Kong's issues, much less the Uighurs, impact them now when China's now a bonafide international sports power with a lucrative and desirable market at the stage of the time frame? Like Quaker says, all the IOC can do is apply pressure on it while being aware of its serious violations. Can't realistically take the toys away from the Chinese now.

Eurosport's manga-inspired #1YearToGo Tokyo 2020 Olympics promo as Eurosport makes itself known for Tokyo at the 1-year countdown. It plans to air this for much of the next month All "live and on-demand content of the Olympics disciplines will be broadcast via Eurosport’s OTT streaming service, Eurosport Player, and not just on its TV channels. It will also offer real-time digital and social media coverage, including ‘tailor-made’ personalised content for fans, featuring their favourite sports, athletes and experts." Look for a "cutting-edge studio and production technology at the forefront of the coverage" forthcoming in the coming months ahead. With "world-class experts" soon to be announced and that Eurosport Cube is coming back. That One Year To Go Special live from Tokyo many hours to go:

Getting to the one-year countdown mark today and, more officially, tomorrow. So we'll see some news globally forthcoming. Definitely some developments from NBC aggressively milking all that mileage with billions of dollars to spend on its top cash cow with Tokyo and beyond (to 2032)... NBC is going all out with this like from Mike Tirico out in Tokyo, emulating what he did over in Pyeongchang exactly a year from its Opening Ceremony, to Shaun White, Ali Krieger, Eric Kynard, Brighton Zeuner, Laurie Hernandez, Alex Johnson, Naya Tapper, Jordan Borroughs, Helen Maroulis, Ashlyn Harris, Foluke Akinradewo, and David Boudia among the 15 US Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls with the USOPC making numerous appearances across numerous "abundant and diverse" NBCU platforms and shows in New York and Los Angeles. Has the Olympic rings started reappearing under the NBC peacock on TV yet? Always seem like the feeling NBC could do a little more and be clever and stealth with its Tokyo 2020 "ultra-synergetic, cross-platform" promotions like Awful Announcing's Matt Yoder suggests are missing out on: NBC Universal Celebrates One Year Until Tokyo 2020 By Activating Across Its Unmatched Portfolio https://awfulannouncing.com/nbc/nbc-is-going-all-out-to-promote-the-2020-olympics-that-are-only-365-days-away.html NBC Sports just unleashed its 1-minute one-year countdown sports montage promo today with Panic! At The Disco providing the soundtrack set to (aptly) "The Greatest Show" with various US Olympics stars and hopefuls making cameos doing their thing: "training, preparing, and finally competing": https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Tokyo-Olympics-NBC-Teaser-Trailer-Video-46414059 NBC targets a record ad revenue haul of topping $1.2 billion for this Tokyo 2020 adventure surpassing that of Rio's. Said to "carry more than 7000 hours of coverage across broadcast, cable, digital and social platforms" but discussions are still ongoing over what Olympic programming to place on its nascent streaming service ready for 2020. Yet in a rapidly fracturing viewership and serious transitions to changing media consumptions and outlets, American Olympic viewing on TV, while still very strong, has eroded in recent ones. But we can expect many of the top-spending advertisers back on NBC from Rio De Janeiro and Pyeongchang, even bringing aboard some Japanese brands that normally don't heavily advertise in the USA: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/nbcuniversal-expects-more-12b-ad-sales-2020-tokyo-olympics-1226439 https://adage.com/article/media/nbc-eyes-record-ad-sales-haul-2020-olympics/2185576 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-23/nbc-expects-record-2020-olympics-ad-sales-topping-1-2-billion?srnd=pursuits-vp https://www.thewrap.com/2020-tokyo-olympics-ad-sales-nbc/ Down in Australia with the Seven Network, SWM Olympic Director Kevin Burnette says along with Seven and 7Two with 6 additional 7plus curated channels will be available to its signed-in BVOD users with up to 40 live streams of every Olympic sport available from Tokyo on 7plus with a more favorable time zone viewing, Seven offers as part of the SevenWest Media, Olympic integration in cross-platforms with Pacific Magazine, the West Australian newspaper, and 7NEWS.com.au for the Australia Olympic experience. Even the Australian version of the Olympic Channel launches today on 7plus to coincide with this. Australia's most comprehensive and most digital Games event coverage ever that it hopes to bank on huge Aussie viewership to 20 million via broadcast and an additional 5 million online. Like with what NBC did with Rio and Pyeongchang, viewers without a 7plus subscription will only get limited access while those who do will get everything. You can even see Channel Seven's Tokyo wordmark on the TV behind Burnette. Advertisers will be less frequent during the TV coverage and there are plans to utilize the "megawall' approach on the linear side to push those watching over to digital viewing. Expect many of the same commercial partners back for the Seven coverage: http://www.adnews.com.au/news/seven-banks-on-7plus-to-drive-tokyo-olympics-audience https://www.mediaweek.com.au/one-year-until-tokyo-2020-seven-launches-olympic-tv-channel/ https://www.bandt.com.au/media/seven-announces-plans-tokyo-2020 Seven's Tokyo 2020 interactive press kit, says 2500 hours of live competition will be shown: http://inside7.com.au/tokyo-2020 Globo sublicenses the Brazilian TV coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to Band and BandSports with only them and SporTV handling this: https://agenciaolimpica.com.br/marketing-esportivo/9343/bandsports-fecha-acordo-como-globo/ France Televisions will launch its own version of the Olympic Channel come 2020 in time for the 2024 deadline with the next Summer Olympics in Paris looming afterwards. Talks and plans for it are still preliminary at this point: https://www.lequipe.fr/Medias/Actualites/France-televisions-va-lancer-une-nouvelle-chaine-olympique-pour-les-jo-2020/1031254

The Olympic Channel will broadcast a special streaming 25-minute interactive live show celebrating 1 year to go until Tokyo 2020 on July 24 with guest appearances with co-hosts Ash Tulloch and Miki Ando. Live from Tokyo from the Let's 55 (Go, Go) event at the Tokyo International Forum and starts at 7:15 GMT/UTC (3:15 New York time, 8:15 London, 9:15 CEST, 16:15 Tokyo). Very early in the morning for us here in North America! https://www.olympicchannel.com/en/stories/features/detail/olympic-channel-interactive-1yeartogo-tokyo2020-live-show/

Lifelong Snicker fan here. Always enjoy myself some Snickers! So did American skiier Karl Anderson en route to Sarajevo after Lake Placid back in 1984 to offset his "hunger feeling" before going downhill when he pitched for it--and "substantial" Snickers was the official snack food of the 1984 Winter Olympics! Alas, he didn't qualify for Sarajevo after Innsbruck and Lake Placid. Maybe he did this after he retired before 1984: When Sydney, New South Wales, Australia was hosting the 2000 Summer Olympics, Westpac Bank put out a massive promotion towards endorsing and supporting its homegrown athletes it sponsors since 1997 and even beyond. But nothing like almost 20 years ago. Here in this humorous and then-innovative piece, the mothers and sisters of Australian Olympians swimmer Susie O'Neill, marathoner Kylie Risk, gymnast Lisa Skinner, hurdler Kyle Vander Kuyp, weightlifter Damian Brown, and javelin thrower Adrian Hatcher all try in vain at their famous world class family members' sports with great hilarity, all wondering aloud "I don't know how s/he does it". Thus reminding us all their athletes' elite skills: