Durban Sandshark
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Posts posted by Durban Sandshark
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When Patrick Mahomes was asked about what game he was on the wrong side of that still haunts him on Opening Night, he responds the Super Bowl that he wrongfully lost to Shady at the latter's home turf. No excuse to lose to Shady!
ESPN is New Orleans-bound too with its own coverage on multiple platforms, which includes ESPN Australia and New Zealand, ESPN Brazil, and ESPN Latin America covering the game themselves:
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IIHF COUNCIL DOES NOT REINCORPORATE RUSSIA AND BELARUS INTO 2025-26 IIHF CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
This also extends to Russia's and Belarus' club hockey teams in European-wide club tournaments.
But...this extension and exclusion will not be taken lying down...
The IIHF does say it will re-evaluate the ban in May 2026 despite still wishing to have Russia and Belarus returning with open arms as they are missed...but only with the invasion definitely over. But ultimately, the IOC will have the final say over this. Does say here if Russia can't participate in Milan-Cortina 2026 ice hockey competition and remain excluded, France, as the highest-ranked non-Olympic qualifying participant so far, will take over Russia's spot. Will be coinciding when the IOC names its next president as a top agenda.
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Just remembered FOX Sports Digital's contributions to the Super Bowl LIX coverage with FOX Sports NFL writers Henry McKenna and Greg Auman will be on hand contributing in-depth perspectives, available on the FOX Sports app and FOXSports.com, and covering the top players and memorable moments from the week of festivities. Additionally, Dave Helman will be onsite hosting the NFL on Fox Podcast, Chris “Bear” Fallica and Geoff Schwartz will be in the Big Easy for a recording of Bear Bets: A Fox Sports Gambling Show, and Super Bowl champion Keyshawn Johnson with his All Facts, No Breaks:https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/01/28/super-bowl-lix-fox-sports-will-produce-live-five-and-a-half-hour-pre-game-show-from-bourbon-street-set/
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Now back to the commercials we, at least in the USA, would be watching!
Matthew McConaughey narrates and plays the football and food combo again through the century including Super Bowl XX-era Chicago Bears coaching icon Mike Ditka, Vince Lombardi, and Denver Broncos-era Peyton Manning for a hilarious Uber Eats commercial, convinced the NFL was created to promote and sell food (well, not really...) that also stars Greta Gerwig, Kevin Bacon, Charli XCX, and Martha Stewart. Already making the rounds in social media with music from Booker T. & MGs:
Papaya Global workfare goes global and personal whack-a-mole in a "workmare" game "to humorously depict the relentless challenges in global workforce management" centering on international payment with its innovative Super Bowl LIX ad, continuing to showcase its cutting edge payroll and payment solutions:
https://www.superbowl-ads.com/papaya-global-sets-the-stage-with-innovative-super-bowl-ad/
Instacart presents more details as it makes its Super Bowl debut. How it's doing it? By enlisting, as stated earlier, some iconic grocery advertising MVPs like the Kool-Aid Man, the Energizer Bunny, Old Spice Guy Isiah Mustafa, the Green Giant, Cheetos' Chester Cheetah, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Mr. Clean, the Quaker Oats Man, Mountain Dew's Puppy Monkey Baby, and Heinz Weiner Dogs all coming to a home:
Doritos' Crash The Super Bowl contest fan-made winner was announced after the entries was paired down to three, when voters got to select the winner. And--spoiler!--the winning commercial called "Abduction" is one where humans and aliens eventually bond over an enjoyment of Nacho Doritos. Well done commercial done by contestants and friends Dylan Bradshaw and Nate Norell who joined TODAY--and won $1 million. The guy with the Doritos is their friend and actor Matthew Strasner. Nate, also an actor, is the alien:
https://www.superbowl-ads.com/doritos-super-bowl-ad-contest-winner-announced-usa-today/
Little Caesars' Super Bowl LIX commercial apparently will involve Eugene Levy.
Will this latest installment of the DunKings Super Bowl commercials be funny? Latest one has Boston natives (again, leaning into Dunkin' Donuts' Boston founding) and award winners Ben and his brother Casey Affleck with Jeremy Strong inside a bucket filled with beans, owing to his method acting reputation. No Matt Damon in this (maybe?) but hopefully no Shady either:
https://www.superbowl-ads.com/dunkin-super-bowl-lix-2025-ad-the-bean-method/
Heinz's commercials has two mustards coming together, it announced yesterday. We know of one, the Heinz's one, but what about the other? Certainly looks like a rap star.
There's another Uber Eats commercial for this year's Super Bowl. Apparently this will get shown in Australia. This involves Cher having some fun with one of her signature solo songs "If I Could Turn Back Time" and her ever youthful appearance. She ends up in the wrong kind of 80s--the 1680s--thanks to a time machine that she gets from Uber Eats and gets branded as a witch!
https://www.superbowl-ads.com/uber-eats-super-bowl-lix-2025-ad-if-uber-could-turn-back-time/
Former Seattle Seahawks star Marshawn Lynch pitches Dove Care For Men's new body deo spray which takes care of men's sweat and body odor and scent "there" and "everywhere" in men--the "Care That Goes Everywhere, Everywhere":
Google chooses a business from every state for its upcoming Super Bowl commercial that uses Google Workspace with Gemini and AI. Cincinnati's Sweets & Meats BBQ restaurant is one of them:
That Hagen-Dazs commercial got Fast and Furious stars Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez reprising their roles as Dominic "Dom" Toretto and Letty Ortiz, respectively, savoring some Hagen-Dazs each in their hands along enjoying a slow oceanside drive set to the classing "Cruising Together", with Ludacris catching up to them in his jeep.
Featuring sloths, the Coors Light commercial stars many of them having a bad case of the Mondays following the Super Bowl in whatever they're doing in encountering disasters big and small. Just to illustrate how slow Mondays can feel
Seems like Antonio Banderas and someone playing the late Randy "Macho Man" Savage in a Bosch's debut Super Bowl commercial. And with the former successfully opening a pickle jar. And dancing off together in both teasers.
We can now confirm that Hellmann's New York deli with that teaser over a specific sandwich order request from the offscreen woman with mayo "on the side" definitely has Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan reprising their When Harry Met Sally roles in a bid for recent nostalgia for Hellmann's, continuing on its celebrity roster count. Yes, it's parodying her orgasm over enjoying her sandwich with all eyes on them with Sydney Sweeney seated nearby saying the famous line, "I'll have what she's having" that was first uttered by Rob Reiner's actual wife:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX9qfSEKyuc (Full 1-minute version)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/early-super-bowl-commercials-2025/
Shaboozey, from his smash A Bar Song (Tipsy), teams up with Nerds with his own song:
Chris Pratt and Kris Jenner return to Super Bowl commercials with Chris Hemsworth joining them as all three take on the art world over eaten banana art for Ray-Ban Meta Glasses. Having a little fun with the famously bizarre $6 million taped banana art piece:
There hasn't been any news of a lot of movies TV spot yet. Although we do have Marvel's Captain America: Brave New World so far
Back on the broadcasting side of things here for now
FOX Sports will present 5 1/2 hours live of pregame Super Bowl LIX coverage leading up to the Super Bowl proper from its Bourbon Street's set. There will be a week of Super Bowl coverage on FOX that includes The Road To The Super Bowl and, unfortunately, Bill Belichek hopping aboard John Madden's famed bus, Global Rise of Flag Football doc, a Super Bowl Soulful Celebration concert, NFL Honors, FS1's Opening Night and its regular programs being at the Super Bowl sets in New Orleans starting Thursday.
FOX Deportes logged the three highest-rated US Spanish-language cable telecasts in Super Bowl history and four of the top five. Its Super Bowl LIX on-air team is led by award-winning host/reporter Rodolfo Landeros as sideline reporter, renowned play-by-play announcer Adrian Garcia-Marquez, and analysts Jessi Losada and Jaime Motta, bringing and calling the action at 5:30pm US/Canada/Mexico CT. FOX Deportes will offer nine hours of live Super Bowl Sunday coverage: Camino al Super Bowl (11am); El Entretiempo, with host Claudia Garica Muñoz (12 pm); Total Sports 360 Especial (2 p.m.); and, beginning at 2:00 pm, a pregame show live from the Superdome with host Rodolfo Landeros and analysts Jaime Motta and Jessi Losada. Postgame show comes in at 9pm following the whistle.
Throughout the week, FOX Deportes will present extensive coverage live from New Orleans, beginning Monday, Feb. 3, with a special three-hour program from Super Bowl Opening Night. The week’s programming comprises special editions of the broadcaster’s trademark NFL program, NFLEros, as well as Total Sports 360 and popular roundtable sports-talk show El Entretiempo:
On October 14, 2024, it was announced that both Fox Deportes and Telemundo would air separate Spanish-language Super Bowl TV feeds of the game for the first time, which in itself make it interesting from the Spanish side of things since both are on cable and FOX and NBC/Comcast are indeed separate media entities. As more attention is being paid to the US Spanish portion of the Super Bowl broadcasts with its own ad rates rising. FOX Deportes was the first air Spanish Super Bowl broadcasts exactly a decade ago, now in its 5th overall. Telemundo's first in 2022. Like to know about both of their Super Bowl commercial plans in the works:
https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/fox-deportes-telemundo-super-bowl-lix-spanish-language-1236176931/
Here's how Telemundo is laying out its extensive Super Bowl LIX coverage plans, headlined by its NFL commentary team, featuring Emmy Award-winning play-by-play announcer Miguel Gurwitz and Emmy-nominated color analyst and former Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman Rolando Cantú, will spearhead on-the-ground coverage. They will be joined by a team of network reporters and journalists, including Julio Vaqueiro and Jessica Carrillo:
As cross-promotion leading up to the game, the Fox series Kitchen Nightmares began airing special Road to Super Bowl LIX episodes in January 2025 as the first half of its ninth season, which focus on restaurants in New Orleans and feature guest appearances by NFL players and personalities.
During Super Bowl weekend, Fox is scheduling broadcast television airings of Fox Sports 1's studio lineup on the Friday prior to the game, including First Things First and The Herd with Colin Cowherd.
During their pregame show on Super Bowl Sunday, Fox will air an interview of U.S. President Donald Trump conducted by Fox News anchor Bret Baier, taped Mar-A-Lago, Florida, resuming a tradition of Super Bowl presidential interviews that had been put on hold during Joe Biden's administration. It's now being reported that Trump himself will be in attendance at the Caesars Superdome for the Super Bowl LIX, becoming the first sitting president to attend one, just like he did when he appeared at the 2018 College Football National Championship also held in New Orleans
The season 3 premiere of Fox's game show The Floor will air immediately following the game.
On January 15, 2025, Fox announced that Super Bowl LIX will stream on Tubi, Fox Corporation's free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platform, for the first time; this returns the game to free Internet television without a paywall or TV Everywhere requirement for the first time since Super Bowl LV (Super Bowl LVI had been available free on small screen devices). Tubi will also stream a digital-exclusive pre-game show hosted by model/actress Olivia Culpo—Tubi Red Carpet at Super Bowl LIX—which will focus on pop culture topics relating to the game like "celebrity, fashion, and culture", of which Shopsense AI is a presenting sponsor and partner. Culpo is wife to San Francisco 49ERS running back Christian McCaffrey:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/2025-super-bowl-stream-free-tubi-fox-1236109754/
Super Bowl LIX's Canadian broadcast rights are still owned by Bell Media and will be televised in English on TSN and CTV, but subject to simultaneous substitution; RDS will carry the French broadcast of the game. Additionally, the game will be streamed on TSN+ and DAZN. It will adopt the FOX feed from the USA, like it takes the feed of whoever holds the rotational US TV Super Bowl rights that year. Following is CTV/TSN/RDS' Super Bowl LIX TV programming schedule starting Wednesday. CTV's follow up from the Super Bowl LIX post-game will be Rescue: Hi-Surf at 9pm Canada/USA/Mexico CT:
https://www.tsn.ca/super-bowl-lix-week-programming-on-tsn-and-ctv-1.2246433
Westwood One Sports hasn't as yet announced its Spanish language radio Super Bowl broadcasters.
In Brazil, the game will be televised by ESPN and RedeTV! and its streaming and on-demand platforms Disney+ in Portuguese (with English SAP) and NFL Game Pass on DAZN in English.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the game will be televised on premium channels Sky Sports NFL, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Mix, Sky Showcase, and Sky's on-demand and streaming service Now. Additionally in the United Kingdom, the game will be televised on the free-to-air channels ITV1 (England, Wales, and ITV border region in Scotland), STV(Scotland), and UTV (Northern Ireland), and streaming services ITVX and STV Player. It will be carried on radio via talkSPORT, BBC Sport Online, BBC Radio 5 Live, and BBC Sounds. Additionally, in Ireland, the game will be televised on channels Virgin Media One, Virgin Media Two, and on streaming service Virgin Media Play. Also will be carried on radio via RTÉ Radio 1.
Throughout Latin America areas not named Brazil, the game will be televised by ESPN and its streaming and on-demand platform Disney+.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein will have the game will be televised by RTL Group (RTL, Nitro)
In France, Andorra, Monaco, and some French Overseas Territories, the game will be televised on M6 and beIN Sports. At 12:30am/0:30 France time live. The NFL and Bitpanda are also organizing a Super Bowl party at the Grand Rex, in Paris. This unique event promises to immerse French NFL fans and the most curious in a 100% American atmosphere. Before kickoff, Lukas Nicot and Peter Anderson will host the pre-game with captivating presentations mixing quizzes, games and the history of American football and the league before showing the Super Bowl game in its entirety:
For the former Yugoslavian republics Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia, the game will be televised by Arena Sport.
In Denmark, the game will be televised by TV 2.
VGTV will have it again televised there in Norway
In Sweden and Finland, the game will be televised by a channel within the TV4-sphere and its streaming service TV4 Play (previously known as C More).
In Greece, the game will be televised by Cosmote.
In Cyprus, the game will be televised by Cytavision.
In Turkey, the game will be televised by S Sport.
Australian viewer fans of the NFL and Super Bowl LIX will have it televised by the Seven Network, its sister channel 7mate, and the on-demand platform 7+. It will also be shown on ESPN, Kayo Sports, and NFL Game Pass on DAZN. 7 too, like with Canada's CTV/TSN, will utilize the American FOX feed with its sportscasters. Seven’s live, free and exclusive coverage kicks off on Monday February 10 from 9:00am AEDT on 7mate and 7plus Sport, with a special Super Bowl preview from the NFL Armchair Experts. For Aussies, starting at 10:00am AEDT on Seven and 7plus Sport, there's a special interest here in that former NRL player-turned Eagles star Jordan Mailata, following in the footsteps of another NRL star who dabbled with the NFL in Jerryd Haynes, could create sporting history by becoming the first Australian to play for a winning Super Bowl team. He's been here before at this stage two years ago and fell short. He's trying again now.
Super Bowl XLIII star Ben Graham — the first Australian to ever play in a Super Bowl – will be live from New Orleans alongside Seven’s Cam Luke, from 9:00am AEDT, with NFL Armchair Experts, both in prime time and pre-Super Bowl editions that will also include a Roger Goodell interview for the Friday primetime one, in providing an Australian perspective. 7 Sunrise will have unprecedented access inside Caesars Superdome with 7NEWS US Correspondent Mylee Hogan live from 5:30am AEDT, giving viewers a front seat to all the pre-match colo(u)r and hype. Fans wanting more will be spoiled for choice from 11.45am AEDT, Friday 7 February on 7mate, when NFL: Road To The Super Bowl will look back on the season that was, before the game’s best players are recognised live, at the NFL Honors, from 1.00pm AEDT. Then join the NFL Armchair Experts for their prime time special from New Orleans at 11.00pm AEDT, Friday 7 February on 7mate and 7plus Sport. They will be joined by special guest, NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell:
https://www.tvcentral.com.au/sports/nfl/aussie-brings-star-power-to-super-bowl/
Seven Network's report on Bankstown native (that's located in the Sydney area on the western side) Jordan Mailata's return to the Super Bowl and hoping to make history as the first Australian to win it. Proud to rep Australia and his Samoan heritage. With the NFL coming to the MCG next year, many Australian eyes will be hoping for history. Reported by Mylee Hogan, who is in New Orleans to cover the event and was at Opening Night!
In New Zealand, the game will be televised on TVNZ 1 and its streaming and on-demand platform TVNZ+, as well as ESPN through Sky Sport and NFL Game Pass on DAZN. Super Bowl LIX is included in TVNZ+ promo for its blockbuster February sports with Tall Blacks FIBA Asian Basketball Qualifiers, United Rugby Championship, the Red Bull Trolley Derby, the Napier World Cup Triathlon, Crankworx Summer Series, and the Trackside Premiere--all live and free! Will be shown live at 12pm NZT on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+
https://www.instagram.com/tvnz.official/reel/DFovbUGM4NG/
In Japan, the game will be televised by Nippon TV's sister channel Nittele G+ and NFL Game Pass on DAZN.
In the Indian subcontinent, the game will be televised by Star Sports and streaming service Disney+ Hotstar.
In South Korea, the game will be televised by Coupang Play and NFL Game Pass on DAZN.
In Taiwan, the game will be televised by ELTA Sports, which they handled the coverage for the Chunghwa Telecom MOD platform since the 2023 season.
In Thailand, the game will be televised by TrueVisions.
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The Super Bowl LIX painted field design now up at the Ceasers Superdome and ready starting today for the Media Day with both teams now having touched down in New Orleans for this entire week. Nearly identical to the Super Bowl LVII's playing field except that this time it's played on turf.
Philadelphia, occupying the stadium's west sideline and being the designated home team here, had a midnight green end zone in three of its four previous Super Bowl appearances, including a deserved win over the Evil Empire New England in Minneapolis' LII and losses to them in XXXIX and Chiefs in LVII, as well as a gray background in a loss to the Oakland Raiders in XV. And will do so again here. Its end zone lies on the Superdome's south side.
Kansas City, meanwhile on the north sideline with the team being at the east side, has used a gold end zone in all six of its previous Super Bowl appearances, including this exact design in wins over the San Francisco 49ers in LIV and LVIII and the Eagles in LVII, also including a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in LV.
Kansas City's and Philadelphia's Super Bowl LIX uniforms are unveiled. Same unis from the match in Glendale, Arizona. Odds are good if you're a white-clad team in recent Super Bowls that you'll win. Like 16 of the most recent 23 Super Bowls. Not so much with Philadelphia, who is sticking with its home midnight green unis that it always wear despite being 1-3 in Super Bowls. Although the Eagles will always cherish that great win in Minneapolis over evil and oppression. Team sporting white in New Orleans are 7-3 coming into this with wins in Super Bowls VI, IX, XII, XV, XX, XXIV and XLVII, with the Eagles losing Super Bowl XV in their home green look:
Super Bowl LIX will feature seven officials, a replay official, a replay assistant, and eight alternate officials. The numbers in parentheses below indicate their uniform numbers.
Game officials:
Referee: Ronald Torbert (62)
Umpire: Mike Morton (89)
Down judge: Max Causey (21)
Line judge: Mark Stewart (75)
Field judge: Mearl Robinson (31)
Side judge: Boris Cheek (41)
Back judge: Jonah Monroe (120)
Replay official: Kevin Brown
Replay assistant: NFL Front Office
Alternate officials:
Referee: Carl Cheffers (51)
Umpire: Duane Heydt (42)
Down judge: Dana McKenzie (8)
Line judge: Julian Mapp (10)
Field judge: Anthony Flemming (90)
Side judge: Chad Hill (125)
Back judge: Greg Yette (38)
Replay official: Matt Sumstine
This marks the second time Torbert has served as a referee for a Super Bowl, as he also did so in Super Bowl LVI. Morton will be the second official to work a Super Bowl after participating in one as a player (joining Terry Killens in Super Bowl LVIII), and the first to do so after winning a Super Bowl. Morton won Super Bowl XXXIV as a linebacker with the St. Louis Rams.
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So now we got the return/revenge matchup from two years ago with Kansas City and Philadelphia back at it. This time in the Big Easy deep in the Bayou.
Not unexpectedly with Westwood One as it holds the USA national radio rights to the game, the premiere broadcast crew of Kevin Harlan, Kurt Warner, Laura Okmin, and Gene Steratore will be on the call.
On January 15, 2025, Fox announced that Super Bowl LIX will stream on Tubi, Fox Corporation's free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platform, for the first time; this returns the game to free Internet television without a paywall or TV Everywhere requirement for the first time since Super Bowl LV (Super Bowl LVI had been available free on small screen devices). Tubi will also stream a digital-exclusive pre-game show hosted by Olivia Culpo—Tubi Red Carpet at Super Bowl LIX—which will focus on pop culture topics relating to the game. All on the streaming side
Wasn't just State Farm who pulled out Super Bowl advertising due to the Los Angeles wildfires. Other have done so too because of this. But with that, FOX raises the Super Bowl LIX advertising rates in increased demand for newly available to now $8 million. And with that...
QuoteThirty seconds of ad time in Fox’s late pre-game coverage have gone for as much as $4.5 million, according to one of the people familiar with the matter, comparted with $2 million in the past. A 30-second ad in Fox’s post-game coverage might go for around $4 million, this person said, compared with between $2.5 million and $3 million in the past.
https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2025/super-bowl-ad-prices-8-million-fox-1234825796/
On November 28, 2024, the NFL announced that Jon Batiste would perform the U.S. national anthem, Trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle would perform "America the Beautiful", and Ledisi would perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing". Stephanie Nogueras would provide ASL for the national anthem and "America the Beautiful", while Otis Jones IV would sign for "Lift Every Voice and Sing". Earlier this week, rapper Kendrick Lamar SZA will also perform at the halftime show along with him, who was notified by the league not to perform his recent Drake diss track hit "Not Like Us"
https://www.nfl.com/news/super-bowl-lix-pregame-entertainment-announced-jon-batiste-national-anthem
Ronald Torbert is Super Bowl LIX's referee
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On 1/28/2025 at 5:25 AM, SportLightning said:
The logo of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qatar 2027 has been unveiled along with the slogan: "Step It Up". The logo is inspired by a bisht, a traditional garment the men wear in Qatar and forms the Naismith Trophy.
Nice logo for it. The bisht shown here certainly immediately reminds us of the one Lionel Messi got to happily wear from the host organizers during the trophy presentation/awards ceremony right before getting his hands on the World Cup trophy for Argentina in Lusail!
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Very horrible news indeed.
The Boston Skate Club president, visibly moved from the tragedy, made allusions about the 1961 air crash saying it was just now coming out of that very shadow. And now this sadly happened and how this will be felt in US figure skating for a very long time as a legacy moment. Also, it's very cold in the Potomac waters right now
RIP to everyone who lost their lives and prayers for their families. Vadim's and Evegina's son Maxim must be devastated right now he lost his parents.
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Poland, The Netherlands, and Slovakia all won their respective groups to advance for this February:
https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/ogqp3e/news/64872/dutch_delight_in_ot
https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/ogqp3d/news/64874/slovaks_make_final_round
https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2025/ogqp3f/news/64869/japan_next_up_for_poland
In less than a week, we will see the final qualifications for the IIHF Women's World Ice Hockey Qualification Tournaments February 6-9. Top teams in each of the three round robin groups will directly qualify for Milan-Cortina next year with maybe the best team overall in these groups, or best IIHF ranking, joining assuming Russia won't be permitted to take part. Note how the each group's participants are competing like they're in (mostly) regional tourneys. My picks are early for right now, but I think top-level international experience and pedigree will matter in terms of who will qualify
Tomakomai, Japan GROUP G: Japan, France, Poland, China
Gavle, Sweden GROUP H: Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway
Bremerhaven, Germany GROUP I: Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia
I think the hosts in Sweden and Germany will advance despite Denmark rising like after its Beijing qualification and debut there. Austria and/or Slovakia may shock but Germany not just possess the big-time international/Olympic pedigree and experience but also better team depth. Not to mention motivation after missing out last time. For the Japan group, however, I'm thinking France will advance, although Japan won't be surprising. If Russia can't go--and I seriously think the Russians won't this time!--Japan will take that spot as the top Asian women's hockey team.
Would've been nice if Team GB made it out of their own hosting tournament in Sheffield. But they lost in an overtime heartbreaker to the Dutch to end things. Would they have advanced in Gavle, Sweden? Probably not since Great Britain doesn't have the pedigree and head-to-head talent against its group mates Sweden and Denmark. But it would certainly send a serious message that British women can do more team sports than just soccer, basketball, and even curling. Hopefully we'll see them in the near future as close to the Winter Olympics as possible. There are some promising young British U18 players that just won gold in the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship Division II Group A in Riga, Latvia.
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Netflix returns to the Olympic basketball well right off the heels of the Beijing 2008 Team USA one with the 6-part Paris 2024 basketball docuseries Court of Gold, centering on 4 men's teams--USA, hosts France, Canada, and Serbia with usual material we expect from docs like this like behind-the-scene footage and interviews through their exploits in Paris as the drama unfolds ultimately towards that incredible gold medal final between France and USA in one of the most historic and competitive Olympic men's basketball tournaments ever. Why wasn't Australia selected for this? Did Basketball Australia refuse? Comes February 18.
If there's one flaw on this, it's that there's no involvement on the women's teams, and that certainly had its moments:
https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/olympic-mens-basketball-doc-series-release-date-trailer-news
"Is chemistry gonna help you when you gotta guard Steph?" 😁😃
Also, ESPN released this past June 11 a doc on the erroneous 1990 positive test controversy, the subsequent IAAF suspension, and its legacy on Akron sprinter Butch Reynolds, who only medaled in the Seoul 1988 Olympics as far as the Games are concerned and NEVER used the drug, in putting his life together even after his upended track career. Entitled "False Positive", as it delves into Reynolds' endless pursuit to clear his name, it also "reveals systemic flaws within sports governance and the enduring impact of false accusations on an athlete’s legacy"...as "the real truth is found beyond the headlines. And it’s that truth that ultimately defines who a person really is." Directed by Kent State University Africana Studies professor Ismail Al-Amin:
https://awfulannouncing.com/films/espn-30-for-30-butch-reynolds.html
https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/espn-films-30-for-30-summer-slate-1235997853/
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Now we're going to get where we wanna talk about: The Super Bowl LIX Commercials!
Here's what we know about them so far. Costs $7 million for a 30-second spot now. Plenty of them--although not all--already have teasers as I write this...
-Coors Light returns for its third consecutive Super Bowl game urging drinker to "Choose Chill"
-Nerds, Doritos with its $1 million winner Crash The Super Bowl 30-second spot, Skechers, Dove with its concerns over nearly half of girls dropping out of sports by age 14, Tubi, Jeep (after a year away), Mountain Dew (with maybe a new flavor?), the NFL with creative partners 72andSunny (possibly extending the NFL's internationalism from last year's spot), TurboTax (with its Now This Is Taxes campaign), DoorDash (spotlighting DashPass), Booking.com, Reese's (with references over lava), WeatherTech, Stella Artois, Squarespace, Pringles (with mustachioed cans and James Harden, Adam Brody, and Nick Offerman), Michelob Ultra (starring Willem Dafoe and Catherine O'Hara along with Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser and fellow gold medalist and WNBA champion for the New York Liberty Sabrina Ionescu, along with NFL legend Randy Moss at the tennis court), Little Caesar's, Hellmann's (set at NYC's Katz's Deli with possibly a famous When Harry Met Sally reference maybe with Meg Ryan as the brand taps into nostalgia) will also return
-Ritz enters the Super Bowl for the first time, with a 30-second spot by The Martin Agency, director Jake Szymanski (Funny or Die, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates), and production companies Gifted Youth and PXP in an attempt to lure younger consumers to the crackers in a fresh look with paid, retail, and social media advertising.
-General Mils' Totino's Pizza Rolls will also make its Super Bowl debut--why didn't it do so already considering all the pizza consumption during this day?--likely involving Pete Davidson taking on Big Pizza that's going on right now during the NFL playoffs and driving up Totino's biggest sales. It's also Minneapolis-based General Mills return in over a decade
-NerdWallet also makes its debut centering on Future You
-Bosch, a German engineering and technology firm, will also make its debut, as announced at the CES weeks ago in Las Vegas. Hagen-Dazs, MSC Cruises (starring Drew Barrymore singing Madonna's "Holiday" and Orlando Bloom), Coffee Mate for its high-profile Coffee Foam debut, Instacart (centering on kids creating a Super Bowl halftime show for their parents called Kazoo and another one involving former NFL player turned shirtless Old Spice pitchman/actor Isiah Mustafa, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Snickers' white horse, and the Heinz Weinerdog), and Duracell will all bow in as well for the first time with the latter introducing the Duracell Scientist as the first character for the brand in 36 years
-NYX, which ran the controversial Duck Plump "Lips Only" commercial starring Cardi B. and a bunch of goofy guys that ran afoul with the NFL on the latter's hypocrisy, and mandating a neutered version, is opting to air one. Kia also opts out for only the second time in the last 16 Super Bowls as are most of its auto competitors right now like GM
-Rocket Cos returns after two years away as part of its rebrand refresh and steer clear from humor and celebs with community-driven storytelling with its approach
-Budweiser's famed Clydesdales are involved in another Super Bowl commercial--it wouldn't be complete in a Super Bowl without celebrating them--apparently set to the 1976 Bellamy Brothers' hit “Let Your Love Flow.” and directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and Emmy Award-winning commercial director, Henry Alex Rubin (Girl Interrupted) and centering on a foal being left behind and tries to join them.
-Taco Bell comes back after three years away again with a photobombing Doja Cat this time focusing on a Live Mas Drive Thru Cam for its superfans--and other "fun faces" appearing
-Reggie Bush teams up in Frito Lay's Taste of The Super Bowl with Tostitos
-Speaking of Lay's, it takes its Canadian-ness center stage with its new (to us Americans) Dressed Up flavor, one that's deeply cherished up there. Already seen it and taste it. Enjoyed it
-Avocados From Mexico presents an AI-generated deepfake Rod Gronkowski fans can talk to in its innovative twist towards its groundbreaking marketing campaign
-FanDuel drafts Payton and Eli Manning
-GoDaddy makes its comeback after 8 years away promoting its new AIro AI tool and stars actor Walter Goggins
-State Farm planned to have one for this Super Bowl but canceled because of the Los Angeles/Southern California wildfires devastating homes and properties and lives to focus on serving its 8 million California customers
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/super-bowl-59-ad-tracker-watch-all-commercials-2025/
https://www.superbowl-ads.com/
More details continue to emerge as we watch the final four NFL teams remaining on the road to New Orleans. Much too bad Detroit can't make it.
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Actually Ohio St. is 13-1
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So it's now come to this come Monday night. #7 seed and FBS independent Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-1) facing #8 seed Ohio St. Buckeyes (10-2) from the Big Ten down at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Dome on MLK Day, which certainly has immense significance as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born, raised, preached, and worked toward racial equality in America there in the ATL. It's the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T, scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm US/Canada/Mexico CST and will be televised nationally by ESPN and sponsored by telecommunications company AT&T. Not to mention being also on Donald J. Trump's second inauguration day, now held indoors for the first time in exactly 40 years at the US Congress Rotunda at Capitol Hill, because of the deep bone chilling cold in Washington, DC. It's the 10th meeting overall between the two. The Buckeyes will be making their first national championship game appearance since the 2020 season, where they lost to Alabama, as well as their eighth all-time national championship game appearance (1969, 1973, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2021). They also seek their first national championship since the inaugural CFP in 2014. For Notre Dame, this will be the fifth FBS championship game appearance for the Fighting Irish (1966, 1973, 1989, 2013) and the first since the introduction of the CFP. Their last appearance was the 2013 BCS National Championship Game, which they lost to Alabama 42–14, however it was vacated due to NCAA sanctions. Overall in their football program's history, Notre Dame claims 11 prior national championships, spanning 1924 to 1988.
Making the significance even further is Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame's head coach, being the first black (and possibly also the first Asian since his mother is Korean) head coach to appear in national championship football game and only ND's second black head coach in its history after Tyrone Willingham. Played at Ohio St. during 2004-2008. Was drafted into the NFL 2009 by Chicago but never played a regular season game despite being signed by Chicago, Buffalo, and Houston. Ohio St. is led by Ryan Day and leads a stellar team that's favored to win. Does ND have the defense and offense to counter the Buckeyes' firepower on both ends?
For ESPN, it's Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Holly Rowe and Molly McGrath (sidelines). SEC Referee Steve Marlowe is confirmed for the national championship as head ref. Coco Jones with Adam Blackstone will perform the national anthem.
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Never too early to discuss the upcoming Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, although we're at the NFL Divisional Playoff stage this upcoming weekend!
It's FOX's turn this year to cover it this time as part of the new rotation on the US English side with NBC's Telemundo and FOX Deportes (on cable there) providing the US Spanish language presentation. FOX will have its premier team of Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play), Shady 😠 (analyst), Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi (sidelines), and Mike Pereira (rules expert). Streaming this year will be on both Tubi and NFL+. Westwood One Sports will offer the live radio coverage in both English and Spanish. CTV with its Bell Media sister sports cable channels TSN and RDS will once again have the Canadian coverage of this on English and French, respectively.
We know that Kendrick Lamar is the halftime entertainment with John Batiste will sing the Star Spangled Banner.
We'll get more into it--like, of course, the Super Bowl LIX commercials--next time.
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Gonna cut and paste this for this edition from Wikipedia. Don't have a lot of time to do this further right now. Will catch up with more info later on, hopefully tomorrow. Been a very exciting college football season so far:
Should be noted about that there's a Pac–12 legacy selection: Team played in the Pac-12 conference in 2023 and their bowl conference tie-in is based on that.
Here's the results so far from the 12-team well underway 2024-25 college football postseason playoffs with things resuming on New Year's Day 2025 on Wednesday with all those traditional bowl games:
First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship Jan 1 – Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl Dec 21 – Ohio Stadium 1 Oregon Jan 10 – Cotton Bowl Classic, AT&T Stadium 8 Ohio State 42 8 Ohio State 9 Tennessee 17 Jan 1 – Peach Bowl, Mercedes-Benz Stadium Dec 21 – DKR–Texas Memorial Stadium 4 Arizona State Jan 20 – Mercedes-Benz Stadium 5 Texas 38 5 Texas 12 Clemson 24 Jan 1 – Sugar Bowl, Caesars Superdome Dec 20 – Notre Dame Stadium 2 Georgia Jan 9 – Orange Bowl, Hard Rock Stadium 7 Notre Dame 27 7 Notre Dame 10 Indiana 17 Dec 31 – Fiesta Bowl, State Farm Stadium Dec 21 – Beaver Stadium 3 Boise State 6 Penn State 38 6 Penn State 11 SMU 10 -
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Finland's Olympians came to Paris with some hopes of attaining medals this past summer. But Finland left Paris empty handed for its athletes for the first time ever, and there will be changes afterward from this disappointment. Despite this, regarding Finnish national broadcaster YLE:
QuoteThe Paris Summer Olympics, which ended on Sunday, reached a total of over 4.3 million Finns on Yle's channels.
A total of 266 hours of TV broadcasts were produced from the Games, 747 hours of broadcasts on Yle Areena and 133 hours on Yle Radio Suomen Olympiaradio. In addition, content was published on Yle's website and in the Yle app.
Olympic content was watched on Yle's online services on over five million different browsers. The videos were played over 37 million times. Over 60,000 Finns took part in the Olympic Nut Game.
Joose Palonen, Head of Yle Sports and Chief Producer of the Paris Games, says that bringing the Olympic Games to Finns is at the core of Yle's public service mission.
– The world's largest event attracted huge audiences both here and around the world. We reached over two million Finns on television on the tenth day of the competition, and in addition, we reached new records on Yle Areena and online.
A total of 23 broadcasts reached over a million viewers on Yle TV2. The highest average viewership of 1.3 million was the athletics broadcast on the evening of August 8, which culminated in the men's javelin final.
Palonen says that the Olympics have offered Finns inspiring experiences and shared experiences.
– The Paris Olympics were a fantastic event, which many described as the best games ever in terms of atmosphere and setting. Thanks to Yle's Olympic team, which succeeded in serving the audience excellently.
The next Olympic Games are two years away, the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Yle has the broadcasting rights to the Olympic Games for the years 2026–2032. The agreement with the International Olympic Committee covers all media rights, and as a result, ice hockey, aquatics and basketball from the Olympic Games will return to Yle's channels from 2026 onwards.
And this was how YLE managed to produce and harness its massive Paris 2024 project on its multiple channels and platforms without basketball and the swimming events that TV5/Eurosport Finland had (but got those on YLE Radio). As you would expect, the Finns were granted great priority as well as the major Olympic developments, highlights, and sports of the day and be international about it and going behind-the-scenes. Both in Paris and the Helsinki suburb Pasila with a special working relationship and togetherness, bringing the passion:
https://yle.fi/aihe/a/20-10006913
Telemundo Deportes brought a cutting edge state-of-the-art virtual studio using Unreal Engine 5.3 and other technology for Paris, while still actually based in Miami, considering that prime real estate for a Paris studio was a luxury while still showcasing the iconic Paris landmarks in providing exceptional coverage. We could see this groundbreaking move become more commonplace for non-big budgeted Olympic rights holders in future years:
Didn't take long for SKY NZ, or any broadcaster for that matter, to make a mistake once the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics began. SKY NZ's Tim Evans interviewed the wrong swimmer following the men's 100 freestyle heat on day four with initially and actually talking to Israel's Tomer Frankel going through the race and mis-ID'ing him with the Cameron Gray graphic before throwing to the real New Zealander Cameron Gray moments later after SKY, back in Auckland with studio host Laura McGoldrick, realized the mistaken identity. Neither swimmer from that very heat, in case you're wondering, advanced to the semifinal. Forgiven with 12 channels and 32 Olympic sports to cover. We'll return to SKY NZ early next year:
Belgium's Flemish community really turned out for VRT/Sporza's 730-hour Paris 2024 coverage on VRT 1/Een/CANVAS with 1,750,000 people, practically a fourth of the Flemish population, watching on TV every day, overall 4,223,000, with an average of 463,000 digital viewers on Sporza's and VRT MAX's 4 livestreams as it followed every Belgian Olympian in Paris. Radio 1/MNM/Radio 2/VRT NWS also got huge listener numbers.
Highlights for viewership include the semi-final of the Belgian Cats basketball versus France had slightly more viewers at peak time than the final of Remco Evenepoel's golden road race.
QuoteBut viewers also quickly found their way to our online channels and live streams, especially when Belgians were in action. An average of 463,000 people watched the 4 live streams via Sporza (294,000) and VRT MAX (169,000) every day. In total, 6.32 million hours were watched digitally. The peak day for the live streams was 9 August with 749,000 unique viewers. With the semi-final of the Belgian Cats, the bronze for Sarah Chaäri in taekwondo, the lost match for bronze by the Red Panthers in hockey and the double medal in the heptathlon, there was a lot to experience for the Belgians that day. The absolute peak in peak moment was during the final of the men's road race: 143,000 people watched Remco win gold via live stream. The top 5 peak moments are completed by the women's road race (111,000), the Belgian Cats versus France (107,000), the Belgian Cats versus Spain (95,000) and the men's time trial (87,000).
On the digital side with the Sporza app and website...
QuoteRemco Evenepoel's golden road race was viewed the most with 2.95 million, and also the most this year. Other articles that had more than 1 million views during the Olympic Games: the heptathlon (the first day had 1.86 million views and the second had 2.07 million), the women's road race (1.53 million), Matthias Casse in judo (1.3 million) and the men's time trial (1.21 million).
Also displayed some innovations with its multifunctional studio set with extra effort on commentary and VRT1/Een offering subtitles for its 245-hour coverage:
ZDF's and ARD's traditionally and usually shared German Olympic TV coverage this time with Paris 2024 was a major success. 7.78 million viewers watched the closing ceremony on Sunday, August 11, 2024 on ZDF as the most watched Paris 2024 event. The market share for the three-hour broadcast was 40.5 percent. Overall, ZDF's live broadcasts of the 2024 Summer Olympics were watched by an average of 3.37 million viewers, with a market share of 30.1 percent. In total, ARD and ZDF reached 53.4 million viewers with their television broadcasts. ZDF alone reached 52 percent of all potential viewers with its Olympic coverage on German television. The diverse Olympic offerings on the digital platforms were also a great success. Out of ZDF's 122 hours of the Paris 2024 TV broadcasting portion,
Quotecompetitions in athletics, swimming, handball, basketball, and women's football in particular achieved viewing figures of over six million. The top three most successful "Sportstudio Live" broadcasts from the Olympics were table tennis on August 5, 2024 with 7.56 million viewers, with a market share of 31.5 percent, a summary of the modern pentathlon with 7.43 million viewers, with a market share of 34.9 percent, and the women's basketball 3x3 final between Germany and Spain with 7.40 million viewers, with a market share of 35.0 percent.
ZDFmediathek saw an increase in Summer Olympic viewership for Paris 2024, up an average 62% from Tokyo 2020. Event livestreams would have a total of 77.79 million views with a usage time of 22.19 million hours. That's an increase in views of 190 percent compared to Tokyo 2021. The most successful event livestream is the 2nd day of competition on July 28, 2024 with 2.05 million views, followed by the 4th day of competition on July 30, 2024 with 1.84 million views. The 14th day of competition on August 9, 2024 ranks in third place with 1.79 million views. ZDF News and Sports saw an online increase of 109% from Tokyo 2020. We'll get to ARD and Eurosport Germany and more ZDF in the new year:
https://presseportal.zdf.de/pressemitteilung/bilanz
This will be it from me for 2024. But certainly more, as will some developments on Milan-Cortina, will come in the new year...
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Back on this to #1 help complete this Summer Olympic year and #2 get this back rolling with the holidays going on. In celebration of the Brazilian soccer great and genius Marta winning the NWSL trophy with the Orlando Pride several weeks ago and getting silver over in Paris, and she should've appeared here on this thread many, many times ago already, I am presenting Marta's commercial with help of Avon Brazil in discussing the seven commandments of women's soccer and how the public, certainly not limited to the media, should approach them in relation to women--with very worthy messages she sends out here. Breaking paradigms and achieving major breakthrough results. These actually also apply to any women's sports, and, as we experience boom times in them here in the USA and internationally in having a worthy moment with interest and investment rising--too numerous to mention here--it's worth reminding ourselves that this didn't happen overnight. This took multiple decades and false dawns and changing attitudes over the years and fertile grounds from the grassroots and multiple waves and seemingly fleeting moments for this to happen with the #veiopraficar (#heretostay) campaign. Don't worry these come equipped with built-in English subtitles when she speaks
Donovan Bailey's back on this thread. A little odd, this one, with this Donovan Bailey 1999 Maple Leaf all-beef hot dog Canadian TV commercial. Proudly proclaiming that it's all-beef in one of his numerous post 1996 gold medal endorsements:
When car manufacturers were handling and selling the 1984 Olympics. Boy, do they ever. First, a very cool Subaru ad, highlighting its sponsorship of the US Olympic Ski Team (and showing their off-road prowess), particularly during their off-season training through the grass, hills, lakes, and puddles. Second, starting at 0:36, a couple Buick ads for their new Electra, highlighting their testing in Australia and Germany. Nice to see the hawk perching on the Buick wordmark after so many year. Almost forgot about it. Finally at 1:40, the Southern California Toyota Dealers clearly wanted to cash in on the Olympics being held in the Greater Los Angeles area, but without the cost and aggravation of paying the IOC anything so this was conducted in a roundabout manner. So this is their non-Olympic Olympic ad. Researched by Karissa Buenrostro, Produced by Kevin Espinoza and Tim Groeling From the archives of the UCLA Irv and Xiaoyan Drasnin Communication Archive. Digitized in 2024:
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Sorry, completely forgot about them since that came so early into the Games.
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No Team of the Year votes there? At least the basketball and men's volleyball and women's handball teams performed well. No gold for any from France's team sports though...
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Canada's gold medal winning men 4x100m relay team anchored by Andre DeGrasse along with Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, and Brendon Rodney now also sprints their way to Canadian Press' Canadian Team of The Year Award, making them the second track team to win this after the famed Atlanta 1996 counterparts of Donovan Bailey, Glenroy Gilbert, Bruny Surin (the 2024 coach), and Robert "Mr. Blast Off" Esemie since the award was established in 1966 with 37 of the 53 votes. This team wasn't expected to win gold--and barely squeaked in to make the Paris 2024 final but made the most of this moment coming in with low spirits they later admit.
Team Rachel Homan finished second with seven votes after winning both the Canadian and world curling championships. The Edmonton Oilers, who lost in the 2024 Stanley Cup final to the Florida Panthers, and Olympic silver medal beach volleyball duo of Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson tied for third at three votes.
Hammer thrower Ethan Katzberg wins Canadian Press Top Male Canadian Athlete of 2024 narrowly beating fellow Canadian Paris 2024 Olympian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Edmonton Oiler superstar Connor McDavid in votes. Katzberg says he's amazed his accomplishments won out on his "highly achieving" athletes. Fellow Canadian track and field athletes Donovan Bailey (1996), Andre De Grasse (2016), and Damian Warner (2021) won this award in the past:
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Because of that, he and Marta will unquestionably leave a legacy that's more complicated. They've been also accused of hard driving their gymnasts. Old ways and gymnastics philosphies like imported from Eastern Europe that worked just aren't effective anymore, although I too won't dispute his success and results nor his larger than life persona in building the American gymnastics profile where it is today.
Another part of his legacy? That immortal goofy Sir Mix A Lot line from his 1990 rap track "Beepers": Hugging more girls than Bela Karolyi
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On 8/2/2024 at 10:34 PM, Sir Rols said:
Loved Sara’s post-race interview:
Speaking to Channel 9, the Gold Coast local was stunned to have won gold for Australia.
"I honestly can't believe it right now. It all feels like a blur. This whole day was a blur. It is crazy. I feel that it's a dream. It is real, right?" the 23-year-old said.
"Every setback I had since the moment I was on, I thought I am going to give this another crack, I just had that in mind. I wanted it, I wanted it.
"I knew it just comes down to like a split second and all I had to do was just f***** go, and I just f****** went and I didn't want to leave here without making myself proud."
I would've like to have used instead the actual Twitter post with her full emotional post-gold race Nine interview, but it's now missing from these posts. I actually saw it
You know, this is one of the major differences between Australian and American (and perhaps less likely Canadian--don't know much about Kiwi in this case) terrestrial TV I instantly see and like about you down under is that you Aussies aren't very skittish about profanity usage or worse condemn--and we're all advanced English-speaking nations. You don't bat an eyelid about her language or even need to apologize to viewers at home on this, although there are some ABA broadcast restrictions on when to use it. This doesn't come off indiscriminate or juvenile; otherwise I would have an issue with simply because if she wasn't raised with a rich vocabulary or quality education. Nor would the language sanction a harsher rating down there like we would. Many European nations, for example, are relaxed when it comes to such language on broadcast.
If this occurred on NBC here to the US public airwaves, there would be howling calls for FCC-mandated indecency fines slapped and that Supreme Court decision against Pacifica Foundation. For use of taboo words outside the presumed safe harbor. To be fair though, she would likely be forgiven because she would be in an excited, emotional state. Most Americans, myself included, do curse and get vulgar. Even kids. Romantic Child be damned. There's fears of cheaping our cultural standards in America when it's not even epidemic and restrict ourselves to keep it "family", which is basically catering to middle class standards and its arbitrary barriers--not to mention its perennial and numerous insecurities (something really interesting in its own right). Plus, we Americans are relatively more religious with our Puritan/Calvinist roots that frown on it with its teachings. Time we Americans grew up more, institutions too...
Anyway, bringing all this up and this in a related note involving the Gold Coast BMX gold medalist, the IOC just awarded the Nine Network a bronze a couple weeks ago in the IOC Golden Rings Olympic Awards in the Best Athlete Profile category for its one on Sara Sakakibara (clips of this comes in at 1:07 in the YouTube vid:
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Doesn't look like I will be returning to write a typical very longform post with info from various places in time before Christmas as I hope due to my workload leading up to it; very little free time for me available prior to Christmas Day. Today is my last off day prior to that, so I'll try to make this count. But I will very much go back to it in between Christmas and early New Year. Remember, I still have no computer/tablet/smartphone of my own yet but aim for all that in 2025. Still got lots of nations to get covered however belatedly. That said, there's plenty of Paris 2024 media developments right now. This will be good enough.
Arcom, France's television regulation authority, reveals this week that 71% of the French public watched at least some portion of their hometown Paris 2024 Summer Olympics with 59% of them watched the Paralympics on multiple platforms and rights broadcasters. Consumption was high all over, breaking French TV records like with the OC (most watched in French TV history), viewership on all three France TV channels as well as on the digital side, often made hybrid. Equally important, these Summer Olympics also significantly captured the desired under-25 demographic in France. Report on the first link:
https://www.sport.fr/athletisme/71-des-francais-ont-regarde-les-jo-2024-1265340.shtm
Despite the massive 71% overall viewership and raking in monster national advertising revenues for France Televisions' Paris 2024 Summer Olympics coverage, its board of directors approved the 2025 budget for the public media group that's expected to be in the red, to the tune of 41.2 million euros, for the first time in 9 years. A law approved in November by the National Assembly - in the same terms as in the Senate - had perpetuated the mechanism installed provisionally since 2022 to help finance public broadcasting (France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde, INA, TV5 Monde and Arte), namely the collection of an amount from public finances to compensate for the elimination of the license fee as it adjusts to new pivoting in striving to maintain its editorial missions intact:
Earlier this month, NBCU wins five IOC Golden Rings Awards for its Paris 2024 presentation. It wins Gold for Best Digital Offer (Web and App) for NBCOlympics.com and Peacock, Best Director for Paris Titans, and Best Social Media Campaign. Peacock Earns Best Innovation Silver for AI-Powered “Your Daily Olympic Recap” recreating Al Michaels' voice. NBCU Wins Bronze for Best Remote Studio and Presentation:
Full list of IOC Golden Rings Olympic Awards winners can be seen here. 12 different broadcasters were awarded:
France Televisions won five of these Golden Rings Awards as the host nation broadcaster including Best Athlete Profile Gold for Les Paris de Leon on swimmer Leon Marchand, silver for both L’album des Jeux Olympiques: Pour tout l’Or du Monde, its Olympic Torch Relay live broadcast presentation, and Aux Jeux, Citoyens!. Also won a Special Recognition Jury Award.
SuperSport viewers across Sub-Saharan Africa, not just in South Africa but particularly the latter, were left "tearing their hair out" when the channel cut to lengthy commercials for at least three days with the swimming competition in Paris, missing out on the finals overall results of their South African and other African swimmers' progress like Pieter Coetze. Even missing out on their entry walking out for the following event to the pool:
Just a couple of days ago on Tuesday, BBC 4 aired a Paris 2024 2-part documentary review show at 10pm entitled The Heart Of The Games that brother film-makers Jules and Gédéon Naudet were appointed to make. BBC1 earlier that night aired the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards live from Salford at 7pm GMT, co-hosted by BBC Sport Olympic personalities Gabby Logan, Clare Balding and Alex Scott. For the record, Swedish pole vault star and World and Olympic record holder Armand "Mondo" Duplantis won BBC Sport World Sports Personality of the Year and British 800m gold medalist runner Keely Hodgkinson won BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Both are also on BBC iPlayer:
Across to Ireland with RTE's own Sports Awards. Paul O'Donovan won RTE Sport Sportperson of the Year for winning his third consecutive rowing medal in Paris, a second consecutive gold starting from Tokyo, also making history in being the first Irish Olympian to win medals in three consecutive Summer Olympics. Also Michael Carruth, the Irish welterweight who won Ireland's first boxing gold in Barcelona 1992 with support from a Cuban coach, was inducted in the RTE Sport Hall of Fame:
https://www.thesun.ie/sport/14369366/rte-sportsperson-paul-odonovan-willie-mullins/
Globo won four Golden Rings trophies for its Brazilian Paris 2024 broadcasting coverage. It was awarded two golds in these categories: Best Content to Promote Gender Equality and Inclusion for its sixth Historias Olimpicos episode and Best Promotional Video; and silver in the categories Best Olympic Program for Central Olimpica with Tadeu Schmidt, Fernanda Grey, and Peti Gato and Best Remote Studio for Estudio Olimpico:
Nine Network Entertainment's Mike Sneesby revealed in August it paid A$77.3 million for its multiplatform Paris 2024 coverage as part of a A$305 million multiyear Olympic broadcasting deal expiring after Brisbane 2032--and Sneesby insists to business analysts it'll make a "material profit" form this despite a prolonged downturn in the advertising market:
An average of 158,000 Swiss viewers watched the entire 230-hour live program for the Swiss-German language Olympic Games in Paris on SRF2--245,000 viewers on average saw the entire SRF daily 14-hour broadcast--taking a market share of 38.8%. This corresponds to a market share of 31.9 percent and a record for the Summer Olympics. With over 24 million visits to the sports content and at least 14.3 million live stream starts, SRF has achieved the highest number of users of its online offering of all Olympic Games to date.
The men's 100m final that the USA's Noah Lyles won attracted the most viewers at a 624,000 viewership peak. The beach volleyball quarter-final between the Swiss Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré and the Australian duo Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy (rating 536,000), the opening ceremony (rating 442,000), and the evening sessions in track and field for August 6-7 2024 also achieved high viewing figures. The medal battles in the men's long jump with Simon Ehammer and the women's pole vault with Angelica Moser attracted 489,000 and 486,000 people respectively. Sets Olympic online offering records with its nine livestreams achieving a record of 14.3 million starts--with August 4 being the biggest day with 1.9 million--for all three SRG members--SRF, RTS, and RSI:
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Some more stuff on Summer McIntosh's expected winning the 2024 Northern Star Award from Sportsnet, TSN, Toronto Star for her dominant Paris 2024 showing. There were some concerns considering her age then (17) that this was too much too soon, but she answered all that emphatically. Won more golds than ANY Canadian in a single Summer Olympics:
https://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/article/summer-mcintosh-named-canadas-athlete-of-the-year/
And here's the moment from the CBC when Summer McIntosh got the wonderful news that she won the Northern Star Award as Canada's 2024 top athlete right after winning the women's 400m freestyle at the 2024 Budapest World Swimming Short Course Championships, breaking the world record along the way. Timing couldn't be any more perfect than this. Her parents were right there to playfully share in the moment:
CityTV News' segment on Summer winning the 2024 Northern Star Award and all the great Canadian athletes performances in "this banner year" with Faiza Amin and Sportsnet's Arash Mandani:
Just to remind ourselves how and why she more than earned that Northern Star Award in Paris:
Now moving from the pool to the hardwood, when some members of that ultimately disappointing Paris 2024 Canadian men's basketball team actually facing each other tonight when the Toronto Raptors and the Brooklyn Nets, both struggling teams at the bottom of the Atlantic Division right now, do so. They're still dealing with that lost opportunity when Canada, and the players themselves, had such high hopes as a serious medal contender but couldn't match up effectively against a very physical France and the pro-hometown fans still ringing in their ears. Bad matchups, bad tactics, not good players selections, insufficient teammate support for SGA in competing versus France. Fears abound from the players they may turn out not to have as good of an opportunity as they did in Paris this past summer, but hope to use as experience for qualification for and attaining a medal in Los Angeles. Would like for the women to publicly reflect on their thoughts in their own even worse disappointment:
Super Bowl LIX
in Other International Games / Bids
Posted
Oh, there's so much for me to still get into for this Super Bowl. But my time right now is limited this weekend and won't get into this much until after the game.
You can best be sure Taylor Swift will be there in New Orleans. Who will she share her private suite with is another question. Maybe Caitlin Clark, Ice Spice, and Lana Del Ray too?
Nabbing a top-level celeb can cost an TV advertiser for Super Bowl LIX as much around $3-5 million as the fee as part of the overall $10-20 million from the low to high end, including the $7-8 million TV ad space:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/star-salaries-super-bowl-ads-1236129182/
Fan Duel's The Kick of Destiny is returning and shown live on both FOX and CTV/TSN
Additional info on the Super Bowl LIX radio coverage from Westwood One Sports and the local broadcasts on SiriusXM with the radio flagship of the Kansas City Chiefs is 96.5 The Fan. WIP-FM 94.1 is the flagship station of the Philadelphia Eagles as well as on Westwood One. For the first time, WWO will air the full halftime show with Kendrick Lamar fresh from his Grammy wins last weekend. No Spanish announced--yet:
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/02/06/3022188/0/en/Westwood-One-Presents-Super-Bowl-LIX-Game-Day-Coverage-With-an-All-Pro-Broadcast-Team.html
https://www.wkrg.com/sports/sports-illustrated/fa16fcfe/super-bowl-59-radio-guide-how-to-listen-to-national-local-and-satellite-broadcasts/