OCR Text |
Show By PAUL BROWNFIELD,LA TIMES Personalities aren't enough for a worldly presentation ° lhe official motto of these ‘Winter Olympics, the Italian motto,is “Passion Lives Here.” The official motto on NBC — or the Networks of Secrets ©) (N) (8) (N) : women's team pursuit team pursuit final; ‘skeleton:women's final. (Same-day Tape) (8) (CC) final; speed skati (N) (CO) (s) (CO) Anne Boleyn. (N) (Co) Kicking off coverageof the opening ceremonies Friday night, the Networks of NBC immediately set the table for (s) (CC) EB. (s) (CC) & and (s) (CC) NI DNIAVIS D ON TELEVISION : (iTV) (N)(8) The Banquet. of the CreduQuarry. (CC) fashion major follows her to Harvard. Comedy.(s) (CC) lies. (N) (s) (s) (CC) who we were supposed to care about: There was a sweetiepie, figure skater Michelle Kwan, but also a nihilist, downhill racer Bode Miller, and a snow- boarder,Shaun White, with red hair and a nickname to love — “The Flying Tomato.” These were truly the network’s opening ceremonies, never mind that three-hour Cirque du Soleil-like extravaganza in which Yoko Ono begin at an interesting, some would say dicey,time in our world; there's no getting around that. But we also know that sports can havea hugeunifying effect on all of us.” It seemed like he'd flownall the way from New York to Turin just to say that. Sorry, newsman, that geopolitical angle instantly felt like a nonstarter. Better to preordainthe out- e 8 in these Games and then make the whole 80-nation event about whetherthese three athletes would win or lose — sponsored by Nike and brought to you by Chevy, proud sponsorof the Chevy Moment. You can't fault the Networks of NBC — it’s hard to know exactly howto sell out the Games. It's a kind of vaudeville,involving big business and media literacy, muchof it predicated on that question athletes are alwaysasked and never know how to answer: “How do yeu feel?” Asa line of inquiry,it's a joke because athletes aren't in their heads; it’s why they're able to stand at the top of a very giant hill on two woodensticks and not think, “What am I doing here?” 9002 ‘91 Menges ‘Aepsinyy ‘pjesay Ajieq sized (American) personalities |