Without have read the post except its title, I know already that you are asking the impossible.
I sat here for much of the afternoon watching the live feed of Nationals. I posted it on my Facebook page, and since there was not chat function to go along with the feed, we were chatting on my page. There were a lot of comments. There were people watching who had never seen a weightlifting meet before. Everyone was very excited.
I had my four year old and my six year old watching with me. My six year old is competing in her first meet in two weeks.
I had some of my lifters from my club watching. In the past two weeks, I've had three new lifters join USAW, and they are also competing in their first meet in two weeks.
Most people I know were pretty damn excited about weightlifting today.
And, then, you screwed up.
You cut off the live feed before the men's 85 kg and 94 kg sessions.
Are you kidding me?
If people weren't already excited about watching weightlifting today, they sure as hell were excited about watching those two sessions.
Honestly, by choosing not to stream those two sessions (in fact, I would say by choosing not to stream the entire meet), you demonstrated that you have no understanding of how to grow the sport of weightlifting.
To pull the feed before these two sessions was gross incompetence.
Maybe you have an explanation, but I doubt it.
So, please, just put me in charge. I'm pretty good at getting people excited about weightlifting, and I haven't quite figured out what you are good at.
Without have read the post except its title, I know already that you are asking the impossible.
The feed going offline was very disappointing. I thought the feed was pretty good -- I watched the men's 77kg and the women's 69kg classes. I was really looking forward to seeing Kendrick Farris lift and to seeing Glenn's 94kg guys lift, but the feed was pulled. It's really a shame, especially as they're not scheduled to stream tomorrow's lifting.
"As our broadcast and webcast media rights holder, the U.S. Olympic Committee has chosen to show the National Weightlifting Championships live via Webcast from Council Bluffs, Iowa on Saturday." So, it is apparently the fault of the USOC? I don't think that makes the situation any more tolerable.
Unbelievable. I'm fan of the sport, but this is bullshit.
I think the more confusing thing is not that the USOC decided to only air part of one day of the event, but rather that they chose to show the ladies and the lighter men, as opposed to having the spotlight expected on the 85s and 94s. I would have assumed that they'd care more about Farris and The Jon North Show.
Not that I'm really complaining. I'm always thrilled when lady lifters get attention. Still makes me scratch my head. The entire thing's an embarrassment
USAW did make the announcement that only some sessions were to be webcast:
http://weightlifting.teamusa.org/new...3566?ngb_id=34
The issue was with USOC, and apparently USAW wasn't aware of the limited-broadcast situation until everyone got to Iowa. Not sure why, but it seems they did make an effort to inform people prior to Saturday.
These sessions were likely chosen because of the time, not because of the particular sessions. Lots of people aren't able to watch on Friday/Sunday, or later Saturday night.
Fine. You're right. USAW is doing a fabulous job promoting weightlifting. We can all go to sleep knowing that the USA will surely be dominating on the world weightlifting stage soon enough.
Yes, those times were announced by USAW. On July 15. And, it wasn't clear that those were the ONLY sessions that would be broadcast. Everyone was confused about that. It doesn't really matter if they say they didn't know about it until then. If USAW is going to sell the broadcasting rights to the USOC, then THOSE TWO ORGANIZATIONS NEED TO TALK. I'm fine with blaming the USOC also. "In addition to being the steward of the U.S. Olympic Movement, the USOC is the moving force for support of sports in the United States that are on the program of the Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games." THE MOVING FORCE FOR SUPPORT.
So, the "moving force for support" can't figure out that people actually want to watch weightlifting, and they can figure out what sessions people want to watch? I mean, for fuck's sake, anyone who cared about watching this weekend wanted to see the men's 85s and 94s on Saturday. And, if you'll notice, that schedule posted by USAW clearly says that the men's 85 session was going to be broadcast. AND IT WASN'T. They put out a little statement that the meet was running late and oops, sorry for the inconvenience. Yeah, I bet USAW has never had a meet run late. Nope. Never. THAT WAS TOTALLY UNEXPECTED. And, lord knows that no one wanted to see the heavyweights and super-heavyweights lift on Sunday.
Do you watch a lot of weightlifting online? Because I do. So does Renee. So do a whole bunch of other people that I know. And, they watch on Friday and Sunday and even on Monday morning or Thursday afternoon or WHENEVER. "Lots of people aren't able to watch on Friday/Sunday, or later Saturday night." Do tell. When exactly do people watch college and professional sports? No one watches on Fridays, Sundays, or late Saturday nights? REALLY?
Please.
I've no desire to discuss this further, either in defense of USAW or chastising them. I see a lot of people bitching because they didn't get something for free and they're upset shit didn't go their way. Was I a bit bothered when I was driving back from a beer run to find out that I wasn't going to be able to drink too much and yell at a computer screen...sure. Did it ruin my night? Nope, because I could have flown my ass to Iowa if I wanted to be there as a spectator. I don't know all of what went down, and neither does anyone else that is complaining.