Flying Solo Without Video
Posted on July 29, 2012 8:34 am
Chastain Conquers the World (with help from a few friends)
I want to be proud of Hope Solo. I am a fan of United States soccer and inveterate booster of same.
I am happy that the United States has a talented goalkeeper.
I am happy that the United States won tonight.
I am happy that, while I was visiting a very dear family friend today in Richland, Washington, where Hope Solo set scoring records before becoming a brilliant goalkeeper, my friend informed me that a member of her church was a proud grandmother of Hope Solo.
That is where I stop being happy.
I was visiting my friend and someone she is helping primarily to do what I can to help both of them. My partner consider’s this friend his second mom and considered this visit very important.
We did not return in home to witness either the U.S. Women or the Seattle Sounders in live action. As important as our business in the Tri-Cities was, Bill Shankly’s ghost can explain why this was a sacrifice
I came home to find that both the U.S. Women and the Sounders won. Yay!
I also came home to find that a controversy had erupted because of “tweets” Solo had made objecting to criticisms U.S. hero and sports bra champion Brandi Chastain had made of the defending and goalkeeping during her commentary of the match on television.
Apparently, somewhere, this video with commentary is available. It is not available on any link I can find made available by NBC.
I would gladly endure any commercials NBC and its sponsors would inflict upon me should they make this video available. But no such video is available by any link they make extant to me.
Is Hope watching some other video in GB that has Arlo and Brandi? She complimented Arlo, and, truth in reporting, I am a Sounders fan, Arlo is a former Sounders anouncer. So, either HS has found a link I have not, or someone has recorded a U.S. broadcast and replayed it to her. Which she went through pretty damn quick, but I do not want to prejudge her comments without having seen what she criticized.
But I know Arlo is a homer, and I am a big Brandi Chastain fan. I observed her jersey waving live and in person at the Rose Bowl.
So, if Richland’s own, Sounders Women’s own, my friend’s friend’s granddaughter wants to accuse Brandi Chastain American Hero, I want the audio and video available to me on the interwebs, and I am very curious as to why it isn’t.
What contractual limitation can there rationally be against making more money from a broadcast already shown? Why not force me to watch a bunch of commercials or run commercials across parts of the screen while I view what I need to see? I realize I am merely a “citizen journalist,” but if more access can be had by handing over cash to NBC or IOC, that is called a sponsorship, not journalism. And if I tried to trade on my Sounders connections, such as they are, or my friend’s social connections to pour gas on what may be a stupid fire before I even understand what the fire is, I might lower myself below blogger level and become what passes for a reporter by some current standards I do not accept.
It’s not, Gentle Reader, that I think I can rate myself as a journalist, “citizen” or otherwise, it is that what “reportage” we do get is merely a commercial commodity, and one obviously incompetently marketed, however competently narrated by Arlo White (and probably competently commented by Brandi Chastain, if only I had the proof).
Meanwhile, the USA women have won both their games and advanced to the elimination rounds. That is another thing I might have more to say about if I could see the freakin’ video that no longer has much, if any, commercial value, and what little it has will be gone by the time it is available, if ever. The only commercial value remaining is the same, Gentle Reader, that you are familiar with – ads pertaining to your click habits and mine.
Beau, call your office. The Olympics is a wonderful, fantastic event, if only we could watch it.
Wow… I didn’t know it took so many words (or commas) to say nothing.
I stand by my refusal to bow to journalists on their poor understanding of serial commas. But, it you have any specific commentary on that, please enlighten all of us.
Do you agree or disagree that is okay to withhold publicly significant information because of supposed commercial value even after such commercial value no longer exists? Or do you disagree that the information is significant? If it is the latter, I did not say nothing. It is just that you are not interested in Women’s soccer. Goodbye. See you when I comment on the men again.
HA! “Publicly significant information”
But, yes. You’re a bad blogger and thus I’m not a USWNT fan… makes perfect sense.
I want to know exactly what Brandi said and when she said it so I can make my own mind up what about Hope’s critique. There is absolutely zero commercial value in my not knowing this or your knowing this. My observation of this fact reflects nothing on your enthusiasm for Women’s soccer, but your calling my noting it “nothing” does. If you pay attention, you will note that what I want is access to replays, however replete with sponsor messages that may require. Do you have something against U.S. Women soccer fans having that?
Do you want me to go off on Hope Solo without having viewed the video? Do you think all those people who have in the twitterverse and various other -verses available did so knowledgably?
Am I a “bad blogger” because I criticize NBC for withholding info pointlessly?
Yes, how dare NBC decided whether or not to show something they own the rights to.
And you’re apparently incredibly dense if you think me not caring about some tweets is indicative** of my level of enthusiasm for Women’s soccer. You should also be aware that I don’t have a twitter account. That obviously means I hate soccer.
When I say you said “nothing”, I meant that basically all you said was, “WAAA it’s not fair! I’m an attention whore and NBC is making it hard for everybody to notice me!”
** – “indicative” means “acting as an indicator or sign” of something. I figured this footnote was necessary due to your lack of cognitive faculties.
I pay absolutely zero attention to twitter, except for the public reports of what is said. Sorry. I have no idea what you are talking about there. It seems you and I are in the same boat, and it is NBC that is keeping us both in the dark. They only let us know what others say against Chastain, but they do not allow us to review her comments. To the extent I want information that might draw attention to myself, I am guilty to the extent that I want information that has outlived its commercial usefulness that is restricted for no particular commercial reason yet has public value. -MP
*sigh*
So to prove you’re not a bad blogger you edit not only your but my own comments? Great journalistic integrity you have there.
So the readers know, I have not “edited” a single character of this person’s comments.
English isn’t my first language, and lord knows reading comprehension is not my forte…but it seems you are complaining that money is coming before advancement of sport. I think Bill Archer is raising funds to buy a bus we can all get on…
I am not against anyone making money, and I don’t believe Bill is either, but, if there is anyone capable of writing for himself, it is Bill.
What I am complaining about in this particular instance is a particular company monopolizing access to information that is of public value after the commercial usefulness of that information has outlived itself. Now, if NBC wanted to sell Brandi Chastain’s commentary with proprietary video next to a graphic of Solo’s Twitter feeds (provided that is an acceptable use of Twitter feeds, which I am not offering any legal opinion with respect to), that would be an obnoxious precedent, and pernicious to democratic (not Democratic, idiots, I mean “related to democracy”) dialogue, but I would have to look into it from a legal standpoint.
You could just act like a real journalist and do some research first… I know, crazy concept.
A google search of “brandi chastain hope solo” gave me enough articles to find the Chastain quotes in question. It took me all of 3 minutes.
Give me a link to the video with the comments. If it is available now, it wasn’t when I posted the blog. I cannot assess the comments without seeing the video of the events that elicited them. And, Hope, if you are correct, more power to you. And God love your grandmother. And congratulations to your agent.
I never said anything about video. Notice my candid use of the word “articles.”
Try reading sometime.
My complaint all along has been about accessing the video with the comments. Reading is fundamental.
Ah, once again editing your comment after I reply.
Why are you so desperate for the video? Does the on-field action change what Solo said? No.
I want to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Since when are bloggers journalists. They are guys with keyboards nothing more.
That should be carved on my tombstone.
I am sure twitter is used for some good (I can’t think of anything at the moment). This sure is not a good use of it. Hope Solo needs to learn – it is not about her.
I think certain “substances” are clouding Solo’s brain.
Brandi made a mild comment about defender Rachel Buehler on the broadcast. I guarantee 99% of people watching ignored it, but not Solo. If you didn’t like it speak to Brandi directly. Or better yet, concentrate on the TOURNAMENT and bring it up two weeks from now. Attention seeking does not endear you to US fans.
I dunno. A keeper coming to the public defense of one of her defenders? Can’t be too bad for back line moral. Brandi’s great. I was on the 18 at the RB myself. But now she’s a commentator and open for attacking and attacks. It’s part of the job. And if Hope thinks this is a good way to do a little team building – or just vent – who am I to complain. I’ve yet to win an Olympic soccer game myself.
The only thing smaller than than the Solo/Brandi story is the “I can’t find the video, NBC is Satan” blog about it.
I’m awaiting the next post when Mateo can’t find his keys (or commas!)
Well, I wouldn’t say Satan, exactly. If they are Satan, it might be for things a titch more significant in the grand scheme of things. Point granted. If I have a larger point than this little spat, and it isn’t that much larger, it is that the way these games are being televised and webcast, but only when you can’t watch them, makes no sense commercially that I am aware of.
The cost of making a meaningless snippet available probably far exceeds the income NBC would get for it. They are a business, not a government…despite all their money to the current Pres.
Why not make the whole game available, with sold ads and sponsorships? Satisfies all concerns.
Dude, they did…on cable. Few watched. Why show a replay? They cannot get anyone to advertise on it because it costs more to rebroadcast than its worth.
There are replays a’plenty available. I suppose it chews up more bandwidth to make one available that someone might actually watch, but eyballs makes for revenue, no? Added value for the sponsors.
Mateofelipe, it’s not that the video is not available, it’s just that it’s work to get to it. All video can be found here: http://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/index.html. The catch is, you have to be a cable/satellite subscriber to a system that receives MSNBC/CNBC in order to access the video. Yep, it’s a commercial product; you may have read that NBC has spent a list cash on this effort. I have heard that there were two comments that singled out individual defenders, I have heard the Buehler comment (which can be found on deadspin as well) in the 20th minute. I do not know where the Mitts comment was.
I did watch the game live and neither comment caught my attention. Unlike Hope, I have a pretty good Chastain filter and an enhanced Chastain filter (aka “MUTE”) so it’s quite likely that I missed it altogether.
I too am a big Chastain fan. I too was in the Rose Bowl in 99. And I was in Germany in 2011 where, for two nights I randomly ended up in the same hotel as Brandi and the rest of the ESPN team. In person she is kind, gracious and generous with her time; I saw her at breakfast and just said hello. Both Brandi and Tony D asked where we were from and what games we had seen, how we were enjoying the experience … far beyond I expected.
But that is Chastain the player and Chastain the supporter. I am always disappointed when it’s Chastain the color commentator. While she isn’t always personal in her criticisms, she is ALWAYS very negative in her commentary, almost always towards the US team. It gets hard to take; other than her reaction to Lloyd’s goal against France, she did not have much positive to say about the team, other than their inherited (presumably from her generation) expectation of winning regardless of the situation.
It is definitely not my intention to imply support for Solo here. I realize that keepers are just a different breed. I played a lot of years at a lot of levels, and they are just a different cup of tea. I will add that it does get worse as they age and as the levl of play drops.
But Hope takes it to new heights! She seems to have a pathological need to be the center of attention, and apparently believes that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Her sense of ‘team’ seems to be her own, with a sliding definition scale, changing as it suits her desires.
Planning ahead does not seem to be a strong point for her; maybe she’s planning for the book, but after the book buzz, where is her team?
Traveling around Germany last year we met lots of random people. Many had stories of seeing Brandi, Mia, Julie together at various spots. Seems that whenever they could be in the same place, they would get together to watch a game and/or take a meal.
I don’t think I see that in Hope’s future with her current teammates.
Don’t see where the game in question is available yet, even if I did want to spend the milk money on Dish Network. But you are right that there is enough evidence available that Hope is being silly here, even without the benefit of a full replay.
NBC does have the right to make its own judgements about what it does and doesn’t consider news, and Hope running her mouth yet again has gotten sort of old. Besides, maybe NBC has a policy of not adding fuel to the fire on matters involving its own commentators.
Yes, and they also have a right to monetize their own product as they see fit, which is the speed bump I was hitting.
http://deadspin.com/5929852/hope-solo-slams-brandi-chastain-for-disparaging-remarks
Video is at the top of the page.
Took about 10 seconds to find.
Just reread he incoherent rant that started this thread, and realized that Mateofelipe wants to see a replay of the entire game, not just Chastain’s comments. Or at least that’s what I think he wants.
OK, here ya go
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/soccer/womens-olympic-soccer-group-g-united-states-vs-colombia.html
On NBC’s web site. For free.
Yes, it was more a speedbump than a road block. And I did want the whole game to try and figure outif there was more there there than in just the snippet. Not really hearing anything to justify Hope going off like that. Though SoccerAndLabs is probably right Chastain is not God’s Gift to Commentary.
There was no speed bump or road block of any kind. Your complaints about NBC are completely invalid. Every single second of the 2012 Olympics are available online, for free, either via live streaming or on replay.
Also, if there’s a game on that I want to watch and I know I won’t be able to see it live, I record it to watch later.
Do you not have a DVR or a VCR? You do realize that it’s the 21st Century, right?
It’s what century? Damn.
Actually, it’s not free. You have to have a log in from a cable or satellite service. In other words, you can only watch it online if you don’t need to watch it online.
Well, if you don’t have cable or satellite, maybe trying to blog about soccer in general, or things you haven’t seen in specific, shouldn’t be what you are doing with your time.
Thx,
Jay!
So you only have OTA TV? No cable, no satellite? And you don’t have a VCR?
I stand by what I said. Your complaints about NBC are completely invalid.
You inferred too much from what I said. I was just pointing out “free” is not accurate, and that my complaint was not about cost, but about delivery. At the time I originally wrote, it was not available by any means, though it eventually became so. Perhaps that does make my complaint “completely invalid,” since I could have, in fact, recorded the game. But my plans changed, and NBC did in fact record the game without my having had to. So why the delay, and why not cut out the middle man, while we are at it? Since the delivery is online, why not a direct subscription, since the manner of my receiving the content has nothing to do with that little dish on my roof? Of course, that strikes at the foundations of cable and satellite, but that is already happening to a degree.
If you think Chastain’s too critical, you have to hear Keith Hernandez do Mets games:
“Oooh, Ronny, bad play there by ____.”
“I would’ve never had a problem with that play back in the day.”
“His stance has been off for weeks now.”
And 99% of the time it’s valid criticism and much more fun to listen to than the usual color commentary and pompom waving.
Practical note that no one seriously cares about – if a conversation veers into serious “u mad bro” territory, the “Reply” function only works on the first five levels. I assure you that Mateofelipe wasn’t editing anyone.
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