For those of us who missed the NBC Ironman Kona coverage today... (Page 3)

That's just ridiculous thinking.  I guess pro football doesn't drive all of these little league, high school, and college players and allo that goes with it.  I guess pro baseball has nothing to do with tens of thousands of amatuer baseball/softball leagues all over the country.  The problem with triathlon, in THIS country, is that we DON'T promote the pros and the pro races.  Ask Australia.

The WTC is NOT triathlon......sorry.  (and I'm a fan of WTC)

I don't think this is true.  How many people do you think watched the live converage of the New York City marathon?  Did you see any long coverage of anyone who wasn't a factor in the race?  Did you see any stupid social commentary that has nothing to do with the race? 

Do you think the millions of people who run won't watch a triathlon race with good RACE COVERAGE?   All of the sporting people in this country love to watch a good race with great athletes......and they do when they find one.  Most people can't sit through the garbage NBC throws out for IM World Championship.....ask around.

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I didn't ask around either.  But my daughters, wife, and I enjoy the NBC show.  They get enough of the pros to see "real racing", and enough human interest, and enough age group action.  It's entertainment.  No way - no way - do they sit through TDF type coverage of bike racing.

Note that Ironman Kona is probably the only race which has regular Joes as well as special-interest people racing with the pros.  No Hines Ward at the Masters. No Gordon Ramsey at a NASCAR race.  No old guy pushing his disabled son in a wheelchair at TDF. No old nuns on TV playing football (although I'd watch that for sure). And there's no way I personally, or many other amateur athletes, will ever be at a "Word Championship" if not for Kona. So yes, I want to see all that on TV coverage of Kona.

then don't call it the ironman world championships. Call it, tragic stories of people exercising for a long time kinda slow.

Anecdotal example. I watched the USA Olympic trials of curling. I don't curl. I don't know anyone who curls. I don't really care about curling. I do like sports and competition. They had an analyst explaining the sport and what was happening, and I enjoyed it. Why can we not have this for the triathlon world championships.

What is your point? I'd rather have fewer people and watch an actual sport than turn it into a reality tv show

Not sure why people are arguing about a TV show, either you liked or you didn't!

Americans probably don't watch it as much because we have no Americans at the top of the fields anymore, no big names from USA racing!!!

Purity of the sport is more important to me than ratings.

Starykowicz, Andrew

Rapp, Jordan 

1. I thought it was cool seeing the dolphins swim along side the swimmers.

2. Do pros get to have support teams? It looked like Crowie had someone hand him a new wheel and then push him? I did not think that was allowed.

But it can be, and in my mind that is how you grow the sport.  It's the reason alot more people would have watched Armstrong....and lacking him, WTC will take some soccer player with a bunch of tatoos who is still trying to learn how to swim.  Excellent......more circus acts for the carnival when you have real athletes with interesting stories who could become names that people recognize and want to watch for their athletic feats.....you know, kinda like any real sport.

neutral service

I really enjoyed the coverage, personally.

I got into triathlon because I was inspired by some friends who got into tri's several years ago. Up until that point, I always thought of triathlon as an elite sport for highly elite athletes. One of the things I continually marveled at during my own Ironman experience was the number of "average Joe's" i was surrounded by.

For me, the pro's are awe-inspiring freaks of nature, and I relish in their intensity, and competitive spirit, but the coverage of the regular AG'ers is what gave me goosebumps:
- When the lady in the wheelchair didn't make the bike cutoff, and you could see the devestation written across her face.
- When the father/daughter duo DNF'd at mile 11, after months of training and previous failed attempts.
- When the lady with the prosthetic leg finished 47 seconds after the cutoff.

That's why I watched.

I'm no pro, and never will be, so these are the people I can relate to.
Ironman Triathlon is an ultra-endurance sport, and will likely never be mainstream. That's just fine by me.

I don't think they are as worried about ratings as everyone is saying. For one this was not a big TV time slot for NBC, any other Saturday at that time you could expect to see an infomercial. Also if you watched the commercials (yes some of us still do not have a DVR) you noticed that it was the same commercials over and over again from the same vendors. I doubt this is a big money maker for NBC. The commercials were all aimed at the users of this website, not at the general public, so they could easily cater the show more to the triathlete instead of spending 15 mins interviewing someone in their house and 30 seconds on the women's run. 

I just chalk it up to TV executives trying to get a pulse of what's popular and over doing it.

I know you all know what I mean.  Most movies sequels?  Take the best of the previous movie and triple/quadruple it.  In the Hangover, Chan was a small but funny character.  In the sequels?  They make him one of the main guys.  All Chan, all the time.  Most sequels suck unless they go an entirely different direction.

TV show Heros?  All the plot twists were exciting season one, but then they tried to outdo themselves and after a couple more seasons?  No one cared and the show is pulled.

Survivor has all the reunion shows because if people liked Colton or Rupart in their first season(s), they have to show MORE Colton/Rupert because they think that's what people want.

So, for IM Kona.  Someone tried some fluff pieces of someone who had cancer and it touched people.  It was probably JUST ENOUGH of a touching story.  But then some exec says, if 5 minutes was that good, wouldn't 50% of our coverage dedicated to fluff pieces be that much better?

I figure after a while, that stuff won't pull the ratings and they will start shifting it to a different direction.  Such is life.

I agree completely. But WTC IS in the triathlon business, and they can sell their race to a network that does want to cover the race and the legitimate athlete stars of that race.  But instead, we get Hines Ward and some chef that walks most of the run......riveting.