Malaysia: A Land Without Gold

It has been most interesting to watch these 2008 Olympics in a country that has never won a gold medal. Instead of the usual NBC commentary trying to “keep up” with all the medals flying into the US of A, over here it’s much more like watching a party from the outside – Everyone inside looks so warm and cozy while the outsiders are shivering and blue-lipped.

Another interesting observation: The coverage doesn’t pretend the USA is the center of the world. This is a new experience for me. Back in America, the media always made the Olympics seem much more like the US vs. the world. Over here – it’s really a world experience. I have not seen or heard from a single NBC commentator, and have not even seen an NBC logo in the background. Also missing from Malaysian coverage – all of those sweet back stories to provide behind-the-scenes perspective to every (American) athlete. I haven’t heard the tender vocals of Bob Costas (is he doing the Olympics this year?) to soothe my thirsty soul.

MEDAL COUNTING: Another thing you might find interesting: Over here, medal tallies are measured in terms of the number of GOLDs won, not TOTAL medals. As such, China is kicking some serious USA butt in the medal scoring. However, I've noticed when looking at American-based websites, the scoring is measured in total medals, thus showing the USA in the lead. I think this is actually quite amusing -- Who is ahead, the USA or China? Yes. One solution to all this might be to score gold with 3 points, silver with 2 points, and bronze with 1 point, but I don't think anyone is really asking for my opinion here....

Another difference: I haven’t heard the Star Spangled Banner once. Any coverage of medal ceremonies (when covered between those CRUCIAL badminton matches) just shows the waving / smiling end to the festivity. I guess when you’re a country like Malaysia, you can’t show favorites, so don’t play any national anthems.

The commentary from Malaysian television is much like what you’d expect from a documentary on migrating sea turtles. Yep – it’s THAT dry. There is no background music, lots of dead time, and many scenes of people ‘watching’ the events. Hmmmm….

Overall, there was much more passion about the World Cup in 2006 than this year’s Olympics, even with them occurring just up the road in Beijing. (It is cool to be in the same time zone as Beijing!).

Yesterday, when I was in The Philippines, I noticed a much stronger American perspective – there were folks actually interested in watching the USA v Greece basketball game. They tried not to show it, but I heard the cheers when Kobe, LeBron, and company dunked the be-jeebers out of the lowly Greeks. At first I thought the refs were going to control the game by calling all the cheap fouls in the first quarter, but alas good prevailed over evil… ;-)

I am sure I will have more perspectives to share later on. My most anticipated event, the men’s marathon, doesn’t take place until the last day of the Games, and I hope all of you will be joining me in cheering for Ryan Hall – our 2:06 marathoner who doesn’t even know how stinkin’ fast he is yet. Wow.

Hope you enjoyed this….
Greg

P.S. I am so incredibly stoked about the Cubs. Even out here, as I travel from country to country, I am continually checking in for updates. The current 8 game road win streak is just what we need to develop a little confidence. I’ll be traveling to Myanmar on Monday. I wonder if THEY are Cubs fans….