1998 Winter Olympics Nagano opening, haven't seen this anywhere else on here...I loved the music CBS had for their coverage...too bad they don't have the rights anymore. Hope you enjoy!
They did a great job with the musical theming here. This was one of the years where John William's score was not licensed for the broadcast and CBS was left to create their own.
This was one of the greatest opening Olympic ceremonies.I can't believe the Sumo Wrestlers were only wearing their thongs,in that cold weather, in Nagano.The singing of Beethoven's Ode To Joy was a sensational experience.
Truth be told, I really love CBS's Olympic Intro for the 1998 Winter Olympics. Alongside the Olympic Fanfare with NBC's broadcast, I can't wait for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia in a couple of months. CBS or NBC, I am going to enjoy what Mother Russia brings in her winter storms for the Olympic Athletes to compete in come February.
I'll tell you one thing: if CBS still had the Olympics today, I would have expected some frosty, industrial looking thing, given their current art direction But still; Jim Nantz is probably one of the best sportscasters in the U.S.; ranks right up there with Costas.
Either CBS/Turner, Fox, or ABC/ESPN better win the next Olympics contract after 2020, I've been fed up with NBCrap ruining the Olympics once every 2 years. But then again, I wouldn't mind if CBS gets it again, and bring back its iconic theme song & revamp its "Spinning Tube Map" intro.
***** If Fox got the rights to the Olympics no one would watch because of the awfulness of Joe Buck. Fox doesn't do a very good job of covering international sporting events like the World Cup and the Olympics. ESPN/ABC would do a much better job
Chris Guardiano So unfortunate that NBC has now extended its deal for 18 more years, IOC president Bach claimed that he made the deal with Comcast because he worried that coverage quality would deteriorate. Apparently, he made that statement up as if ESPN never existed at all. Bach had his chance of letting the IOC wait until the bid wars would resume in 2019 in order to improve the quality & reputation of U.S. TV coverage, which has got a bad rap under NBC these days, and he blew it. ESPN exec John Skipper is also at fault for letting the lucrative event slip away in the 2011 TV bid because for a global brand whose net worth is more than $50 billion, Skipper underbid for only less than $2 billion when he could have easily done $5-10bn as NBC won with only $4.5bn. Even if ESPN would have to lose money & some properties like NASCAR or the World Cup (which will now be on FOX), not only it would have been minimal due to the recent spike in Olympic ad revenue, but it also could've been an investment into making the Games more accessible & less prone to piracy.
***** I wish we could at least have a youtube channel dedicated to all the full events from all the years past. I LOVED the Ski Jumping events from the '98 Nagano games, great storylines with Japan's team that year.
Yeeeah, but as of now you have to go to one of the two Paley Centers in NY or LA to get your fix at the library's Olympic archive, which is open from Wed to Sun until 5pm.
Poking around on the Web, I found a post about CBS's Winter Games coverage from Nagano. Apparently the Boston Globe timed an hour of prime time coverage, and, according to the findings, CBS only showed 3 minutes of actual competition, devoting the rest to commercials, human interest stories, and figure skating practice, which is one of the few vivid memories I have of those Games. We talkin' about practice.
This theme music gets the job done well enough, but CBC's (Canada) has a lot more impact. The CBC is also known for having much better live coverage of events than the U.S. broadcasters. I've read stories of people living near the border rejoicing that they could get CBC's signal.
