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The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) must spend a majority of the four-year break between Olympics thinking up new, spectacularly petty demands to make of everyone when the next event rolls around. It's always been overbearing and thuggish, but it seems determined to top itself with each new iteration of its sports-related boondoggle.
In the run-up to this year's particularly dystopian Olympic games, being hosted in a city without clean water or a clean police force, the USOC has already demanded:
- That a company take down Olympic-related social media posts pertaining to the Olympic athlete the company is sponsoring
- That no non-official commercial entities are allowed to use certain hashtags in tweets
- That no "non-media" companies are allowed to refer to the Olympic games, outcomes of events, or even share/repost content posted by official Olympic media accounts
It's these last two that are being challenged -- not by a megacorporation unable to buy its way into the USOC's good graces, but a Minnesota-located franchise of the Zerorez carpet cleaning business.
A small business in Minnesota is suing over the US Olympic Committee's ban on tweeting about the Olympic games. The Committee announced last month that non-sponsors are banned from even using hashtags like #Rio2016 or #TeamUSA. Zerorez, a carpet cleaning business in Minnesota, will file suit in U.S. District Court on Thursday.
So why is this seemingly random floor cleaning business in Minnesota the one suing? They simply want to root for the home team.
"They're very engaged with social media," Aaron Hall, CEO of the JUX Law firm, told me over the phone. "They felt concerned about being censored on social media, especially at a time when we're going through a time of pain and negativity."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday August 07 2016, @01:34PM
and the Euro soccer tournament, and the world soccer tournament, and the Tour de France, and the Paris Dakar, and all the rest of the ultra-commercial sporting events that plague the yearly calendar one after the other. If you like sports, fine. But for the rest of us who don't give a rat's ass, it's just about impossible to tune to a TV channel, go to a cafe or simply talk to anybody without being assaulted by sports talk.
If the world devoted the money, time and resources it dedicates to the sterile activity that is sport, it'd have solved its energy and climate problems already. Fuck sports - and more importantly, fuck the sports business.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday August 07 2016, @02:02PM
Yeah, it was the Olympics that made me switch from the Today show in the morning to GMA. Got tired of olympic crap and really, the morning shows are all about the same.
Trump has decided to rename California's San Andreas fault. He's calling it Biden's fault.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 07 2016, @05:42PM
You do realize that many of the "segments" on those morning shows are just paid advertisements, right? I remember the day when a friend of mine bought two rounds of drinks because they got a guaranteed spot on a morning show. That meant enough people wrote in and liked it that his company a huge break in price and a set interval and other perks. IIRC, listen for the magic words, "brought to you by" in the intro. For example, "and now home improvement tips, brought to you by Steve of DIYwithSteve." Oh and most of those segments turn out to plug "great" products? Guess we now where Steve is getting the money from to pay for the time.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday August 07 2016, @06:59PM
I literally don't know a single guy who watches morning tv. I thought they were all chick-shows.
(Not that I am allowed to touch the remote control at that time of day mind you).
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Sunday August 07 2016, @07:45PM
I can watch the first hour in about 30 minutes with my DVR. Only the first hour is worth watching.
Is there anyone naive enough to not think those "hottest trends for the $season" segments are anything but paid ads?
Trump has decided to rename California's San Andreas fault. He's calling it Biden's fault.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Gravis on Sunday August 07 2016, @02:03PM
simple solution: don't watch TV, don't talk to people who watch TV and make fun of people who still watch TV.
that reminds me, you still watch TV? what do they keep it on 24/7 at the nursing home, grandpa? (＾▽＾)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by opinionated_science on Sunday August 07 2016, @02:03PM
careful...it's bread and circuses that stop them going after the 0.01%....
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday August 08 2016, @03:24PM
As someone who isn't part of the 0.01%, nor part of the Complaints Division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, why should I be concerned about whether a mob goes after them?
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Sunday August 07 2016, @07:12PM
While I realize a lot of people don't care about sports, and I freely acknowledge it is your right and privilege to complain about it and not watch. Don't you think that "... being assaulted by sports talk..." is a little over the top ? Next you will be battered by a brawny commercial ? Raped by a little Debbie ad ?
I was turned into a newt by the IOC, but I got better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYO0joolR0 [youtube.com]
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 2, Insightful) by ShadowSystems on Monday August 08 2016, @01:40AM
Enjoy a pint on me! I couldn't agree more!
I just got back from trying to enjoy a meal at a local sit down "family" restaurant & I nearly left in disgust. Between the tv's blaring sporting matches from seemingly every part of the world, the radio tuned to a local football game to do a live play-by-play, & everyone in earshot babbling about sports in one form or another, I could barely hear myself think much less the waiter trying to ask me what I wanted. I shouted back "a pair of noise canceling earplugs!" which made him smile in that "Damned SKIPPY!" kind of way that lets you know you've struck a nerve. This wasn't a "sports bar" or sports-themed establishment where sports are to be expected, this was a supposedly family-friendly, relaxed & quiet place to eat. Except that I couldn't hear anything EXCEPT the sports crap.
The comparitive silence of rush hour traffic beneath a freeway overpass was bliss. I could hear! I wasn't assaulted on every side by some numpty going on about how their team was doing. I could hear things like car backfiring, car alarms, drive-by shootings, & the screams of sirens above the hooting of traffic. Compared to inside the restaurant, it was a fekkin' LIBRARY outside.
I'm sick & fekkin' tired of sports. You can't turn on the tv nor radio without being bombarded by sports, you can't turn around without some sports-themed ad slapping you in the face, you can't talk to folks without them turning it to sports, & you can't even escape to the library without your eyes being bludgeoned by idiots wearing sports jersey's.
You want to talk about sports? Fine. You want to watch sports? Fine. You want to hear sports on the radio? Fine. But for the love of Cthulhu on a fekkin' pogo stick, *I* DO NOT. Please leave me & others whom don't give a fek about sports ALONE so that we might enjoy a bit of peace & quiet? Eat our meals in peace. Read a book in peace. Read a news site in peace. Do what we want to do that does NOT involve listening to folks blather on about bloody-fekkin'-sports!
GAH!
It's enough to make me want to carry a dead fish in a sack. Some twit starts yappin' about sports, whack 'em with the fish & scream SHUT UP!
I know it would get me in trouble, but DAYAM would it make me feel better.
I'll buy you a pint of your favorite & lift my tankard in toast. I'll bring the noise canceling earplugs if you bring the batteries.