RIP Juan Antonio Samaranch

If there's a Triplecast, will his funeral be televised in just the Red package, or the White and Blue packages as well?

 

Be funny when lowering the casket that it gets stuck half way down.

 

According to sources, Samaranch will be cremated. The identity of the final flame carrier will remain secret until the time of services.

 

Ok, so personally Samaranch may have been something of a prick, but one can't deny that the Olympic movement prospered under his leadership. Would it have boomed with someone else in charge as well? Quite possibly. But Samaranch oversaw the evolution of something that many thought in the early 80s was on its death bed into the biggest event in sports.

So yeah maybe American TV overpays on rights fees. Well, isn't that shrewd marketing on the part of the IOC to get as much as they can for their product? And bringing in professionals in basketball and hockey has elevated the profile of the Games, as has the addition of new sports such as snowboarding and beach volleyball.

Back in the early 1980s, only a couple of cities even bid to host the 1988 Games. Now cities practically trip over themselves for the priviledge of spending billions to host. Whether that's smart business or not can be debated forever, but it does speak to how the Olympics have marketed themselves worldwide. And much of that credit has to go to Samaranch, all other qualities not withstanding.

 

"He's gone. He's all gone"

 

The Olympics prospered because of Dick Ebersole's largess.

 

Which was a great move on the part of the IOC. If I'm selling a product, I try to get the maximum amount for it. Just business. No one forced NBC to pay what they did. They saw value in the product and paid accordingly.

 

We interrupt this funeral to present some opening ceremony-style Cirque du Soleil shit that never fails to befuddle TV viewers worldwide ...

 

No - its a picture of Juan's final resting place - Hell.

NBC bought the rights from Satin to televise. They are planning a reality show to follow Juan through the day.

 

From the looks of this thread, we'll all be meeting him there.

 

Hope no pigeons get caught in the cremation.