The first "Long tail Olympics"
So said Bill Gates in his CES keynote today. From the official Microsoft press release:
Partnership With NBC Universal for the First “Long-Tail” Olympics
NBC Universal and Microsoft will raise the bar for live and on-demand Internet broadcasting through an exclusive agreement where Microsoft and NBC will deliver NBCOlympics.com on MSN, the official U.S. online home of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In the first “long-tail” Olympics, online viewers will have access to more than 3,000 hours of live and on-demand content so they can watch their favorite athlete or sport, regardless of whether the sport has seven fans or 7 million. NBCOlympics.com on MSN will be available free and powered by Microsoft Silverlight technology, a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering high-quality video experiences on the Web.
That's great, but a real Long Tail Olympics would include Segway polo. And cricket.
[image credit: Engadget]
Hello,
Your link to the PR by MS-NBC is wrong
didier
Posted by: Didier DURAND | January 06, 2008 at 09:01 PM
Are you sure? It's the second paragraph of that PR.
Posted by: Chris Anderson | January 06, 2008 at 09:25 PM
You bet it would include Segway polo! And we'd gladly show up to play, too! ;)
Jonathan (polo-playing member of www.bayareaseg.com )
Posted by: Jonathan van Clute | January 07, 2008 at 12:20 AM
Other Long Tail Olympics events to include Ultimate Frisbee, inner-tube water polo, kickball, and tiddlywinks.
Posted by: Evan | January 07, 2008 at 06:04 AM
Hey! I resent that notion of Cricket being some kind of a niche sport tucked away in a dusty corner of the long tail with Segway Polo!
Someday, the rest of the world will realise the skill and beauty of cracking a cover drive away from leg through the gap down to Deep Square Leg...
And thus cricket begins it's rise towards the pointy end of the curve...
Posted by: Gordon Taylor | January 07, 2008 at 04:20 PM
I had written, "more countries play cricket than play baseball which is an Olympic sport", but then I decided to do a bit of research to back up my assertion. (A bit radical, I know.) It turns out that men in 75 countries must play a sport for it to be considered.
However cricket may appear in the future: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/7138231.stm
Posted by: Paul Morriss | January 08, 2008 at 03:25 AM
I reckon that female gymnastics will have the highest viewership, but that could just be me :)
Posted by: Matt S | January 08, 2008 at 04:45 AM
Great article. I personally like the male gymnists.
Posted by: Wanda | January 08, 2008 at 08:33 AM
Curling has been an Olympic sport for years... I mean, curling? Surely there's little more long tail than that...?
Posted by: Premasagar | January 29, 2008 at 04:20 PM
I agree that the Olympics have grown a long tail. Which tale will be longer, Olympics or the Presidential election?
Posted by: Darin | February 06, 2008 at 02:39 PM
thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner
Posted by: kabin | June 13, 2009 at 10:13 AM