They have some updates and such on ironman.com as the race progresses. They are not known for having awesome coverage, but it is better than nothing!

Ironman would make terrible live TV. I mean, Boston and NYC marathons have such great ratings, why not put a 17-hour event up against college football? Hmmm, Notre Dame on NBC or some skinny dudes wearin' spandex? The race venue is spread out all over the island and it takes hours to unfold. At least the TdF had a name to follow this year, and on TV Bob Roll talks about strategy and Liggett and Sherwen go on for hours about the teams, everyone in the GC, each little town, etc. 99% of casual Kona viewers can't identify with any of the top finishers, but they can identify with lottery MOPers. Therefore NBC has to edit it down, find some dramatic story line (or rehash the manufactured Team Hoyt schmaltz), call up Al Trautwig (not Mike Rowe!) and score some soaring violins so they can get an audience for Ford. The current :60 format is mostly back-story about 1) how harsh the course is, 2) someone overcoming dramatic obstacles, 3) the obligatory Julie Moss finish or maybe the Welch/Ingraham finish, 4) helicopter shots of the start below followed by underwater shots of the swimmers above, 5) some Euros on weird lookin' bikes, 5) lottery entrants staggering down Alii drive and then 6) the #1 OA M&F crossing the finish. There, I just produced Kona's "coverage" (which airs a month after the event). Cue the violins.

I agree that the coverage is about as solid as can be expected of a 17-hour event. I think I mostly enjoy watching (and by "watching" I mean having the coverage running on while doing other things, checking on it here and there, and perhaps paying more and more attention as the pro race nears the end) because I've become familiar with most of the pros competing and have developed a liking for some of them over others. I think this makes for a difference equivalent to that between watching a random MLB game and watching your home team play against a rival. Without a familiarity with the top contenders, as well as knowledge of what's happened in Kona for the last few years, the race wouldn't interest me as much.

think they might have some on hulu.com as well. velopress.com used to sell copies of the broadcasts on DVD or check ebay. +1 on the 97 ingrahm/welch finish

PoC

I suppose if your computer had audio/video out you could hook up a VCR or DVD recorder and record it that way. Or feed the signals to your A/V inputs on your Tivo and you wouldnt have to worry bout changing tapes or DVDs :)

Or leg a real geek take care of all that and search the other sites mentioned to find it for download. Oh, I miss napster and demonoid.

Eye of the beholder, Sooner, eye of the beholder.

I am relishing the commentary from people who know wtf Ironman is, instead of the crap, Big Al spouts on NBC. Welchie is getting better each year but he is still the Aussie imp who likes his beer as much as he likes hammering on the Queen K.

The others actually have something intelligent and real to pass on to us Kona-wannabees and you just won't get that on NBC. They have been doing Ironman 101 for the national audience for decades as they must. Your synopsis is about right I think and I gag during half their pseudo-drama about some mother raising money for research on some disease her kids have by doing IM. I'm happy for her, I just like my sports real.

and it doesn't get any more real than two years ago watching Normann lose his cool and toss his bike, or Chrissie keep hers and drop trou to have a pee while waiting for help. Now that's IM racing!

PoC