Major Deductions for NBC

I love the Olympics. Really. Every 2 years I settle in to watch the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. And depending on where the Olympics are and how they are covered, it can be either a victory type experience or an agonizing one. This year, I'd rate it more towards the agonizing.

It's not the venue. It's not the political issues surrounding the host country. It's the TV coverage. The website's pretty good. I'll give them that.

I had become complacent, I'll admit. I started out staying away from media sources so I could feel the thrill of the swimmers' races. I'll also admit to being partial to the swimming, having spent the last 10 years parenting USA swimmers. So I'd stay up every night until midnight to watch. I was a mess the next day, but hey, I don't have to get up at 5 am to take anyone to the pool anymore.

But it ticked me off that the west coast, which COULD have been showing the NBC coverage at the same time as the east coast (a 5 pm start would have been FINE with me), waited until 8 pm to start. Heck, even starting at Central Time would have been an improvement. As "LIVE" flashed in the corner, I knew that pronouncement was as phony as the lip synching little girl in the opening ceremonies and the footprints in the sky. It was NOT live, it was OVER. A long time before. And I had to sit through a constant barrage of terrible commercials to see what I wanted to see, at midnight.

I didn't know anyone had another option until I went to Seattle for a few days last week, where people could switch to the Canadian station, which WAS showing everything LIVE. Not only were they showing everything live, they were showing events even if a Canadian wasn't playing. Wow! Oh, Canada. I wish I could get you on my Dishnet.

Last night I really wanted to watch the finals of the gymnastics, but at 10:30, I'd had enough. Enough track prelims, enough lousy commercials, enough of Bob Costas. Does anyone else find that guy totally annoying? Anyway, I went to bed. I'll find the clips somewhere. A friend of my daughter's was swimming for the Phillippines in the 200 fly last week. We knew we'd never get to see it, he was in the second heat, and there were no US team members in that heat. She found it on YouTube, shortly after the race and sent me the link so I got to see JB win his heat. I'd link you to it, but it is 'no longer available due to copyright claim by a third party'. That probably would be NBC. Glad I got to see it before the copyright police did.

One more bone to pick while I'm being cranky (must be the lack of sleep). Is there ANY good reason for covering an ENTIRE marathon???? Puh-leez. How about the start, somewhere in the middle, and the end. Then fill in with the stuff you would have shown at midnight. Don't try to snow me with aerial shots of Beijing like you're a travel show. If I want to see the sights, there are other options, like the too few travel spots during lulls in the coverage (much better than commercials).

How can we make this better? I was wondering, why does one network get to cover the whole show and mess it up like this? Maybe they could share the wealth and bid on blocks of events to cover. Mix popular with lesser known sports events, and sell them as packages to the networks. Then everyone can get in on the coverage, we consumers have more choice of what to watch when. Just a thought. Probably lots of good reasons why not, but I can dream, can't I? All in all, a tough year for the media, wouldn't you say?

Bottom line, though, is kudos to all the athletes who have given their lives to their sport. I know from experience how many kids it takes in the pool to produce one Michael Phelps, or one QUALIFIER, for that matter. What .01 second means to a swimmer. What the field looks like at trials when only the top 2 get to go on. How many kids felt lucky to even MAKE the trials, and are home watching just like me. I feel lucky one of my swimmers got to a level high enough that she got to swim early heats in the same meet as some of the athletes in Beijing today. A Michael Phelps, with such talent, sportsmanship and an appreciation of TEAM, comes along once in a lifetime, and he deserves every one of those gold medals! Congrats to all of the athletes, to their coaches, and their parents.

Now, can anyone tell me how to get "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" out of my mind??????