Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Travel Tuesday - XXX Olympics Version

No. I didn't go to the Olympics in London. In fact, I didn't even watch that much of them. I did watch the Opening Ceremonies. And, right now, I'm watching part of the Closing Ceremonies (yes, I recorded them).

I'm a big believer in the ideas behind the Olympics. The idea that these athletes who are there for the love of the sports. The idea that political differences are put aside for the sake of games. That's kind of cool.

But then I tried to watch them on TV, and the folks at NBC spent so much time doing replays and commentary that we would only get to see about 1/3 of the actual competitions. And along the way I just started to get frustrated.

I tried to watch some of my favorite events, but frequently couldn't find them on TV at workable times, or would find listings that said things were going to be on only to find them pushed aside because some "marquee" person was doing well in another sport, so that got shown, instead.

The secondary and tertiary NBC networks kept showing replays of soccer and basketball all evening in the final few days - instead of playing any of the other sports.

In other words, the whole reason why I like the Olympics - the idea of being in it for the Sport of it all, and not the money/fame/prestige was right out the door.

Although... I have to admit that the Olympic Closing Ceremonies - with the NBC commentators mostly shutting up in favor of the music and festivities - were/are actually really fun.

You don't suppose they could learn from this for the next Games, do you?

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