It's kind of ironic how for the next two weeks, while the best athletes in the world congregate to perform some of the most amazing displays of physicality known to man, I, on the other hand, will remain perfectly stationary while glued to the telly. Every night, I come home from work, plant myself atop my yellow couch, only to get up 5 hours later, dabbing the mist from the corners of my eyes and waiting for my legs to awaken from their slumber. And the following day, the routine continues. I'm kind of addicted.
This is the first Olympics where I am watching with a critical eye. Not of the athletes, but rather, the media. NBC's nightly coverage of the XXIX Olympiad has been something like this:
Costas. Phelps's goggle controversy from the night before! Synchro diving. Phelps cheering during relay! Comcast Wii commercial. Beach volleyball. Phelps's diet! Kerri Walsh's wedding ring. Women's team gymnastics. Phelps vs. Spitz! Swimming prelims. Phelps's mom! Morgan Freeman's voice. Swimming medley finals. Phelps's dog snores! Gymnastics final rotation. Costas showing Bela Karolyi screaming at LCD. And last but not least, just in case your boy wonder quota is just shy of being met.. PHELPS!!
And I like the guy. I really do, and I wish him well in his quest for 8 golds. But media, enough already! There are other Olympians too! ie. Lezar. I've half the mind to turn off primetime in favor of internet/non-obnoxious American coverage. May-Treanor/Walsh are great, but throw some badminton and archery my way. I want to see some Koreans dominate.
It's 3am now, and frankly, until closing ceremonies, sleep is the least of my concerns. I think I'll be taking the late shuttle into work.
1 comment:
Most Australians (and Canadians) would love to show you their coverage, which tends to show more live sports and less coverage (schmaltzy background stories) of Australian medal winners.
Of course, much of that has to do with Australia having less medal contenders, but it's also got to do with the fact that Australians appreciate all the traditional events: the 100 metres dash, the mile, the marathon, the high jump et al., even though in most events Australia won't field a finalist.
Of course, there are sports that aren't popular in Australia, and they tend not to get good coverage. Michael Diamond has won two gold medals for Australia (and I was in Australia for the Atlanta games), but the only coverage I have seen of him has been on the Internet from this Olympics.
I hear ESPN are talking about more live coverage for 2014 and 2016. I wonder whether I'll be in the USA for those games.
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