Olympic Coverage

I doubt that I'm the first to say this but the NBC Olympic coverage is really bugging me. Part of my does not really like the NBC hype machine. "Must See TV" was really only must see when Seinfield was on. After that there was nothing must see about it. Throw in their political coverage which is far more over the top than Fox News ever was, their painting of everything the color green and a GE swagger which should have been gone long ago since GE is not as relavent now as it was when Jack Welch ran the company and you'll understand my slightly negative feelings for the network.

Still, I want to watch our team and want to like Bob Costas. Costas is from Commack, New York and went to the same high school that I did - Commack High School South. So this Long Islander and Spartan wants to watch the best that Costas and NBC can offer moreso out of Spartan pride (cue the SNL cheerleader sketch) than anything else. I've seen Costas do some great stuff in the past and currently on HBO. His interview with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays last month was simply superlative. So, my hopes for good coverage outweighed my dislike for NBC.

Dislike - 1, Hopes - 0. Why? I don't mind that Michael Phelps is the story - how could it not be? I don't mind that they'll sometimes be homers. This is as Borat said the United States and America and if we can't be homers inside our borders then when can we be? But they've done more to over-hype and create contraversy that really doesn't exist than necessary during an Olympics. Need evidence? Here it is:

The night of the 4 x 100 meter men's relay NBC made the story more than Phelps. They showed a clipping of a quote by one of the French swimmers where he said that his team came to Olympics to beat the US relay squad. That was fine for a moment but they keep bringing it up over and over and over again. That story popped up and died the same day. Why beat it to death unnecessarily.

More nonsense during the women's gymnastics team finals. This was a China -vs- US story. The two best teams in the world head to head. China was leading and opened the door. One of our gymnasts had a bad night and fell twice leading us to a silver while the Chinese won gold. OK they won we had a chance and blew it. NBC goes back to the studio and has Bella Caroli, gymnastics coaching legend and husband of the current US coach, analyze how the events unfolded. Fine, Bella can give insights to the sports that few can and normally I'd appreciate the analysis. However, he came out with an anti-Chinese tirade about the age of the girls saying that some on the team are younger than the 16 year age limit. He didn't stop there arguing that the younger athletes don't fear the limelight or losing as much as the older ones - a way of saying that our 20 year-old who fell was at a significant disadvantage even with her years of international competition experience. Now, for one I don't trust the Chinese and believe that they'll game the system to try to win. Just look at the 1984-ish stuff that they pulled to enhance the opening ceremonies. But the we lost because you cheat story is not one that this American wants to hear. I want us to win even though they do cheat. And if we come up short I want us to take the fight to them in the next even and prove that we're still better. In other words I don't want excuses I want competition. This story line put the coverage into the tabloid realm.

Finally, there are the human interest stories and in studio banter that just gnaw at me. I was a huge Jim McKay fan growing up because of how he handled the Olympics in 1972 & 1976. The up close and personal pieces were terrific and were done for more than just Americans. They set the table for the stories on the fields. There was no friendly banter it was all business. But everything in the studio is an inside joke, a snarky remark or something to witty for the rest of us. The stories don't have the effect of making the coverage more interesting or personal because we don't have enough of a back story on the athletes - Americans or other.

Sadly, I'll still watch. I want to see Michael Phelps break Mark Spitz record - an indellible memory from when I was 7. I want to see fellow Marquette University alum Dwyane Wade bring home a Gold Medal in basketball. I want to see Americans go Gold and Silver in the women's gymnastics all-around proving that our depleted team is made up of true athletes not just one trick ponies. And when the coverage turns to the studio I'll be on my iPhone texting one of my teenage nieces or surfing the web. Anything but watching the coverage in studio.

USA! USA! USA!...