![]() (I am not sure I would want my daughter nicknamed the Flying Squirrel, even with its commercial potential.)Įvery time the network switched to swimming, I had flashbacks of chemicals from the pool and juggling decimal points on deadline in the morning in Beijing as Michael Phelps kept amassing medals. Over the first 14 days of coverage, events suddenly appeared before me, like the men’s cycling road race on the first Saturday morning - the ancient Alexandr Vinokurov breaking away with one Colombian rival and shockingly holding on for the gold medal, and the perfect angle of Fabian Cancellara’s wipeout on a miscalculated curve.Īny viewer would get caught up in the incandescent smile of Gabby Douglas. The opening ceremony (was it live? I don’t know) was quirky, with dancing nurses and an airborne company of Mary Poppins doubles, but I have always assumed that Britain was Pythonesque, so what’s the fuss? These are the first Games since Ebersol resigned, but I can’t tell if the network has lost its sense of mission. Ebersol and his staff used to meet with the Olympic specialists at The New York Times months ahead of the Games to brief us on their plans, and I always found myself scribbling notes as he talked. The criticism of NBC used to boggle me because I knew Dick Ebersol, the longtime chief of sports at NBC, to be one of the most knowledgeable executives in sports. ![]() ![]() I gather many full events have been streaming on the Web and I could have tracked them down, but I have taken the easy way - clicking the three NBC outlets on my cable package, and letting NBC tell its stories. ![]() Here’s my mantra for these Games: Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? If I went for a swim or a family outing or switched to a ballgame, the Olympics would still be going. Since the opening, I have been in a demi-world of time zones, never quite knowing when events actually take place or are shown. I used to hear grumbling from viewers about being given snippets of events and teased with spoiler alerts because of the time difference. Still, as a 17-day exercise, the Olympic glimpses and stories are compelling. Plus, was it my imagination, or have these been the Beach Volleyball Olympics? Then, from 1984 through 2008, I covered seven straight Summer Games, in the belly of the beast, eagerly writing about Lewis and Joyner-Kersee and dashing off electronic postcards about how the host countries were handling the event.Īfter getting off the spinning carousel late last year, I am currently sampling the Games as a spectator, at my own pace, seeing sights I never had time to watch - the slo-mo quiver of an arrow as it strikes the target and the up-close winks of Usain Bolt as he prepares to sprint. As a kid, I cared only about the Brooklyn Dodgers, and as a young reporter I was too busy covering other stuff. The Summer Games on television have been a revelation to me because I had no frame of reference. (“You should see how worldly the CBC is about the Games,” my sources in Seattle would insist, after sampling the Vancouver channel.) But the soccer coverage in particular treated Japan and Canada with the respect they deserved. Just as important, the NBC broadcasting team of Arlo White (an Englishman, and a new voice to me) and Brandi Chastain (one of the stars of the 1999 World Cup) was up to providing knowing commentary, with frequent references to Japan’s gallant victory after the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.Īmerican Olympic coverage is often accused of jingoism during the Games. This stirring final came on top of the epic 4-3 semifinal victory over Canada on Monday, one of the best matches I’ve ever seen. And somewhat to my surprise, I have found the televised Olympics, for all their flaws, to be fine summer entertainment, particularly if one reclines on the sofa and lets NBC do what it does best.Ī perfect example was Thursday’s final of women’s soccer, with the United States avenging its loss in the 2011 Women’s World Cup with a 2-1 victory over Japan.Īn afterthought in 1996, when the network barely got around to showing snippets of the great American team winning in Georgia, women’s soccer got first-class treatment this time, with NBC showing every shot, every save, every discreet shove, on NBCSN, which I have on my cable system. These are my first Summer Games - via television, I mean.
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