The Olympic Distraction

Despite my issues with NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics I find myself glued to the TV during prime-time viewing hours and it’s only a matter of time before these 4 hour sleep nights catch up with me. Actually they already are.

The biggest criticism I and most people have is the endless commercial breaks which seem to come just minutes apart. Some have dubbed NBC as meaning “nothing but commercials.”  What makes it worse is you see the same commercials time and time again and I’m actually starting to memorize some of them.

The other thing that has bothered many is the tape delays even though Rio is just an hour ahead of our time here.  For example you had to stay up until late last night to watch the favored U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team claim their gold medal even though the competition took place during the afternoon.

These criticisms are nothing new and to be honest NBC shells out a lot of money for the broadcast rights so they’re going to do what makes business sense and showing marquee events in prime time is what it’s all about.  The swimming coverage in the early days has been superb even if announcers Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines are sometimes over the top and who hasn’t been caught up in the Michael Phelps saga.  He arguably is the most dominant athlete in sports history and age 31 is now the oldest swimmer to ever win a gold medal.  When they list the medal standings he could be his own country and a successful one at that.

The coverage like the Olympics themselves is far from perfect but I’m hooked.

Think about this: the Mets, Yankees and Phillies are not giving us much to cheer about, it’s still the NFL pre-season and we’re all sick of the presidential race already.  Rio is a distraction and one of those rare times when regardless of gender,  race, creed, color, political affiliation, age or sexual orientation we’re united in our support of the red, white and blue.