On Day 2 of the Olympics, I decided that I was going to boycott the Olympics this year, after the horrible coverage by NBC of the opening ceremony. So I had a rant all ready in my head:
How it was not fair that we end up getting the shittiest coverage in the world, despite the fact that our TV rights pretty much pay for the whole thing
And despite the fact that we normally get the best sports coverage in the world
How in the little coverage we get, we get such a disproportionate amount of competitive ballet and other non-sports
How you can’t see a damn thing live (yeah there’s that 10 hr time difference with Greece)
How you never know what will be on when, because you wouldn’t watch enough commercials
How the people at Speedo should not be allowed to open their big traps about numbers of expected golds, and Mark Spitz, and all that
Anyway, I could keep going for a while. Bottom line is, I was all ready to be pissed off (after just the opening ceremony). And for a while, I stuck with it. I actually ended up watching more of the playoffs leading up to the Little League World Series than of the Olympics during those first few days.
And then I got over it, and I got into it. I think it was partially because of Phelps. And because I ended up watching some weird cool sports. Like shotput from Olympia. I even got over Bob Costas on NBC - he’s OK, and I even liked some of those human interest stories (despite ranting about them earlier). And of course the Greeks - they are doing an amazing job, and it all feels pretty right.
So no more Little League World Series for me. I’m even skipping the Giants for a few days. Rah rah. And by the way, wasn’t that a nice positive way of still ranting without seeming too bitter?