Saturday, August 16, 2008

Olympic Observations

I'm tired of watching the LIVE bug on the NBC feed on the west coast.. it flashes the time 10:35 ET... I look at my watch... it reads 10:35 PT. If the corporate yahoos at NBC Universal think we're stupid enough to think we think the telecasts are live, I'd be happy to let them know that I ONLY watch network sports on DVR now since there is almost as much advertising time as sports time. Tune the DVR to the desired channel when the coverage starts, hit pause, and 89 minutes later, start watching. Miss no live ation; skip all the commercials. How long until the ad revenue falls off? Pull the friggin' LIVE bug so that Joe Six Pack on the West Coast can be clued in that his time isn't as important as Jane Six Pack on the East Coast, maybe give the West coast feed ONLY 2/3 of the commercials.

Swimming - I wish Rowdy Gaines would give us more info on the start of the short races - that was something that he FOCUSED on in preparation for his event ar the 1984 games in LA. I've noticed that the medal winners get off the blocks well and establish an early lead - and I can't do a flip turn OR float. When I watched the 100-Fly tonight, I had to pause the DVR and watch frame-by-frame to see if Phelps earned his 7th Gold. If the race was 100 yards (pre- 1896), he would have been 2nd. If it was 99.5 meters, he still would have been 2nd. But 100m, first. I thought both both Spitz and Phelps were great during the extended interview w/ Costas.