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Five Ring Circus

Posted: 8/16/2012 - 13 comment(s) [ Comment ] - 0 trackback(s) [ Trackback ]

Five Ring Circus

It’s official. The IOC just announced that Victoria’s Secret will dig in against the SI Swimsuits in beach volleyball in Brazil… I have to ask, NBC why so much beach volleyball? How many times did we need to endure Misty May flick gang signs to the camera?

What about the commentary overall? Shut up sometimes? Didn’t you want to choke that guy crowing about how McKayla Maroney was gold in the gymnastics vault before the competition began? Did he learn nothing from Titanic?

How about those incessant human interest stories? Why not use air time to cover the athletics? And, isn’t the Olympics primarily about track and field? How did we ever end up with so much field hockey, badminton, and handball - not to mention volleyball? Did anybody work out the rules of handball?

When covering the track events, would it be too much to ask for a heads up on the distance? How about covering all of the runners in the race - not just the Americans? Why so much coverage of Lolo Jones? I get that she's pretty, but what about covering Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells, the two American ladies that actually won medals in this event?

Sure there were high points. Michael Phelps. Gold in gymnastics. The women’s soccer. But, this is a global contest - and wouldn’t it be nice if we covered the best athletes from around the world - not just the prettiest Americans, Usain Bolt, and Mo Farah?

All told - no medal for NBC’s coverage. And the parting shot? Making people endure a whole hour of Animal Practice to see The Who at the end of the closing ceremony. What’chu talkin’ ‘bout Bob Costas?

And, speaking of the closing ceremony, let’s close where we began - the opening ceremony. What were the Brits thinking? I actually watched the ceremony in London. The city echoed with the sound of the home team slapping each other on the back. Apart from QE2 and 007, the rest was incomprehensible. They might as well have performed the whole thing in Cockney Rhyming Slang - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HngRt7guls. Danny Boyle - might I suggest subtitles for your next production?

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