Coverage of Olympic games should be live
Commentary by Sean Callanan

There is simply nothing like the Olympics. There is nothing like the thrill of watching competitors rip through an Alpine Ski course. There is nothing like watching a speed skater tear through a fresh sheet of ice and break a world record. There is nothing like watching the time tick by in a closely fought hockey game. There is nothing like watching these events not knowing whose anthem will be played at the medal plaza at the end of the day.

Guess what? Thanks to NBC there’s nothing like this at the 2002 Winter Olympics!

The Olympics are already almost half over and American broadcast and cable network viewers have seen almost no live telecasts from the Winter Games aside from the incredibly painful Opening Ceremonies. I mean the organizers did know that people were going to watch that “fire within” cliché crapfest right?

They did know other countries were going to be watching it too right? I mean it’s not like last week people in Utah realized they forgot to plan an opening ceremony and quickly hired the ice capades and wrapped them in tin foil and glitter, right?

Well then, what in God’s name was that? All right, all right, let’s just forget it as soon as possible move on to gripes NBC’s coverage in greater detail.

No but really, what was that?

Did that make any sense?

Was Color Me Badd booked or something? The NBA All-Star game at least got Elton John, (not that he’s much better) the Winter Olympics couldn’t book WHAM!?

Wow, all right, back to the real issue.

NBC has taken all the suspense and competition out of the Games for the sake of their own commercial dollars and preempted live events for their regular daytime television schedule management.

It’s estimated that NBC will broadcast about 40 percent live coverage of the Olympics.

Everything they show during prime time, aside from ice hockey, is tape delay taking all the excitement and uncertainty out of the events.

Who wants to watch events tape delay? I know prime time is named such because it reaches the largest audience, but what good does it do to broadcast events, which the public already knows the results?

I know it is possible that you can escape the day without hearing or seeing the complete results for the day’s events but it’s a major chore to do so.

Most of us who own a computer and a television know all the results of the day’s events by prime time, especially if an American has won a medal.

Just check the AOL ticker, espn.com, cnnsi.com, etc.

If you’re watching headline news, there’s a ticker; if your watching some news stations, they have the results with Olympic music so you can look away if you want, if you’re watching SportsCenter they have both the results and a ticker.

Hearing about the Olympics is inescapable and why is this?

Presumably people are interested in them and want to watch the events and hear news about the Winter Games.

The primetime coverage only has the important athletes, the Americans, the eventual medal winners, the heartfelt comeback story athletes but doesn’t show the entire event.

Even for pure comedy’s sake I’d like to see India’s single athlete walk down the downhill ski slope or Eddie “the Eagle” jump five feet in the ski jump but NBC won’t show it because they don’t have the time.

So why don’t they have the time?

What are they broadcasting during the day that is so important that they will preempt live coverage of the Olympics that many of us are interested in seeing?

NBC is showing their regular daytime schedule.

That’s right, instead of inconveniencing “Passions” and “Days of Our Lives” fans by showing a once-every-four-years international event celebrating peace, unity and friendly sports competition, NBC would rather show the games after they’ve happened and it’s ruining the Olympic experience.

NBC should show the events live or not at all. The best part of sports is the uncertainty of the outcome.

What is thrilling about sporting events is that you never know who will win, no matter who’s favored and who is the underdog.

At the very least NBC should show the live events as they happen.

Only a sports network dedicated to showing sporting events is prepared to handle an event like the Winter Olympics.

However, NBC owns the exclusive rights to the Games and they will continue to squander what would be a great event.

In the midst of our country’s troubles it would be nice to see people come together in our own land and celebrate the peace and unity of sports. Alas, this will not happen.

So in the coming days, try your best to hide your eyes from the results that surround you and try not to let NBC ruin a wonderful event.

Sean Callanan is a columnist for The Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech. This column was distributed by U-Wire.

credits

TCU Daily Skiff © 2002