Olympics 2012

I am sadly unappreciative of the Olympics lately.  Not the athletes, they are awesome.  Not the venue, London did itself proud with that one.  No, what I am so disappointed in is the coverage.  Specifically the time delayed, Americanized media coverage.

So the first thing is obviously the time delay issue.  I fricken HATE the time delay.  Why?  Because it means that I can't watch the news, read a newspaper, look at the computer or talk with anyone without fear of hearing the results of some event that I haven't yet watched.  So recognizing that time moves on and technology improves, there was something to be said for only being able to watch the events as they happen.  As far as I'm concerned, it showed your dedication to a specific sport.  Like the discus throw but they're competing at 3:00 am your time?  Suck it up and take at nap earlier in the day so you don't miss anything. 

The second issue also relates to the time delay...let's call it half arsed coverage.  If it's live, you get the whole shebang.  From the worst competitor to the best, you got to watch all of it.  How cool would it have been to be just as surprised as the rest of the world to be watching the women's gymnastics at the 1972 Munich Olympics and watch Olga Korbut do her famous back flip off the high bar?  I'll wait while you google that little gem...done yet?  How cool was that?  Anyway, there was none of this bs of only seeing the top three or four competitors.  I want to see all the dives of all the divers of all the countries.  Don't just show me China and their scarily perfect dives.  I want to see the guy that looks like a drunken kangaroo going off the board as well.  Because how can I judge how fantastic the winner is if I can't see who all of their competition is?

Which leads us to all the competition...why are there so many damned sports in the Olympics these days?  Is badminton even a sport?  How about handball?  Really?  And don't get me started on the heated ping pong competition.  But seriously, the absolute worst has to be the slalom canoeing.  What the hell is wrong with you people?  And as a side note, it only makes it worse when you find out that the badminton teams are deliberately trying to lose in the preliminaries so they can get matched with an inferior team for the finals.  Here's a hint: there's not that much glory in winning gold in badminton in the first place, don't make it worse by cheating.  I know, it's devastating to hear that, but it's the truth and someone had to tell you. 

And finally, how about those life stories?  Can we wring anymore emotive dances out of these broadcasters?  Sob stories, tragic lives leading down the path to Olympic glory, poor kids making good.  Don't get me wrong, I think each of these athletes has greatness in them, proven by the fact they are at the Olympics in the first place.  But I don't need to know every detail of their lives.  I don't want to hear five minutes of what they've overcome to watch them swim a two minute race.  Seriously, I don't care, I just want to see them compete.  And over-sharing mom of fantastic swimmer?  Please, stop.  Just stop.