I’ve watched plenty of the Olympics. I’ve watched some women’s gymnastics, women’s beach volleyball, women’s regular volleyball, women’s field hockey — you know, all of the sports that are “easy” to watch. Of course I also watch the real sports — boxing, baseball, track and field, powerlifting, maybe a little basketball. And I go out of my way to watch the stuff you’d never see anywhere else.

This Olympics, I’ve watched an entire handball game (or is it a match?), a water polo game, three or four swashbuckling events (I don’t know the difference between epee, sabre, and fencing), and some awful form of horse racing that you can’t bet on and isn’t a race. And they dress like butlers to do it. Either way, I’ve seen a fair share of entertaining and boring, and so far, I’m pleasantly surprised by NBC’s coverage.

I’ve said many times before that there is nothing better than watching live sports in the middle of the night. I love Wimbledon, the French Open, the Australian Open and the British Open because of their middle-of-the-night-ness. Having the Olympics on multiple channels at three in the morning is fantastic. The Olympics should be played at this year every time they stage them.

Having said all that, I finally got excited watching an event last night, as our swimmers beat the whiny Frenchmen in the 4 x 100, topped off with the best closing kick I’ve seen since Art Official beat Somebeachsomewhere. This race was one of those events that made you really root for your country. It’s one thing to be an underdog (despite having the best swimmer in the world). It’s another thing to have some smelly Frenchies telling you that they are going to destroy you.

So, while it appeared that the French were well on their way to victory, they finished in the Frenchest way they could, by surrendering the lead at the last moment, to allow the United States to be victorious, and Michael Phelps quest for nine gold medals to stay alive. I’m not a big fan of swimming as a spectator sport, but this was the most exciting event of this Olympics so far, and by a lot.

NBC Coverage

There are several reasons to be pleased with this year’s coverage from NBC. First of all, they are airing far more live events than in years past. The past few Olympics, we’ve been subjected to tape delays for the “important” events so that they could be aired in prime time. This year, that’s not the case since the delay would have to be far to long with the drastic time zone difference. So for live coverage, NBC gets thumbs up from me.

I’ve also been extremely happy with NBC’s online coverage. Normally, I have to hope I get ten minutes on some obscure channel to show some powerlifting, but thanks to the wonders of the Interwebs, I can watch some commie broad dominate the 48kg weightlifting division whenever I want.

Another credit to NBC is that they have devoted entire channels to boxing, basketball and soccer. The basketball and soccer I appreciate because it keeps two-hour games from dominating the coverage on the main channels. The boxing on CNBC all day I appreciate because the coverage is outstanding, and I just enjoy boxing more than other sports.

Finally, I have to give NBC credit for putting together a who’s who of broadcasters. Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas are doing an amazing job covering the boxing on CNBC, Bob Costas is far more tolerable covering the Olympics than anything else he does these days, and Jim Lampley’s voice just sounds important. They also have the best in the business at all of the other respective sports, and seem to have spared no costs to put together these great announcers.

UPDATE: While NBC has “Live” displayed on the screen, viewers on the West Coast are actually being lied to. NBC is airing primetime Olympics in a tape delay format, leaving the “Live” banner on the screen, and reminding viewers twice an hour that it is not in fact live. Not only are they screwing us by ruining the Olympic experience, but they are lying to us and don’t care. Their excuse is that what they are doing is no different than what American Idol does. Well, unfortunately, the Olympics are not American Idol. The fact that NBC would compare them to it is embarrassing enough.

So, I take back everything I said about NBC, as tape delayed primetime coverage in this era is completely unacceptable. It’s complete bullshit that I know what’s going to happen on the Olympics tonight before they come on. In today’s digital, Internet age, it’s impossible for many of us to remain in the dark until it comes on TV.

It was bad enough that they faked the Opening Ceremonies with CGI effects, but to deny me the ability to watch the major events live (also blacked out on the Internet), is pathetic. I don’t care what else they do, NBC has failed in their 2008 Olympic coverage.

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