NBC Is Not Good at the Olympics

Let's make this quick: NBC sucks at broadcasting the Olympics and should never do it again. Here are just a few of the problems:

1. Tape Delay: Sports fans want to see the drama unfold as they watch. They do not want to see what amounts to an edited re-run after they have read about the event results on Twitter/Facebook/Their favorite sports blog. Make it live and if fans want tape delay they can Tivo it. I have a hard time getting excited about watching Shaun White or Lindsey Vonn winning their medals when I already know the outcome. Not knowing is half the battle. But that doesn't really work with prime time programming.

2. Bob Costas: The man is insufferable. His smug, know-it-all superiority must be banned from network television. Put him on HBO where he only does damage to those paying for the privilege. Nothing grates on me more than a man telling me how important something is that I just watched. History takes time, Bob! That's why they call it history.

3. Ignorance: Can you get your reporters to do a little homework? Or even watch the events? Look, no one expects the U.S.A. to be well-read on speed-skating (though with the stories of Eric Heiden, Bonnie Blair, Shanni Davis and Apolo Ohno, we shouldn't be completely ignorant) but if your sideline reporter just watched a race, shouldn't she know the name of the race winner she is about to interview? Apparently not:

In typically humble fashion the reporter says the following to the F-ing gold medalist:

"I need you to say your name, your country and what you just won here."

Sven Kramer's reply? "Are you stupid? Hell no, I'm not gonna do that."

"What you just won here?" Please for the love of sports, take the Olympics away from these fools. After all, they have already taken the Olympics away from my kids, who won't stay up till 10 to catch Shaun White's McTwist or, worse still, the great hockey that is still to come.