The extraordinary triumph of excellence in sport in an atmosphere of peace between nations

My passionate Olympic viewer tip for today (and every Olympiad day) is to watch coverage from other countries, if you have access. The Canadians, in particular, offer the sweetest, most good-natured, enthusiastic, authentic, thorough, sincere, fair, compassionate informed well-rounded coverage you can find on TV. It's a beautiful balance to the American coverage, which leans toward controversy, judgement, jingoism, and dunderheaded anchors who became jaded two decades ago and who enjoy stirring up a controversy more than they enjoy the extraordinary triumph of excellence in sport in an atmosphere of peace between nations.

There's also a lot to love about the American coverage, of course--I mean, Tara Lapinski and Johnny Weir are a joy; it's like Queer Olympics for the Straight Guy. And Tom Brokaw? Come on. That's good stuff, always. And you wanna hear a smarty pants kick ass athlete? Listen to any woman cyclist discuss her race strategy before the race; if you like smart, kick-ass women athletes (and who doesn't, you ape??), you'll be utterly smitten before she's even half-way through. For example, "Wow! That was...comprehensive...!" said the cycling commentator to American cyclist Kristin Armstrong after she answered a question about what she learned by watching the men's peloton the day before. And the rowing commentators are all business. So, the American coverage isn't all bad. Sometimes its entertaining; and sometimes it's smart; and sometimes they even let the athletes be smart. I'm just saying that if you watch the coverage from other nations, you get this lovely balance and perspective on the whole affair.

One fine example is the controversy surrounding Russia's apparently systematic approach to doping many of its Olympic athletes. Some were barred from competing in Rio; some were not. The American swimming coverage features Michelle Tafoya trying to goad American swimmer Katie Meili into trashing her Russian opponent (Yulia Efimova) after Katie *just* won a bronze medal and was feeling super excited and positive about her performance. Tafoya kept trying to get her to say she was "making a statement" to the Russian that the Gold and Bronze went to the US, who have not tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, whereas Efimova has tested positive but was still allowed to compete. Katie, bless her, wouldn't take the bait, but it was not for lack of trying on Tafoya's part.

Compare this to the Canadian swimming coverage where, in the wrap up, they showed a clip of the live swim coverage from earlier that day, when a Russian men's swim relay team was booed when they entered the arena, and then the Canadian expert commentator said the following in answer to the anchor's question, "What do you make of that?"

He said this in the most compassionate, thoughtful, sincere tone of voice you've ever heard: "It's a really difficult situation. You know, I've never seen swimmers get booed in my entire career or in my history covering the Olympic Games. I hate to say it, but sport, the International Olympic Committee with their decision has put the swimmers in this situation...And just as a sidebar, today the IOC released an edict to ask the athletes to please stop accusing each other of taking drugs. It's being led by the athletes. I think they have a right to stand up for clean sport, but it's certainly not making it easy for anybody here at the Rio Olympics."

There was just so much *kindness* in his remarks. So much compassion and perspective. It was *Olympic* in its spirit. It was sort of the opposite of what the Americans were getting up to at the same time.

You have to have a sincere amount of dedication, I know, to watch as much of the Olympics as I do; it often takes me a few weeks after the games have finished to finish watching everything. :-) But that's okay. By then the Patriots will be playing and all will be well. Well, except that I'll have to put up with more of Michelle Tafoya's sideline interviews...perhaps someone could put out an edict asking her to be nicer? Or...hey! I wonder if the Canadians cover the Patriots?! :-)

Follow this (YouTube) link and you'll find my favorite Canadian Olympics ad. It's from Sport Chek, Canada's largest retailer of sports equipment, sporting goods, sports apparel, shoes and more.

For the love of the Games

I don't think Peter will mind my telling you this...

I love the Olympics. Like, I out-of-my-mind-more-than-almost-anything-in-the-world love the Olympics. I wait the 700+ days between Olympics and think, almost every day, about what the next Olympics opening ceremony will be like. I plan my whole life around recording and watching the Olympics. I block out all other news coverage. I avoid talking to people. I focus only on the Olympics for two weeks every two years. Maybe my greatest lifetime dream is to be part of the ceremony or part of the Games in some way. If I ever were asked to carry the torch, I think I would pass out and then weep through the entire thing. (I was so upset by the first half of Danny Boyle's Slumdog opening ceremony that I actually turned to Pete and said, through tears, "He's ruining it!! The opening ceremony is supposed to be about light and hope and athleticism; it's supposed to be about joy and freedom and friendship. It's supposed to be full of LOVE. I don't want to think about trench warfare and child labor laws and sick children! It's not supposed to be about nightmares. There is no scent of sulphur in the Olympics!!") I was broken-hearted until the athletes walked in and the light-up bicycle-driven doves appeared. The parade of nations always cheers me up (even if the announcers are being dimwits).

Pete, for his part, could really give two turds about the Olympics. But, because he loves me and because, I think, he experienced a little inertia each night after work, I'm guessing he watched probably 30-40 hours of Olympic coverage over the course of the Games. (We're still watching, PS, because I haven't caught up to everything I DVR'd; for me, the Olympic cauldron is still burning!)

And here's the point of this story and the thing I love about Pete: of all the sports I made him watch (white water kayaking, hammer throw, pole vault, gymnastics, marathons--"But, honey! They didn't even LET women RUN until 1984!! And then a woman from MAINE won! We have to WATCH! We WATCH because it MATTERS!"--and swimming coverage he referred to as "endless," etc.) the sport Peter actually fell in love with was...rhythmic gymnastics.

That's right--after watching the decathlon, the women's open water swim, the cycling races, so much volleyball his eyes were crossing, soccer (he fell asleep during that amazing women's gold medal game!), wrestling, diving, synchronized swimming, sprinting, hurdling, steeplechase, badminton, table tennis ("Are these guys for real?"), flatwater canoeing (who knew?), BMX and on and on and on, the one sport that made him say, "You know? That was so good it made me look forward to the next Olympics!" was a sport made up of teams of little (mostly Eastern European) young women and teens in pretty outfits with pointy toes fooling around with ribbons and hula hoops and balls and little clubs. I love my Peter. (And I also love rhythmic gymnastics!)

For the record, my favorite moment of the Olympics (so far) remains the finish of the men's 10,000 meters. It was full of light and hope and athleticism; it spilled over with joy and freedom and friendship. Ditto Kirani James swapping bibs with Oscar Pistorius after their 400 meter heat.

Kirani James andOscar Pistorius. Photo courtesy of  USPresswire.

If there were medals for TV coverage of the Games, most of NBC wouldn't even make the semi-finals. Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera covered the opening ceremonies so poorly they left me feeling embarrassed to be American. (Who the hell doesn't know who Tim Berners-Lee is?? And for the love of gawd, what network newscaster doesn't who he is??) Bob Costas and Dan Patrick are too cynical to do the Olympics. Bump up Tom Hammond. His sweet enthusiasm is so winning. 

And Ryan Seacrest? Really NBC? You insult us with that phoney baloney "lifestyle" coverage. It's like calling ketchup a vegetable. Not to mention that by using the host of a singing contest instead of a sports reporter, you really missed an opportunity. Actually, your failure to tap knowledgeable commentators in almost every sport was a shame. If you were an athlete, they'd kick you out of the Games for not trying hard enough. 

The cycling road race commentators (Steve Schlanger and Paul Sherwen?), they get a gold medal, and I'd give Candy Costie-Burke a silver for synchronized swimming coverage. She really handled it well when her less expert-at-synchro commentating partner would start going on about something like the height difference between the swimmers or the frigging camera technology. (I think he loved the new cameras more than the swimming, honestly.) (To get the gold she deserves, Candy just needs to lighten up a bit and accept that we, the ignorant public, really are fascinated by the nose clips, the hair gel and the mascara.) 

I also enjoyed the athlete profiles, as always, and the Mary Carillo and Jimmy Roberts pieces were good-natured; his were more watchable than hers. Tom Brokaw's contributions were classy, informative and sincere. (Bring back Brokaw!)

The Olga Korbut and Dream Team features were extraordinary--the kind of coverage I hope for during my two year wait for the Games. Thank you for those, NBC. I will be praying to the gods of Olympus that in 2014, we will see more of that sort of coverage and less "news" about Facebook Likes and Twitter trends--nothing could matter less to the Olympic Games than a hashtag or an athlete's comparative popularity on Facebook.

As a post-script, I will say that I am bracing myself for the closing ceremony. My wish is that the remote controlled Mini Coopers would be featured prominently, and also trampolines and dancing and light shows and music--bagpipes!--but I expect it will look more like the Spanish flu, the Blitz, the storming of the beaches of Normandy, and the death of Princess Diana, than it does rhythmic gymnastics.

Oh, well. Not everything in life can be as perfect as Kim Rhode's skeet shooting. See you in Sochi!!!!!