One thing about the Olympics that seems to have everyone up in arms is how NBC has handled broadcasting them. WIth all the tape delays and only showing American competitors for the most part (and anyone who seems to be a big threat to the American athletes) it can get frustrating for people who want to see all 30 competitors in a sport. On top of that, with all of the results of races and events that are over well before prime time, you know who won the event even before it airs!!
This past Thursday and Friday I tried to stay away from anything that would tell me the outcome of 2 big events of the day - Women's Half Pipe and Men's Free Skate. I knew I would be working late Thursday night, so any Olympics I would watch would be on mega tape delay on my DVR. I was able to stay awake long enough to see the Half Pipe competition, but by then it was after midnight, and I had to be at work super early on Friday, and I was falling asleep. I would have to wait until after work Friday to watch the men's skating. I did NOT want to know who won before that.
So Friday - I stayed off of twitter, facebook, and pretty much every web site at work. I listened to my iPod instead of NPR on the way to and from work. And I didn't put the TV on at all until I was ready to settle down and watch what happened 19 hours earlier and I am glad I did - it was more fun to sit and watch through all the programs still with the suspense of "will Evan Lysacek hold off Evgeni Plushenko" along with "what will Johnny Weir wear tonight?" It reminded me of watching the last Canadian Olympic games in Calgary back in '88 with the "Battle of the Brians" and the "Battle of the Carmens"
I consider myself a very "tuned in" media and pop culture freak, so if I could stay away from the scores and results long enough to watch the competitions in suspense, you can too.
Just don't ask me about anything that may have gone down in the twitterverse on Friday, I'm still trying to catch up.
Evan Lysacek with his 2010 Olympic Gold Medal
