the lack of passion on NBC's part was also evident in their coverage of Sunday's NASCAR event; the Daytona 500. Never have i seen such sloppy work with cameras, announcements, and analysis. The on-air talent seemed to have no interest. There was no sparkle, no pizazz. FOX knows how to cover NASCAR. All NBC did was complain about the crappy weather because they "couldn't get the helicopter up".

meh.

You're a fantastic writer. As evidenced by your commentary here and the most moving tribute above.

I can't wait for the Olympic Games to be over!

I am so tired of the Today Show's pseudo-news about Olympic athletes, their families, the cheesy music they always play in the background to make all the more sentimental...

Every day is the same boring thing!

BTW, great post!

“…the only truly awe-inspiring events -- downhill racing and ski jumping -- are dominated by anonymous, personality-free blondes from Norway, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Austria.”

Thanking you for your perfect almost olympic observations. I am work on personality.

Oh, excellent job. Blogged a graph.

Well said. I gave it all a try, I honestly did, but I don't think NBC could have made the coverage less appealing if they tried. This Olympics will go down as the one most loaded with falls, gaffes, and the defeat of hubris, both by the athletes NBC chose to focus on and the coverage itself.

The good part is that by 2010, and possibly even 2008, all this will probably change. The fact that American Idol beat the tights off of NBC's coverage hopefully means that even the bigwigs will be held accountable and actually start using their broadcasting power in a 21st century manner.