NBC?

In case you didn’t know, I’m a huge Winter Olympics fan. I can’t stand to watch most typical sports on TV. But every four years I get to immerse myself in the Olympic dream and be one of those couch-sport-guys. Right now I’m pumping a fist watching women’s moguls and waiting for short track to come back on.

One of my favorite Olympic memories is of the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics and the Miracle On Ice hockey team. What perhaps is so memorable all these years later is the time spent in the living room watching the events unfold on TV with my mom. My mom typically does not watch sports. Certainly, she probably never watched a hockey game before or after those Olympics. But for those two weeks we were sitting on the edge of the couch, holding our breath. “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!!!!!”

Did anyone else make the following observation about the U.S. television coverage of the opening ceremonies? I felt like the announcing duo of Matt Lauer and that other sports guy were a let down. When every nation entered the stadium, they mentioned who the flag bearer was, their sport, and perhaps a little fact about the person. There was no such commentary when Mark Grimmette proudly carried our flag ahead of the U.S. delegation. They never even mentioned his name. It was as if they dropped their 3X5 note cards on the floor and didn’t know what to say. Seemed like the camera was more interested in where Shaun White was standing and what the snowboard ladies were doing.

Do you think there will be any mention of any of the Nordic sports? I miss having access to Canadian CBC coverage.

I was watching a news story about the two snowstorms that hit the Washington D.C. area this past week. Why is that snow storms are talked about as being bad? Apparently people are blaming the mayor because the city is still crippled from the snow and its removal. They budget for 15” of annual snow and they received somewhere around 50”. Hurray for mother nature! As humans we should realize there are some things beyond our control. Deal with it. Things could be a lot worse than some snow in the street. What about the Donner Party? (I recently saw a PBS documentary about that).

Even in Milwaukee the news stations treat a local snow storm as the lead story. As if the world is about to end. Live “on location” spots and everything. One story this week was about a guy up in arms that snow piles restricted views of traffic in certain locations. Once again… it snowed. DEAL WITH IT!