The Wide World of Sports

Did you enjoy the Olympics?  We certainly did.  I think the track events, team volleyball, and beach volleyball are my favorite parts of the summer Olympics.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the exciting entrance that the Queen made with James Bond.  That was clever and fun to watch.  But I can't say that I really enjoyed NBC's coverage.  I guess because of their huge cost to broadcast the games they had to sell many, many commercials.  And I got tired of watching them as they continually broke in on the taped delayed events.  And then there were all the "human interest" background stories for each individual.  Some were interesting but in general I thought they took away from key events and just stretched out the action.  I wish they had just showed more competition with fewer commercials and interviews.  It seemed to me that four hours each night included less than an hour of actual competition.  But, maybe that really wasn't the case.  It probably just seemed like it. Then there were the announcers who tried to impress the world with their "wisdom" by getting in the way of the competition.  For example, in the women's vault, the announcer kept saying that the U.S. entry was so far superior to everyone else that nobody had a chance to beat her.  After hearing this over and over and over again, she finally performed and made a mistake. She came in second. Then the cameras followed her everywhere.  Of course there were the dumb interviews. "You worked for this for four years and didn't make the finals.  How do you feel about that?" or "You were the defending champ and didn't qualify for the finals.  How do you feel about that?" Duh!  And that leads me to share some dumb things that announcers actually have said, not at the Olympics, but while broadcasting other soccer matches. Here goes.  1.  Well, it's Liverpool two, Ipswich nil, and if the score stays this way, I've got to fancy Liverpool for the win.   2.  He had an eternity to play that ball, but took too long.   3.  And so they have not been able to improve on their 100% record.   4.  With the last kick of the game, he scored with a header.    5.  Well, it's a fabulous kaleidoscope of color: almost all the Brazilians are wearing yellow shirts.   6.  If that had gone on, it would definitely have been a goal.  7.  Their manager, Howard Wilkinson, isn't here today, which strongly suggests that he may be elsewhere.    8.  I am a firm believer that if one team scores a goal, the other needs to score two to win.   9.  If a team scores early on, it often takes an early lead.   10.  You cannot possibly have counted the number of passes made, but there were eight.  Duh once again!  And so much for the wacky world of sports!