Two years ago, I wrote a novella-length diary on the 2008 Summer Olympics. It got some modestly positive reaction from other Olympics Obsessives and made Diary Rescue. And I enjoyed writing it. So now it's time for my traditional biannual diary on the Olympics games - Vancouver edition!
Yes, I am The Olympics Obsessive. Every two years, my life is dedicated to the recording and watching of all the Olympics coverage I can get on my DVR. The Winter Olympics has a lighter schedule than the Summer Olympics, but my investment was rendered difficult by having to devote time to a job, with which I was not encumbered in 2008. The next Summer Olympics will create a challenge. I am seriously considering taking two weeks off, not to attend the Olympics, but to watch them on TV! Sad, I know.
But you are the beneficiaries of my obsession! Read below for profound and informed insights into this year's Olympics experience! This post is all about NBC's coverage. Actual event commentary will come tomorrow.
We watch the Olympics through the lens of NBC cameras and commentators. There are lots of things to dislike about their coverage, but generally, they do a first rate job of covering and allocating time to broadcast the Olympics as comprehensively as possible.
My biggest gripe is that Bob Costas, one of America's most talented play-by-play men, is wasted as the studio host of the evening broadcast. I suppose that is the highest profile job in covering the Olympics - being the "face of the network" or something - but we watch the Olympics for those amazing moments when spectacular things happen, and in all of Olympic history, nothing spectacular has happened in the anchor studio.
Network emphasis on the studio host began in 1972, when Jim McKay, ABC's legendary sportscaster, was tapped by Roone Arledge to be the principal anchor of ABC's coverage of the abduction and eventual slaughter of eleven Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists at the Summer Olympics in Munich. McKay's coverage was gripping, sensitive, tireless and brilliant. I remember watching the final moment of the crisis -- McKay quietly, carefully, with a catch in his voice, giving us the final heartbreaking body count.
When I was a kid, my father used to say "Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized." Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said that there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.
His coverage of this tragedy brought him many awards, including an Emmy and a Polk award. And he was the studio host for every Olympics ABC produced thereafter.
However, here's what few people remember. JIM MCKAY WAS NOT THE STUDIO HOST OF THE 1972 OLYMPICS!! He covered the gymnastics and track and field competitions - the highest profile events. Chris Schenkel was the studio host of those games. Schenkel, one of ABC's legendary stable of sportscasters, was best known as the voice of ABC's coverage of the Pro Bowling Tour, and had a gentle, grandfatherly demeanor. Arledge made the decision to replace Schenkel in covering the abduction with McKay, who had a little straight news experience.
In retrospect, this was unmistakeably the correct decision. I remember Schenkel vividly. His gentle, cordial manner would have been utterly wrong for that story.
But with his brilliant reporting of the Munich Massacre, McKay became the face of ABC's Olympic coverage. And so he became the studio host for all the Olympics for ABC from that point forward, effectively removing one of their most talented sportscasters from ever calling another Olympic event. And the precedent was set - the Olympics network's most talented sportscaster gets kicked upstairs to host the studio coverage.
Now ABC had a very deep stable of talent, and could take the loss. But NBC's talent pool is not that deep. Bob Costas is one of the most talented play-by-play men in the world, and he sits in a studio interviewing Dick Button and introducing events that less talented commentators cover.
And what does NBC do about this situation? They take Al Michaels, their second-most talented play-by-play man -- the man who most memorably called the U.S. hockey team's historic upset of the Soviets in 1980 ("Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!") -- NBC takes Michaels and MAKES HIM THE STUDIO HOST OF THE AFTERNOON BROADCAST!!!!!
Oy.
In fairness, NBC did get Mike Emrick, possibly the best hockey sportscaster in the business, to call the hockey coverage this year. But there are lots of sports out there in the Olympics, and Bob Costas and Al Michaels should be calling a couple of them.
(Parenthetical anecdote - Michaels told an amusing story of how he got tapped to cover the hockey tournament in the 1980 Olympics. Cosell had never called a hockey game. Keith Jackson had never called a hockey game. Frank Gifford had never called a hockey game. Bill Flemming had never called a hockey game. None of the other announcers had ever called a hockey game. Al Michaels had called exactly one hockey game. So he got the gig.)
The other big complaint about the coverage is, once again, how they structure the prime time coverage. Four hours every night. None of the events covered early in that broadcast will yield an American gold medal. All the American gold medals will be broadcast in the final hour, so people can go to bed happy and secure that America is Teh Awesome.
Last week, NBC broadcast Shani Davis winning his gold medal in the 8 pm hour. I knew immediately that this was a night in which the United States was going to kick arse. Sure enough, that was the night that Lindsey Vonn and Evan Lysacek won their gold medals.
Look, I get it. They're trying to maximize their audience. Just break up the pattern. The plotting is as predictable as an old Scooby Doo episode.
On the positive side, NBC finally figured out how to cover cross-country events. If you had the fortune to watch any of the afternoon broadcasts, you saw wire-to-wire coverage of several cross-country events, and it was amazingly gripping. In the old days, these events would be covered in five minute recaps. Now we get it all. And it's all good. Especially the biathlon.