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Big Olympic night: Swimming and gymnastics front and center
Last night I took an unscheduled break from the Olympics, and now I feel totally out of touch.
According to the Nielsen ratings, a gazillion people are watching the most-watched foreign-based Olympics ever, and I wasn’t among them.
I haven’t missed a single prime-time telecast on NBC since the Opening Ceremony last Friday — until last night. My flow has been seriously interrupted, but I’m jumping back into the swim of things tonight.
For the record, I’m not sick of Bob Costas yet, which surprises me. I had feared that would happen quickly. He really got on my nerves during the Athens Games, but for some reason, he’s a bit more zen now and thus is wearing better. Not as much hyperactivity and excessive bubbling.
Do you wonder what the tone of the coverage will be after the swimming competition is over? When the Michael Phelps phenomenon concludes and all the exciting American swimmers go home, where will the spotlight shine?
Track and field will be the next biggie, but there’s not really a blinding star among the men or women that will come close to the Phelps phenomenon. But that’s next week; this is this week.
Making up for lost time, I’m ready to hunker down for tonight’s entire 4-hour coverage, which mostly will bounce between swimming and women’s gymnastics. Here’s the scoop:
Swimming gold medal finals: Phelps renews his pursuit of Mark Spitz’s individual Olympic record in the 200 individual medley. Also men’s 200m backstroke, women’s 200m breaststroke and 100m freestyle.
Women’s gymnastics, individual all-around gold medal finals: Can the Americans rebound after slipping, falling and stumbling through the team competition? I’m betting wee Shawn Johnson will leap up and grab a gold or two.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Sports on TV
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By Greyhill
August 21, 2008 3:07 AM | Link to this
I think that ,the Americans can't overtake the Chinese revolution inside the Olympics.
By austinights
August 14, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this
Forget the Olympics - I'm ready for some Longhorn Football!!!!