Lets get out of the gym and see more sports

Sure there is cheating at the London Olympics. There always has been as long as man has raced against man someone has cheated. Sure, there are athletes and coaches trying to get an extra edge, pushing the rules to their breaking point. That is the nature of the beast.

But by in large, these games have been very interesting in that some unknowns and some well-knowns have performed in remarkable style and grace. Countries who had never medaled before have their first. And some athletes who have more medals than most continents have scored again and again. But it has all been exciting.

Well almost all. My biggest complaint is with NBC. Since winning their billion dollar bid to be the TV source for North America, NBC has settled on a formula for the winter and summer games. Here it is. Gymnastics in the summer, figure skating in the winter. Everything else gets spot coverage.

Don’t take this the wrong way. I love both sports. A lot. But yesterday the American women beat Japan for the gold in soccer and all we got at prime time was about three minutes of highlights. It was one of the biggest matches in the history of the women’s sport. Three minutes of Bob Costas telling us what happened while promoting to stay tuned… more gymnastics were just a minutes away.

And when they do get to gymnastics, the director there almost always refuses to put up the scores, instead, focusing on the little girls who don’t win crying and burying their heads in their coaches’ arms.

NBC gets a C- in my book for their coverage. I realize that with social media and 24-hour news coverage, which includes sports, and the fact that London is six or seven hours ahead of us in time zones, it is hard to keep the surprise that Michael Phelps has won yet another medal. Okay, I get that. But show me the sports. And in the big moments of the day give me more than three minute highlights. Cut into gymnastics some and show us some other sports. Rowing, Archery, biking, hand-to-hand combat.

Yes I know I can tune into other channels throughout the day to watch the other activities in their complete form. But who has time in the day to do that? And what if your cable package doesn’t include NBC Rowing Network? In the old days with ABC, the Olympics were an event of multiple sports, multiple heroes and multiple stories going on all at once. Today the Olympics are Gymnastics and some other stories happening at the same time. And the human interest stories were just that human. With NBC I am getting food network spots for great places to eat in London and more and more coverage of the royal family than I ever wanted.

London has put on some great games. Plural – games.  And the gymnastics has been swell, too. But other athletes deserve equal time.

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