The NBC affiliate in Hawaii sure is messing up the broadcasts of
the London Olympics – big time!
At 2:30 pm on a given day last week, I
found out from my sister in Australia,
that their swimming gold hope had, some hours before, been pipped at the post. He had lost by a fingernail to an
American.
What was I watching on my TV screen at
that particular time? Half a dozen bums bouncing around the seats of their
bicycles. The swimming final my sister
was referring to didn’t hit my TV screen until much, much later that
evening. A bit of an anticlimax? You betcha!
The TV station’s response to angry
questions about delayed broadcasting is that they like to provide Hawaii workers with the
same excitement that attendees to the Games are experiencing. Apparently they’ve never heard of
international telephone capabilities nor thought that viewers might have access
to computers…even at work! Additionally,
there are quite a number of people who don’t actually work nine to five…and in
this economy they’re increasing each week…who would like to see their favorites
winning or even losing in real time.
Of course, the announcers at the
actual venues don’t do a great job either.
What is it with commentators who can only see their own country’s
participants and are completely blind to the excellence of others? This, slightly paraphrased, was broadcast
during a 200m freestyle swimming heat:
‘What a nice entry into the water…yes,
lovely kick as he surfaces.’ The swimmer
in question soon started to fade, but not according to the commentators.
‘He certainly does have a lovely even
stroke. Look at him slicing through the
water, lovely arm action.’ By this stage the swimmer was
nearly a full pool length behind everyone else.
‘What a superb turn…yes, you can see
he’s put in his time practicing can’t you?
You know these swimmers spend months and months perfecting their
skills. We certainly wouldn’t be able to
cope with the hours they put in.’
Now the swimmer was barely dog
paddling trying to catch up to the three swimmers in front of him who were
ready to touch the wall.
‘And there he is…looks like he’ll come
in fourth. Don’t think he’ll make it
into the finals this time…but what an effort. Well done.’
About this time I thought the
commentators were going to go into raptures about the poor guy’s swim
suit. The color, the cut, the style! Thankfully the cheering crowd distracted them
from further joy about their competitor and grudging acknowledgments about the
three place getters were offered.
Now that the track and field part of
the Games is in progress, I wonder what rapturous accolades I’ll be listening
to? Whatever they might be, I’ll be
hearing them hours and hours after everyone else. Ah, so lucky I live Hawaii!
