Sports commentating is all about having a sense for the moment — that special time in history that cannot be duplicated when greatness is on display. From that standpoint, tonight’s NBC Olympic coverage hosted by Bob Costas represented everything that is wrong with the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
After a buildup in previous evenings and in the newspapers pointing to a 9 PM coverage of the USA women’s gold medal soccer match against favored Brazil, it turns out that we were duped. The network never intended to waste its precious prime time hours with the taped drama of this afternoon’s emotional swan song for heroic Mia Hamm and her supporting cast. As America tuned in with great anticipation, we were only shown a brief three minute composite of scoring chances with a musical buildup to the thrilling OT goal by Abby Wambach that capped the 2-1 result. I am sorry, but the artificial pathos of Bob Costas trying to recapture the tension and excitement in a lame highlight package is no comparison to the opportunity of watching the match play out with full commentary and emotional twists and turns.
What was NBC thinking??? Unfortunately it is all about the money, and obviously their marketing and viewership studies led them to believe that the general public does not have the patience or appetite for the intricacies of a low scoring soccer match. True, the match was shown live at 2 pm (and advertised as such in today’s Baltimore Sun and I am sure on the official Olympic website as well). But that was not what we had been led to expect by their earlier hype. Admittedly, I would not be as ticked off if my family had checked out the schedule today and taped the game for evening viewing… but that is not the point.
This sports moment was not about just another soccer match. This USA women’s team had contributed so many great moments to a generation of young girls who grew up with the hope that they too could develop their talents and pursue their dreams. Here we have the capstone of a truly magnificent era in women’s team sports, where talents and personalities were blended together across the time spectrum of both fading and rising stars… and NBC is trying to get us to focus on platform diving. I am sorry, but one splash looks pretty much like every other splash to me.
So what was wrong with this summer’s Olympics? Almost everything:
- The time delay made it impossible to provide live coverage during prime time. Every non NBC affiliate took every opportunity to spoil the suspense by making sure we knew the results ahead of time. This is always a challenge.
- The number of empty seats detracted from the significance of the competition. These events demand the intensity of packed stadiums with passionate rooting interests. There were some special moments for Greek fans… but obviously they did not have enough at stake overall.
- The US no longer has a villain to fight like in the good old days of the Cold War. What can compare to the Miracle on Ice in defeating the hated Russians? Now we are the whipping boy for the world and the only international interest in the Olympics seems to be who can upset us.
- The pallor of the drug testing scandals seems to hang over most of the track and field events. Competitors who used to have a favorable image are now scrutinized with every type of conjecture imaginable.
- The men’s basketball Dream Team may still win the gold medal… but who will be left who cares? We have come to recognize that a bunch of self-centered, over paid prima donnas cannot compare to the unselfish chemistry of a fundamentally sound team that is willing to strive together for a team and national goal.
- The true USA Dream Team turned out to be the women’s softball team… but the competition hardly seems fair when every game is a total rout.
NBC had its chance. The USA soccer team (which was an underdog going in) could have been featured from the beginning with all of the associated human interest angles played up in full. But the network blew it. I am sure that my twelve year old daughter who plays sweeper for the Christian Athletic Association Fire travel soccer team was not the only one sorely disappointed. Enough said.
Check out the coverage of the game.
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