NBC Idiotically Spoils Own Olympic Coverage

Seventeen year old U.S. Olympian swimmer Missy Franklin won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London early on Monday. The event wouldn’t be shown until hours later during NBC’s Olympic primetime coverage on tape delay, meaning viewers would have to successfully avoid Internet spoilers and watching sports networks like ESPN all afternoon and early evening.

NBC has been ripped by viewers and critics alike for holding the perceived most important or popular Olympic events until primetime without ever showing them live earlier in the day on television. It only makes sense for the network to show the events in primetime, but it’s inexcusable not to also show them live and then replay them in primetime. It’s something that’s no doubt hurt the experience for fans that accidentally view or hear spoilers, but hasn’t been a hindrance to the network’s ratings.

However, what NBC did on Monday night during their primetime Olympic coverage was just stupidity at its highest level. Just a handful of minutes before the network was going to air the 100-meter backstroke, which Franklin won, the network aired a promo for Tuesday morning’s “Today” episode in which it mentioned the gold medalist would be reunited with her parents for the first time during the games. Thus by showing this promo NBC spoiled their OWN EVENT.

This wasn’t the first time during the opening days of the Olympics that NBC has spoiled one of its own primetime events either, though it is the first time it’s done so during its actual primetime showing. On the opening day of the Olympics on Saturday NBC’s Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, who’s generally one of the best around, idiotically gave the final results to the highly-anticipated Ryan Lochte/Michael Phelps event in the men’s 400 IM, which the network later aired in primetime.

It’s hard enough for fans to go almost an entire day without seeing or hearing who won certain events via television or the Internet, but hearing the news on NBC’s own coverage is just irresponsible and bad business on the part of NBC. It also goes against everything NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas said during the opening night of the events when he told the audience that the events they’d be seeing were previously recorded, but that they wouldn’t be spoiled on the air. The commentators haven’t done the spoiling, but the network certainly has.

NBC really should be ashamed of their coverage thus far during the Olympics, but I’d almost guarantee that they don’t and won’t care, because they’re shattering records according to EW.com.   

'What just happened?' ... 'I don't know, but I think I like it'

What's going on?

Saturdays are extremely slow at my job. It’s not unusual to turn on the television that sits in the dining room to a sporting event and try to catch bits and pieces of it in the sporadic moments of working. This Saturday was no different. Everything was cleaned and stocked and there weren’t any customers so I sat down at a table and switched on some sports. Pretty soon a co-worker joined me at the table. Then a few minutes later another co-worker joined us. Shortly after that my supervisor made the group a foursome.

Typically during the summer the television has been on a golf tournament or a baseball game. Today it was on fencing coverage during the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

We sat there and we watched two Italians fencers compete in something called women’s foil. I really don’t know exactly what that is or means, but the gist of it appeared to be to see how many times you can stick somebody in their body armor with your sword-like weapon. For the purposes of this piece I just looked up what “foil” means … it’s actually the name of the aforementioned “sword-like weapon”… you see, doesn’t that take some of the fun out of fencing already.

None of us four really had any damn clue what was going on. We didn’t know how the scoring system worked. We didn’t know what the lights meant. We didn’t know any of the rules. I was shocked, and I think my feelings were shared, to find out that the event had three periods.

I do think I was the most fascinated with the sport out of the group. It’s not the most exciting sporting event I’ve ever seen by any means, but I didn’t for one second find it boring. However, maybe that had to do with the exceptionally slow pace of the work day. But, it’s certainly not one of the five or maybe even 10 most boring Summer Olympic sports.

It’s something that I’ve spent minimal time seeing before in Olympic action and would enjoy watching again, though I don’t know if I’ll catch it again during these games. In my entire life I probably won’t see enough fencing action to ever know exactly what’s going on (when and where, after all, can you see fencing when it’s not an Olympic games?).

The fact that four of us were captivated together by this foil event for the maybe 15 minutes that we watched before returning to our responsibilities was unique because it really explains the allure and specialty of the Summer Olympics. Typically none of us would really care about this event, but for one moment on a quiet Saturday afternoon it captured us. Why? Because it’s the Olympics and you must watch the Olympics.

Sundays aren’t typically as slow as Saturdays at work, but they are often slow enough to have moments were there isn’t anything to do … maybe tomorrow will find us entranced in some water polo action or perhaps some field hockey. I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. It’s just a thrill two weeks every four years.     

Brickyard Owes Montoya One

Juan Pablo Montoya: Racecar Driver. If there’s ever a biography written about current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Juan Pablo Montoya than that should be its name. I have the utmost respect for Montoya because he’s proven throughout his illustrious career that he can drive and win in anything he pleases. He’s a true racecar driver. Give him something with wheels and a motor and he’ll kick your ass.

Montoya has won in many major forms of auto racing. In his one and only Indianapolis 500 in 2000, he won. He was a champion in the CART Series. He was a champion in the Formula 1 Series. He’s won the Rolex 24 @ Daytona twice in the Grand-Am Series. He’s also won twice in NASCAR’s top series, which is the most popular motorsports series in the United States.

Not only is Montoya a fantastic wheelman, but he also has that true racer persona, like many greats that came before him. He’s going to do whatever it takes to succeed and win, even if that means knocking another out of his way. Some people just can’t stand Montoya because of his driving style, which many wrongfully call “reckless”, because he’s relentless when racing their favorite drivers. Fellow Sprint Cup racer Kyle Busch is “reckless”, he loves to win, but he also loves playing the heel. This bad guy act that he loves so much leads him to want to do reckless things. Montoya loves to win, but he doesn’t give a damn what you think about him. He’s not intentionally trying to ruin your day (unless he thinks you deserve it); he’s just trying to make the most out of his.

That’s why I like Juan Pablo Montoya. Now, here’s why I really want to see him in Victory Lane on Sunday after the Brickyard 400 at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sometimes in racing a track just owes you one.

Despite Dale Earnhardt winning at Daytona more than any driver that ever competed there he never had a Daytona 500 win prior to 1998. The track owed him one. He finally got it. Like Earnhardt, Tony Stewart has won in almost everything at Daytona, but not the Daytona 500. Daytona owes it to him.

Montoya, as previously mentioned, has won at Indianapolis in his truly dominating Indy 500 victory. However, the Brickyard, desperately owes him one. 

Despite winning at both of the Sprint Cup Series road course races (Watkins Glen and Sonoma) in his career, Montoya has yet to win on a NASCAR oval track (in this his sixth full season), However, Indianapolis, has arguably been his best track in the sport. He’s never had the finishes at the track that he’s truly deserved (other than a second place finish in his rookie season of 2007) with an average finish of only 22.4 at the track, but as far as I’m concerned Montoya should’ve won the Brickyard 400 twice by now.

In 2009, Montoya had likely his finest performance in his NASCAR career, thus far, when he thoroughly dominated the race. Not only did he kick the rest of the field’s asses, he also kicked the track’s ass. The Colombian native led a race high 116 of 160 laps and he was going to lead a lot more. Nobody could beat Montoya that day, except for depending on how you saw it: himself or NASCAR. On a late pit stop Montoya was penalized for speeding on pit road. Montoya was adamant that he didn’t speed, as all drivers always are. However, I actually believed him then and still believe him today. I know he still believes himself today, too. The penalty caused him to fall back in the running order and he drove his ass off to one of the most dominant 11^th place finishes in NASCAR history and by far the most dominant I’ve ever seen. Jimmie Johnson would win the race.

The next season, in 2010, it looked like Montoya was going to put that misfortune to rest with another dominant performance. Again it looked like he couldn’t be beaten. Unfortunately this time his crew chief Brian Pattie didn’t do him any favors. After leading 86 of 160 laps, again a race best, Montoya made a late pit stop in which Pattie called for four tires. Many other drivers took two tires instead and this placed Montoya in the middle of the pack where he would get caught up in a wreck and finish 32^nd. His Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammate Jamie McMurray would go on to win the race.

Two years in a row Juan Pablo Montoya had both the competition and the track licked. He had nothing to show for it.  

Last season Montoya started toward the front, but didn’t have a good race finishing in the 28^th position. Even though it’s arguably his best track in the sport, his only top 10 finish was his second place as a rookie.

Montoya is frankly struggling pretty badly this season. In 19 races he only has a measly two Top 10s and his average finish is 20^th. His year started with him crashing into a jet dryer at Daytona in maybe the oddest accident in NASCAR history and it hasn’t gotten much better from there.

However, as we embark on the Brickyard this weekend I just know that Montoya’s going to dig down deep and find a little something extra that he hasn’t had all season. It just remains to be seen if he has a capable car underneath him.    

Yes, this magnificent two and a half mile cathedral of racing with its famed yard of bricks owes Montoya one. It owes him big. Hopefully it pays out on Sunday afternoon; I know Montoya’s damn sure going to do his best to collect.

  

Despite IOC, Costas to Properly Memorialize Munich Massacre Victims

The 2012 London Olympics mark the 40^th anniversary of what is likely the most tragic and disturbing event in the history of the games and sports, in general. It marks the anniversary of the 1972 Munich Massacre in which 11 Israeli athletes at coaches died at the hands of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. 

Despite the anniversary the International Olympic Committee (or IOC) has repeatedly said that they have no plans to pay tribute to the murdered Israeli athletes, which has angered many around the world, especially those in Israel.

I think the decision by the IOC shows a distinct lack of class on their part, but they don’t want to play politics and potentially anger other nations. However, I’m happy to say that NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas doesn’t give a damn about what the IOC has to say on the subject. Costas has told media outlets that he plans to honor the fallen athletes and coaches from 40 years ago with an on-air tribute during Friday night’s Opening Ceremonies on NBC Sports with a moment of silence. Not only will Costas memorialize the Israeli athletes, but he said he also intends to note the “baffling denial” by the IOC during the event.

I’ve always given Bob Costas a hard time in the past, because I’ve often felt like he thinks he’s the show more so than the sporting events that he covers. However, I’ve got to say that I’m very pleased with his intentions for the Opening Ceremonies. The IOC has chosen to do the wrong thing, in my opinion, and Costas is doing his little part to right that. Good for him because the tragedy that occurred in Munich in 1972 is something that should never be forgotten for if it is it might repeat itself.  

Check Out a Baseball Game (or Practically Anything Else) at Dickey-Stephens Park

I took in my first Arkansas Travelers game on Saturday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. I’ve lived in central Arkansas for over six years now and had yet to attend a Travelers game before 

Saturday, which I now know was sheer idiocy on my part. When you live only a half hour away from a minor league baseball stadium, you’ve got to go experience the joys of minor league baseball.

Saturday night’s game was certainly quite a game, in fact it was darn near two games as the game went 17 innings and lasted almost six full hours before the Travelers, the Los Angeles Angels AA affiliate, finally fell to the Tulsa Drillers, the AA affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.

Now there are two key reasons for attending a minor league baseball game. The first is the reason that many attended on Saturday night. It’s a great social event where you can go hang out with friends or family and buy overpriced stadium beer and food and maybe even get some free promotional tube socks (like on Saturday night). I knew these people weren’t actually at the baseball game for the baseball game, because they pretty much did or talked about anything and everything non-baseball related (thanks, by the way, to the girl who discussed for multiple innings how sweaty she was that day). Some people even left the game as early as the second inning and that was after they missed the entire first inning getting their kids some nachos. The second reason is, of course, to watch America’s national pastime and the greatest game that God or man ever created: baseball.

I found myself enjoying the marathon that was the Travelers/Drillers game the longer and longer that it went on, even well into the extra innings as the giant Timex clock on the stadium’s scoreboard creeped closer and closer to one in the morning. The game became more enjoyable because the crowd of probably a few thousand had thinned and cleared and what was left toward the very end of this epic game where nobody could score or even hit for that matter were the true baseball faithful, maybe 250 people at most. The kind of fans who refuse to leave before the very last out is recorded no matter what. The fans that even though they’ve been yelling, “Bad Call Blue!”, for close to six hours still bellow out with glee and cheer for their home team. This is truly the best part of the minor league baseball atmosphere. Those who don’t care about the beer, the hot dogs, the social scene or even the hot chicks that roam the stands (by the way, the more times they make you stand up so they can go get food throughout the game the less attractive they become) … these are the true baseball fans.  

There really is something special about true baseball fans and there really is something special about minor league baseball.   

So, if you want to enjoy a nice baseball game than go on out to Dickey-Stephens Park. And, if you want to enjoy practically anything else, well, you can also go on out to Dickey-Stephens Park.

NASCAR's Drug Policy Is a Joke

On Saturday night just before the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Daytona NASCAR officials notified Penske Racing and driver A.J. Allmendinger that Allmendinger was temporarily suspended as he failed a drug test. The result was that Penske Nationwide Series driver Sam Hornish Jr. had to be flown in from Charlotte and barely made it to the track in time to race. Penske and Allmendinger have requested that NASCAR test the driver’s B sample, as it was the A sample that came up positive and an official word on the length of Allmendinger’s suspension will come after the results of that test. 

I’ve never liked NASCAR’s drug testing system. Here’s why … one report that I read said that a positive test in NASCAR could literally be anything from a positive test for hard drugs such as heroin to a positive test for a sleeping pill. So, if Allmendinger needed a little help sleeping at night it could have resulted in his banishment from NASCAR. I also have an issue with the length of NASCAR suspensions for failing drug tests. NASCAR usually gives the driver and indefinite suspension and the process for returning from a drug suspension in NASCAR is way harder than most professional sports … many driver’s careers are ruined and never make it back. A few years ago NASCAR suspended driver Jeremy Mayfield for a positive drug tests in which the driver was caught using meth. Now, certainly that warranted a punishment, but Mayfield has essentially been given a lifetime ban from the sport, which is wrong.

Another issue with NASCAR’s drug testing policy is that they won’t announce what the driver tested positive for, so we literally have no clue how serious Allmendinger’s infraction was. The driver isn’t telling either, but he seems dumbfounded by the result.

NASCAR really needs to fix some things about their drug policy, because right now it’s too vague, too strict and nobody ever knows what the driver tested positive for.