As sure as people hearing the name of a country they have never heard of in the parade of nations during the opening ceremony, the American public lived down to expectations and spent the majority of the 17 days of competition complaining about the NBC broadcast and the commentators, the delayed telecast, spoilers, and Bob Costas’ poor eye(s).
I think it is pretty easy to criticize the broadcast when it is all you have ever known and the grass is always greener on the other side. In a lot of cases here, I think the critics haven’t even caught a glimpse of the grass.
After spending the last Olympics away from the NBC broadcast I was excited to get back to the commentary I had trusted for all the Olympics I could remember before then for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. For the Summer Olympics of 2012 I enjoyed the BBC broadcast in London as well as France Télévisions, the French broadcast in Paris. I missed NBC so much that when I returned to the States I watched my favorite events via On Demand on covered by NBC. I was curious to see if I would approve or disapprove of the coverage and commentary after being freshly exposed to the coverage of other networks.
What I found then I found again in these last two weeks of the Olympic Games. After comparing those broadcasts with this one, it is clear why the color and play-by-play commentary is so different than that of other nations. The primary reason,of course, is our standard of excellence and the expectation that when our athletes compete, they win.
A prime example is the vaulting event in the 2012 London Games. The number of times the commentators said “McKayla Maroney” and made a reference to how easy this would be for her was astounding and to me, arrogant. Every vault taken had the color counting down as to how many vaults were left before she surely won gold. In the first few days of winter competition, Shaun White was put in the same position as the drama of his first botched run in the men’s snowboard halfpipe unfolded. If the commentary had any concern he would not medal they didn’t show it, instead emphasizing how he never needed a second run anyway. The commentary for these two and so many more athletes sends a simple message: Go big or-Wait. There’s another possible outcome?
Each Olympics the United States goes in with the expectation of winning the most medals and hearing the anthem more times than the time before. The media and the American public put so much pressure on the athletes to not only do well but blow everyone out of the water and when this fails to happen we stare at the television in horror asking what went terribly wrong. “The commentary said this was a guarantee so why didn’t they win?” we ask, stunned. To support and believe is one thing. To expect is another.
I can’t help but feel when we send athletes we don’t say “Good Luck!” It feels more like we say, “Go out there and medal.”
Contrary to popular belief, other countries do broadcast more events they excel in than events in which they do not. They are more generous in allotting more time to countries that are not their own but just as the American public expects to see Americans, their citizens want to see their countrymen too. They want to see events where they can cheer participants on, even when their player is ranked 25 in the event. It is true they show more sports lacking a national representative but when you have fewer representatives the proportion of participants to events get skewed making it difficult to compare.
Another contributing factor is the simple (and prideful) truth that America is stacked in many fields. They have a large representation in many events (think swimming) and often find themselves in medal contention thereby “requiring” NBC to air it. The decision to air events is based on a formula requiring consideration of our athletes and their rankings, the event popularity with the public (undoubtedly people watch more swimming than kayaking), and must succumb to the master of ratings.
Which brings up the next point of people complaining the sports are not live and that it is all NBC’s fault. Last I heard, NBC doesn’t have sole control over the time zones of the world. Believe you me, I’m with the public-I run out of the room when I hear the medal count siren on the news. Nowadays, it’s not just the news to blame. With the saturation of social media, it is close to impossible to go on any website without a glance (even an unintended one) at the updates. I checked my email and my brain quickly processes in that split second what had occurred the past day of competition. I agree, it sucks. But let us be real here. Are you really going to take 2 weeks off from work to watch the Olympics live the whole day? Probably not.
We have to understand television is not a charity. They must do what keeps them afloat with advertisers, paying attention to their ratings. They can’t afford to air their best stuff while a few dedicated and fortunate people call in sick for 2 weeks. And what about all the poor 9 to 5-ers that only have the chance to catch the show in prime time? Would you be happy with no opportunity to watch? I’d say no.
We should give NBC a break. The last thing they want to do is anger the public and have no one watch their shows. Yes, the commentators can tick off a few people when they delve into politics and culture but we can’t expect another network to do better. Journalism is alive for the controversial, for the tempting, for the unusual. And no, I’m not referring to Bob Costas’ eye.
NBC has heard you, America, and your prayer has been answered. By the power vested in the network (and the coincidence that Rio has a one hour time difference with Eastern Time), the 2016 Summer Olympics Games will be LIVE and we can all stop complaining about tape delay. Except for the poor souls on the west coast. Us poor suckers will always have the East Coast Bias making our lives miserable.
So get ready to quit your jobs, America! Or start saving your sick days now. Tell Junior you’ll take him to Hawaii some other time.
**If you’re interested in learning more, read the work of Andrew Billings, a sports communications professor at the University of Alabama. His book is entitled Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television. **
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