I’ve watched more than my fair share of this year’s Olympic games, and I’ve also listened to more than my fair share of lackluster commentary. NBC is just doing a horrible job at announcing these Olympics - there’s no real sense of humor or fun (although I will give them cheesy, even though it’s delivered in total dead pan - as though they don’t even realize they are trying to be funny).
The best Olympic commentary I’ve heard was during the Sydney games in 2000. The announcers had a sort of unified enjoyment of (and healthy disrespect for) the Olypmics, and it came through in their comments.
Not us. NBC is just way too straightlaced in it’s approach. There’s no humanity to anything they do. I find it so… well… lame… that I think that the IOC should yank their contract and hand it to someone else - someone with a modicum of experience in announcing sporting events, someone like… oh, I don’t know… like ESPN. The folks over there just seem to have such a joy for sports that they couldn’t help but enjoy themselves as they hosted the Olypmic’s US television presence. Maybe we’d enjoy them a little more too.
