We are enjoying watching the Olympics at our house. Probably enjoying too much since Mack and I stay up way too late and have been dead dog tired all week long. The kids like to watch with me in the evenings after dinner while we wait for Daddy to come home from work. Reese is becoming quite proficient at discussing diving techniques and tricks. Brisbane mostly likes the volleyball. Jessenia we are not so sure yet, she is just in it for the family hang out time.
That being said, I have to say that I am somewhat disturbed by many articles (and facebook statuses) I have been reading complaining about the coverage of the Olympics. Or even better people who are complaining that the Olympics cannot be streamed free over the internet. Newsflash people: It is NOT a Constitutional Right to get to watch the Olympics!
I love the Olympics. I enjoy watching them. I also love baseball. I enjoy watching it. Last year we purchased an antennae and digital converter so that I could watch the playoffs. I did not complain that MLB does not show all of the playoff games for free on the internet. I understand that MLB is a business that owns the rights to the games and they either charge networks to show the games on television or charge individual viewers who stream the games on the internet. I just weighed my options and decided that I wanted to watch baseball enough that I would spend the money on the necessary equipment. That was a choice that I made. If you want to watch the Olympics enough, go buy the necessary equipment to do so and stop complaining.
Yes, I understand that NBC has exclusive rights in the United States to air the Olympics. And guess what, they probably paid good money for them. Television is a business! Yes, the Olympics are an international story and a big deal to a lot of people. Doesn't mean that NBC has to provide viewing as a free service.
Bob Costas bugs you? Interesting. I have been watching every night and he is barely ever on. Just a few minutes between events. He doesn't even commentate any events. Just a few interviews or special interest pieces. If he bugs you, mute it! When I do P90X, Tony Horton drives me nuts. I just mute the tv and turn on music. When I watch baseball and Tim McCarver is commentating I just mute it. So stop whinning and take control of your own life.
The commentators aren't good enough for you? Well I am sure there are not a lot of water polo commentators who have full time jobs commentating on major national televison networks. They have to find people to commentate obscure sports that are not normally aired on mainstream tv. Give them a break. It's not that bad. And once again, you could always mute the television.
What?! How could they!? You mean, they mostly show only American athletes competing? Weird. I assume they do that because they are broadcasting in the United States and it is what the majority of their viewers want to see. There are not enough hours in the day to show every single athlete perform in every single event.
Spoilers!? It's not live?! Again. NBC is a business. They are going to show the most popular events during primetime. Yes, I read the spoilers (I'm weird like that) and I still enjoy watching the events that night (mostly because in the course of dealing with kids all day I have already forgotten the spoilers I read...pathetic, I know). It is pretty easy to avoid spoilers (don't go to news sites) and if you do come across one, just relax.
That's all I am trying to say, relax. It's the Olympics. It's fun. It's supposed to be entertaining. So just gather your family around and enjoy watching a few sports you don't get to see every day. And remember, you don't have to watch if you don't want to. And nobody HAS to show it to you in the first place. It's not freedom of speech here, it's just a game.
Whew, that felt good. I don't normally use my blog to rant but I had to get this one out of my system before Mack heard me complain about it for the umpteenth million time. Thanks for indulging me and sorry about my cranky-pants moment. We will be back to posts about cute adorable children next time.
AGREED!
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