Tuesday, 19 August 2008 — 08:57PM
“Silver and Gold, Silver and Gold”
   With apologies to the late great Burl Ives for that lead-in, I guess I must be the only person in the U.S. right now who’s not tuned in to NBC, watching their coverage of the XXIX Summer Olympics in Beijing. According to an article in The New York Times, viewership is exceeding even NBC’s expectations: two-thirds of all Americans will have watched at least some portion of the games by the time they’re over. The network and parent company GE must be tickled pink that they won’t be forced to issue rebates to advertisers.
   For the record, I have nothing against the spirit of the Oympics in general. I just find all the “hype” to be a bit overdone. And it irks me a little that certain sports that have managed to sneak their way into the event over the past few decades. Baseball, for one, doesn’t quite strike me as a sport of Olympic proportions. And somehow, I can’t envision the Ancient Greeks allowing their women to play beach volleyball while wearing skimpy Speedo® bikinis that leave little to the imagination.
   And what’s with a certain Presidential administration using the event to lambaste the host nation for a couple of political and social transgressions? Pul-eez...give it a rest already.
   Maybe I’m just cranky because the Olympics has pre-empted the Saturday Night Live reruns that I still enjoy watching.  — GP
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