Fuck you, NBC

Here is a list of all the  disciplines of sport that make up the current Olympic Summer Games:

• Archery
• Athletics
• Badminton
• Basketball
• BMX
• Boxing
• Canoe/kayak (slalom)
• Canoe/kayak (sprint)
• Diving
• Equestrian (Dressage)
• Equestrian (Eventing)
• Equestrian (Jumping)
• Fencing
• Field hockey
• Football
• Gymnastics (Artistic)
• Gymnastics (Rhythmic)
• Gymnastics (Trampoline)
• Handball
• Judo
• Modern pentathlon
• Mountain biking
• Road cycling
• Rowing
• Sailing
• Shooting
• Swimming
• Synchronized swimming
• Table tennis
• Taekwondo
• Tennis
• Track cycling
• Triathlon
• Volleyball (beach)
• Volleyball (indoor)
• Water polo
• Weightlifting
• Wrestling (Freestyle)
• Wrestling (Greco-Roman)

Here is a list of the sports I have seen on NBC prime-time over the past six days (many hours after the competitions have completed and results reported not only by every online, broadcast and print news organization, but frequently by NBC itself during its own promos):

• Diving
• Gymnastics (Artistic)
• Swimming
• Volleyball (beach)
• Volleyball (indoor)

Oh, and I don’t suppose I need to add, the only competitions NBC was gracious enough to air were those in which Americans participated. Don’t even get me started on the jingoistic nature of the coverage. We were treated to hour after hour of the U.S. men’s gymnastic team having a terrible time in the team competition – yet we saw virtually none of their competitors’ (i.e. the winners!) routines. The rings exercises were not shown once. It’s really disgraceful. And I haven’t even mentioned the valuable airtime wasted with Ryan Seacrest (RYAN SEACREST!) “reporting” on which athletes are trending on Twitter. AAAUUUGGGGGHHH! The worst.

Here’s an interesting piece about the whole debacle. The sad part is, ratings are through the roof apparently. So we can expect more of the same in 2016 and 2020. I think at this point I ought to spend two weeks in London for every Olympics, just so I can enjoy the apparently marvelous BBC broadcast.