NBC is actually not sucking at covering the Olympics this year. Then again, perhaps the bar was set so low after Sydney (best Olympics to attend perhaps, but hell to watch if you actually wanted to see, you know, sports) that anything would be better. After all, what I like about the TV coverage this year is that even without cable, I'm seeing a wider variety of sports for longer periods of time than I ever have before. And if I had cable, I could see entire games of sports the US isn't even good at, like badminton and field hockey. Gee, Olympics coverage that focuses on the actual events live, or (to quote Broken Cowboy[link disabled]) "plausibly live" -- what a concept.

Really my only real complaints so far have been about things only tangentially related to the actual sports coverage. First -- must we have announcers "narrating" (read "explaining what's happening onscreen as if our audience is either blind or five year old children) the Opening Ceremonies? And if we, must, must one of those announcers be Katie Couric? Look, I respect anyone who can be that perky that early in the morning -- but that doesn't mean I want a big dose of same perkiness in the evening while I'm trying to appreciate the effort it must have taken to design/choreograph/coordinate a parade symbolizing Greek history. I'm still in favor of following the Pop-Up Video format and having no announcers, just little bubbles of information telling you this is Kiribati's first Olympic team [link disabled], or fun stuff like that.

Moving on, who is picking the music for the end credit montage every night? Last night's montage (main theme: all hail "new Mary-Lou" Carly Patterson) was R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly." Now, beyond the unintentionally (I assume) humorous inappropriateness of using the music of a man with a reputation for seducing underage girls to salute a 16-year old female gymnast, the song's freakin' ancient. It was in Space Jam, people! Remember? The movie Michael Jordan made before unretiring the first time? Women's gymnastics is consistently one of the highest rated events of the games and they can't even pull out some current schlock?

Other nights haven't been much better. Josh Groban's fantastically overrated "You Raise Me Up" (ah, there's the current schlock), and a LOT of repeats of inspirational movie soundtrack stuff, primarily. Where's the guy that used Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" during the Salt Lake Games (timing the lyrics "eagle flew out of the night" with video of the US luge champ, who had an enormous bald eagle painted on his helmet)? Come on, how about REM's "Nightswimming" for Michael Phelps?

I love Michael Phelps (no, not like that). He reminds me of my baby brother, because they are of similar ages and builds (although my bro is not quite as well-muscled, obviously) and speech patterns. Plus, he always has this look on his face when he's being interviewed like "I can't believe I have to answer the same three questions after every damn race, but I'm too nice to blow you off." Which is exactly how my brother looks every time an adult relative starts asking the usual college related questions.

I like Carly Patterson because she reminds me of some of the kids I danced with the year I lived at home. Incidentally, her interview with Costas last night was hysterical because she was obviously more interested in watching the videotape of her floor routine than answering Costas's questions. I'm still slightly uncomfortable with the media deification of teenagers, but I suppose Phelps and Patterson deserve it more than certain famous hotel chain heiresses or siblings of ditzy blond popstars.

The verdict for week one: so far, so good.