OK, so I've finally decided to end my own personal boycott of the Beijing Olympics. As one commenter was nice enough to point out, in the end it's about athletes competing. Yes, I suppose it is possible to enjoy the athletic competition while at the same time recognizing that the host country's government is a collection of thugs and thieves dedicated only to their own enrichment and self-aggrandizement.
So, there I was yesterday, watching the US-China basketball game. Given the hype, the popularity of the game worldwide, and the population of both countries, it seems safe to say that it was the most-watched basketball game in history. I was looking forward to watching it as it happened. Sure, I understand the 15-hour time difference between the West Coast and Beijing, but NBC was promoting it as a live broadcast. So, the game started, and I made the mistake of deciding to do a bit of web-surfing while waiting for the opening tip. Imagine my surprise when I went over to the Huffington Post and saw this just before tip-off:
Nice, eh? And I HATE watching games in which I already know the result...not that there was really much of a doubt as to what the final outcome would be, I suppose. Still, it would have been nice to have at least been able to maintain the illusion that the game I was watching was live.
OK, so the US won handily, 101-70. It wasn't until after the broadcast of the game was over the NBC's Jim Lampley indicated that the time on the East Coast was noon. It was just before noon on the West Coast when the game ended, so at least I was able to figure out that the broadcast had been delayed by three hours. Sure woulda been nice to know that going in, don'tcha think?? Then again, when the size of the viewing audience depends in large part on maintaining the fiction that events are live, why would any reasonable person expect anything resembling the truth? Not when there are advertising rates to artificially inflate.
It would have been nice if NBC had at least had the common decency to be honest enough to admit that the game wasn't being broadcast live. A simple "RECORDED EARLIER" graphic on the screen would have sufficed. After all, with a 15-hour time difference, and the game tipping at 10am Pacific Time, that would have meant tip-off would have been at 2am in Beijing. Yeah, I know; not likely, eh?
So what have I learned from this sorry experience? If I want to maintain the charade that what I'm watching is live, stay off the Internet...because it's not as if you can count on NBC being honest.
