McKay to create role as he goes

He is best known for relaying the most unforgettable stories of the Olympic Games, from the U.S. hockey team's victory in Lake Placid to the murder by terrorists of 11 Israeli athletes in Munich.

But though Jim McKay's best work is decades old, his return to the Olympics as a special correspondent for NBC won't simply be an "exercise in nostalgia," as he puts it. He has much to say about these Olympics, his first as a broadcaster since Calgary in 1988.

McKay, 80, will join NBC host Bob Costas every night in the studio for one or two segments, offering features and commentaries. He also will join Costas and Katie Couric for tonight's coverage of the Opening Ceremony.

The exact direction the role will take is unclear, but he does know that though he won't be a co-host, he also won't be a prop.

"We won't really know what it's all about until we start doing it," McKay said. "Until then it will be unexplored territory. ... Any Olympics, really, is unexplored territory for everybody in a way.

"We don't know why we'll remember Salt Lake. We do know that the Games will write their own story and our job ... will be to recognize that story and weave it together for the people watching at home."

For 40 years with ABC, that has been McKay's forte. His reports over several horrifying days in Munich in 1972 earned him news and sports Emmy Awards and cemented his role as America's Mr. Olympics. Eight years later, he brought us the "Miracle on Ice," which he calls "the greatest upset in any sport, any time, anywhere."

McKay has a lifetime contract with ABC. Once NBC secured all U.S. broadcast rights for the Olympics until at least 2008, he thought he had worked his last Games.

But NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, who worked as an Olympic researcher for ABC and McKay in 1968 and 1972, had other ideas. He approached McKay about working the Sydney Games in 2000; McKay said no because it was too far away. But the Salt Lake Games interested him, and ABC Sports president Howard Katz agreed to loan him to NBC.

"To have both (Costas and McKay) together is just a great joy," Ebersol said. "We feel particularly appreciative to ABC for having given us the opportunity to have Jim."

Costas, the Olympics' most visible face after serving as prime-time host the past three Summer Games, said getting to share TV time with his friend McKay is like "being transported to the '50s and broadcasting baseball with Red Barber or Mel Allen. He's the guy who defined the craft, who defined this assignment."

COOL TOOLS: Ever wonder how high aerial ski jumpers get while they're flipping, twisting and preparing to land on hard-packed snow? NBC will use special tracking cameras and computers from Sportvision to tell viewers just that.

On The Wire