NBC had some hits; most missed 'em

By SHARON GINN

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 2, 2000

NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol believes the Olympics is one of the few times the family gathers together around the TV. So naturally, when mom, dad and the kids were sharing a bowl of popcorn around 8:30, and the dog was snoozing on the rug, the network gave them ... equestrian. Or road racing.

Just about all the good stuff on NBC's two weeks of coverage happened between 10 and midnight, meaning the kids probably didn't get to watch Marion Jones' sprints to victory, see how the vault controversy played out in the women's gymnastics all-around or catch the historic wins in the 400 meters -- either Cathy Freeman's or Michael Johnson's.

Like it mattered. Even a 7-year-old could have logged on to CNNSI.com and had the results with his breakfast cereal.

No wonder the Today show enjoyed record ratings during its stint in Sydney. Katie Couric and Matt Lauer were NBC's Olympic heroes, bringing us up-to-the minute results, fresh interviews and fun features about the land Down Under. What more could an Olympics fan want?

Obviously, NBC wasn't delivering it during prime time. What will be known as the tape-delayed Olympics were a disappointment for the network, which paid $705-million for the rights and saw ratings fall well below what it had promised advertisers (even though it still crushed the competition and will make money off these Games). The network will have to give away free spots during its new season to make up for the shortfall.

But NBC's "Complete Olympics" wasn't a complete bust. The best moments were the surprising performances, and the network handled them beautifully -- if sometimes close to 24 hours after the fact.

Here's a look at some of the highlights and lowlights of the fortnight:

The good

Sure, 441 1/2 hours of coverage for an overseas Olympics was too much. But thanks, NBC, for bringing the Games to cable. Not only did MSNBC and CNBC enjoy higher than normal ratings, fans were able to see team sports in their entirety for the first time: water polo, soccer, basketball and the unforgettable baseball gold medal game. CNBC was the place to watch boxing, and MSNBC had a special after-school show geared toward preteens. It was an excellent way to use the two channels.

Accused of jingoism during the Atlanta Games, NBC diversified its coverage. Half of its 100 or so features were about foreign athletes or teams. We saw the human side of superhuman athletes such as Chinese diver Fu Mingxia and learned about history-making teams such as Japan's "Amazons" women's volleyball team of 1964. While the U.S. gymnasts struggled, NBC made us care about the Russians, Romanians and Chinese.

Speaking of gymnastics, kudos to Al Trautwig, and for more than not being John Tesh.

In 1996, ridiculing Tesh for his melodramatic gymnastics calls was a medal sport in itself. Four years later, enter Trautwig, who brought sharp observations, a smooth voice and the right (that is properly restrained) touch of drama to one of the Olympics' signature sports.

He also provided a nice counterbalance to Tim Daggett and Elfi Schlegel, who tend to get overexcited. Memo to NBC: Bring him back.

The swimming coverage was outstanding. Though the fast pool and faster athletes set the tone for an exciting week, NBC's coverage added depth. The best innovation of the Games was a world-record line -- similar to the first-down line in football coverage -- that allowed viewers to see if a swimmer was on pace for a world record.

The bad

Other than its tendency to show important events late, NBC's most obvious faux pas was its resistance to showing any event live. Only the gold medal men's basketball game Saturday was shown live and that was a late decision that wasn't publicized. The first night of coverage set the tone: While a gold medal was being won in the women's triathlon, NBC was showing the Opening Ceremonies. The triathlon wasn't aired until the next night.

The network could have salvaged credibility by trimming the ceremonies coverage to 31/2 hours and showing the triathlon afterward. Nobody expected NBC to carry events live at 5 a.m., but a little effort to be fresher would have been appreciated.

Though the network kept its promise to cover breaking news, it could have carried live the news conference where C.J. Hunter addressed his positive drug tests. The event was scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. last Monday. By the time host Bob Costas cut to Hunter's statements around midnight, the Associated Press and other news organizations already had filed stories. Hmmm. Was the delay meant to downplay the story because NBC was counting on Jones, Hunter's wife, to carry its second week of coverage?

Ebersol discovered more is not necessarily better. NBC won't attempt to fill five hours in the evening again. The strategy subjected us to too many hours of sports Americans couldn't care less about.

And it was hard enough to get excited when we already knew the big news of the day.

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