What are you watching in the Olympics?

Saturday night prime time and NBC is showing a women’s marathon at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Interesting.

Actually, marathon running is something I like watching, but I'm not sure that holds true for many people. In general, I find the Olympics to be a bit overblown. Most of these sports are things the general sports audience has no interest in 47 months out of a 48-month span.

Swimming, for example, does not draw much in the way of television ratings at any other time than when Michael Phelps is chasing a record.

And it seems like every morning when I get up during an Olympic stretch and flip on the TV — whether the games are in Europe or Asia or Australia — rowing is on, which makes me change the channel in search of a MASH rerun.

Some other events, such as synchronized diving, equestrian, don’t do much for me.

But some of the sports I have always thought should be able to make inroads on the American sports scene.

In the Winter Games, I always enjoyed short-track speedskating, which can be a little like watching NASCAR on ice, dating back to my days of covering sports in St. Louis. That area is a short-track speedskating hotbed with a few Olympians (J.P. Kepka, two-time silver medalist Nikki Ziegelmeyer) and standout Tom O’Hare, so it’s not a sport confined to Lake Placid or other northern regions.

It also had a standout centerpiece athlete to build around in Apolo Anton Ohno, some rivalries both in the United States (O’Hare claimed a conspiracy kept him off the team) and internationally (Ohno vs. South Korea).

Alas, there is no professionally short-track speedskating league.

There are some summer events I enjoy watching every four years:

Table tennis and badminton. I love to play when I get a chance, and I like to see how my mad skillz compare with the Olympians.

Team handball. A sport that looks like basketball with soccer-like goals defended by keepers, I am not sure why this doesn’t catch on in the U.S.

Points racing in cycling. I used to like to watch cycling but the doping problems of the Tour de France make that nearly unbearable. This race Saturday was 160 laps (about 25 miles) on a velodrome with points awarded for sprint winners every 10 laps and big points awarded for cyclists who sprint off to put a lap on the field. Pretty cool, especially when you consider the bikes have one gear and no brakes.

What sports for you are can’t-miss or surprisingly interesting?

New Zealand drops two

The New Zealand women's basketball team, which beat Mali in the opener and then lost to Spain on Sunday, also lost 80-63 to host China and 90-59 to the Czech Republic this week.

Natalie Purcell, formerly a standout at Southeast Missouri State, scored five points in the loss tom China. 

The Tall Ferns are to play the United States in pool play, too. Ouch. 

The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, use the exclamation point icon beside the comment to send a report to the webmaster.