What are you watching in the Olympics?
Posted Saturday, August 16, 2008 @ 07:29 pm

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?

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