2012 USA Olympic Marathon Trials HoustonJan 4, 2012 by Austin Selby
Better is Deserved
Better is Deserved
Better is Deserved
January 14th-NBC-8 AM-9 AM-Today Show.
January 14th-NBC- 9AM-10 AM-Local Programming.
These are the television listings for Memphis, TN, the morning of the men’s and women’s US Olympic Team Marathon Trials to be held in Houston, TX. The gun will sound for the men at 8 AM and the women will get going 15 minutes later.
NBC has decided to run a two hour special from 3-5 Eastern that afternoon in lieu of live coverage. There is no doubt the coverage will be dominated by human interest stories. There is also no doubt these stories will be great. Most in the running community including RunBlogRun, and LetsRun.com have lauded this as a good thing. NBC has even stated that this will bring the best of the running world to the most people. Really?
On Fox network at 3:30 Eastern, the NFL Divisional playoffs will get underway. I doubt NBC is going to pull anyone away from the gridiron that afternoon. Non-runners will have caught the highlight; they’ll know the winners. No need to miss the football game for a fluff piece on athletes whose names they hear once every four years, at most.
Do not get me wrong. The Trials will be on. There will be two hours of American distance running. That is great. However, I think NBC and the USATF have once again mocked its base by not offering any live coverage.
Thinking that no matter what, most of us will tune in, they have waited until they could charge the most for advertising, and stuck the marathon in that time slot. Unless you have found a way to Houston, TX, on the 14th, you have to get a recap.
In reality, the running world throughout most of the nation will already have the results from Flotrack or other track and field news outlets, and fringe followers may not even tune in.
In order to show the actual Olympic Marathon final in a good time slot where Americans would be awake, NBC lobbied to move the start time of the race. Olympic organizers even rerouted the course to be more aesthetically pleasing neighborhoods (not that The Olympic Year agrees with the latter), so it would look good on TV for those just tuning in to see sights of the city. Why can this kind of effort not be shown here, on our own turf?
It is important to remember that there are those of us who do not need to be convinced. We will stare at our laptops for 2 hours or so to watch a race, even without commentary.
NBC and the organizers have made a poor decision to offer no live race coverage. With what promises to be potentially one of the greatest Olympic Marathon Trials in US history, the running world, and even the non-running world deserve better.
Check out more blogs from theOlympicYear.com
January 14th-NBC- 9AM-10 AM-Local Programming.
These are the television listings for Memphis, TN, the morning of the men’s and women’s US Olympic Team Marathon Trials to be held in Houston, TX. The gun will sound for the men at 8 AM and the women will get going 15 minutes later.
NBC has decided to run a two hour special from 3-5 Eastern that afternoon in lieu of live coverage. There is no doubt the coverage will be dominated by human interest stories. There is also no doubt these stories will be great. Most in the running community including RunBlogRun, and LetsRun.com have lauded this as a good thing. NBC has even stated that this will bring the best of the running world to the most people. Really?
On Fox network at 3:30 Eastern, the NFL Divisional playoffs will get underway. I doubt NBC is going to pull anyone away from the gridiron that afternoon. Non-runners will have caught the highlight; they’ll know the winners. No need to miss the football game for a fluff piece on athletes whose names they hear once every four years, at most.
Do not get me wrong. The Trials will be on. There will be two hours of American distance running. That is great. However, I think NBC and the USATF have once again mocked its base by not offering any live coverage.
Thinking that no matter what, most of us will tune in, they have waited until they could charge the most for advertising, and stuck the marathon in that time slot. Unless you have found a way to Houston, TX, on the 14th, you have to get a recap.
In reality, the running world throughout most of the nation will already have the results from Flotrack or other track and field news outlets, and fringe followers may not even tune in.
In order to show the actual Olympic Marathon final in a good time slot where Americans would be awake, NBC lobbied to move the start time of the race. Olympic organizers even rerouted the course to be more aesthetically pleasing neighborhoods (not that The Olympic Year agrees with the latter), so it would look good on TV for those just tuning in to see sights of the city. Why can this kind of effort not be shown here, on our own turf?
It is important to remember that there are those of us who do not need to be convinced. We will stare at our laptops for 2 hours or so to watch a race, even without commentary.
NBC and the organizers have made a poor decision to offer no live race coverage. With what promises to be potentially one of the greatest Olympic Marathon Trials in US history, the running world, and even the non-running world deserve better.
Check out more blogs from theOlympicYear.com