It is a tad bit frustrating when you are a big sports fan like myself and the grandest of all sporting events, the Olympics, is put on tape delay. The reason it is such a big issue for me is due entirely to Twitter which has changed the way we watch sports. Everyone wants information instantly and Twitter provides a platform for that whether it is sports related or not. Journalists have successfully used their Twitter handles to keep avid sports fans updated on all sports large and small. Many of those journalists over in London are going to continue to provide up-to-the-minute details about the festivities and you can't blame them for that. Why can't NBC follow suit and give us live feeds of the actions?
It is all about the benjamins! Sponsors and advertisers want to reach the largest audience as possible and in order to do that they push everything back to primetime. Or at least they offer NBC (which is owned and operated by Comcast - ticker CMCSA) more money if it airs on a tape delay. Its unfortunate that the Olympic Games are so entangled in American commercialization, but I suppose that is reality in a capitalistic economy.
Luckily I have a few options. 1) turn off my phone 2) Try and watch the live feed online or on my smartphone 3) Enjoy the Olympics via Twitter
There is no way I can do #1. The best option is definitely #2 but that is not always going to be practical. #3 is interesting because I have done it already with numerous sporting events and it may be the preferred way of following sports in the next decade.
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