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Football survives another Olympics

BY JOSHUA WOOD

The Wichita Eagle

Congratulations, NFL fans, you've made it.

The awful specter of the Olympics, which threatened to hold people's interests from the truly important things like preseason football, is finally over.

With the college season starting next weekend, and the NFL beginning Sept. 4, football is once again in its normal place of preeminence and superiority in fans' minds.

Long live the king!

Seriously, though, football fans, was it really that bad?

Normally this time of year, I hear about the hard times football fans have endured waiting for the interminable baseball season to slink away.

But this year was particularly tough for the football fan.

Somewhere between Michael Phelps' record gold-medal haul, Usain Bolt's ridiculously fast sprints and a thoroughly compelling gymnastics competition, we rediscovered our interest in non-football sports.

Football fans, it's OK.

It'll pass.

It's too much to believe that we will ever care that much about "minor" sports for too long.

Remember all those diehard Tour de France -- er, Lance Armstrong fans?

Yeah, we're over that.

Just remember, it's fine to share the sports spotlight every couple of years. I would argue that enjoying the World Cup also doesn't threaten to destroy the fabric of the universe either, but that's just plain crazy talk.

I mean, it's soccer right?

Is it live, or is it NBC? --In the interest of full disclosure, I am a big Olympics geek.

I love nearly everything about them starting with hearing the familiar timpani beginning of "Bugler's Dream" -- that's the name of the old-school Olympic theme which opened telecasts on ABC and is now used by NBC.

I fully embraced the concept of "plausibly live," where the TV network would tape delay sports until prime time.

Heck, I even got into a spirited discussion at work with a coworker, defending NBC's decision to continue the practice, given Beijing's 13-hour time difference from the Air Capital.

Turns out, I'm a dope.

Once we were able to see each of Phelps' races as they happened, the era of predominantly tape-delayed coverage being acceptable was over.

I'll give NBC credit for putting as many sports on all of its networks as it did. Add in NBC's Internet broadcasts, which were mercifully devoid of announcers, and it was a great event for those of us who live on a graveyard schedule.

But some of NBC's decisions were just insane.

On the west coast, NBC held all of those amazing swimming races for three hours, so they would be in local prime time.

Locally, after two weeks of live games on cable, the U.S. men's basketball team was relegated to tape delay Friday morning for its semifinal -- by one hour.

One hour.

Remember that Mario Chalmers' shot in the NCAA final? Wouldn't you have been ticked if your buddy who lived on the East Coast called you in the middle of the third quarter to talk about that miraculous three?

"What are you talking about," you might have said, "Billy Packer is just telling me what a great coach John Calipari is. What's this shot you're speaking of?"

Let's hope the coverage for Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012 embraces what was great about these games: uncertain results.

Not ga-ga for gala -- The Olympics are great for showcasing those minor and incredibly tiny sports like the modern pentathlon.

And once every four years, I'm game for gymnastics or figure skating.

As long as it's actually a real competition.

You may have noticed the "Gymnastics Gala" sneak into the prime-time broadcast Wednesday.

That's gala, as in "a festive celebration."

In other words, it's just like the Olympics...minus the challenge of competition, the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.

A word to NBC: you've got 302 events in 28 sports. Feel free to nix the half hour of "Disney on Ice" or "High School Gymnastics Musical," or whatever masquerades as a sport and throw us a look at something like archery or wrestling.

At least I know someone might win something there.

Run 'n' Gun is The Eagle sports staff's weekly look at the offbeat side of sports.

Eagle online sports producer Joshua Wood has never let his job interfere with his Olympic viewing. Reach him at 316-268-6413 or jwood@wichitaeagle.com.