Finally - The REAL Olympics!

You'll be reading all kinds of blogs and commentaries that condemn Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian for throwing a hissy fit after losing the Gold Medal in his weight class in Beijing. All I want to say here is that it's refreshing to see the Olympics as they really are.

Here's the story in a nutshell. Abrahamian lost a wrestling match that he felt was unfairly judged. The winner of the match ultimately went on to win the Gold medal, and Abrahamian had to be talked into wrestling in the bronze medal match, which he won. At the medal ceremony, after receiving his bronze medal, Abrahamian walked off the podium, dropped his medal on the wrestling mat, and walked off, declaring he will never wrestle again. Let's go to the videotape:



Now, I don't condone what this jackass did for a minute, but it's compelling television - and it should have been shown on NBC. Instead, NBC never even mentioned it! Why? Because NBC is protecting the Olympics brand, which it has spent billions and billions of dollars to market.

The Peacock network is running a poor fourth in ratings outside of its NFL and Olympics brands, and it doesn't want to do anything to piss off the International Olympics Committee. NBC has spent so much money to air the games that its sole mission is to spin its coverage with one and only one strategy in mind - to maximize ratings at all costs so it can charge a higher rate for its commercials.

This is why you'll see every feel-good compelling story that NBC can muster... In fact, don't be surprised if NBC tries to get Michael Phelps to suit up and enter the track and field competition as a pole vaulter next week when swimming is done. The network has already been criticized (and rightly so) for soft-pedalling China's human rights record as it spins so many cotton candy stories of China coming out to the world. You should also note that NBC's corporate parent, General Electric, has been using the Olympics as an entree to line up all kinds of equipment contracts with the Chinese government... So don't expect NBC to screw up any deals for GE by showing something that might offend China's elite!

I have enjoyed what I've seen of the games so far - especially the excellent swimming coverage... and who wouldn't love the Michael Phelps story? But give me the WHOLE story, NBC - not just the one that meets your bottom line needs!

It's A Miracle! Hallelujah!

I've just come out of surgery, and against all odds, I was able to bring my 1983-vintage General Electric clock radio back to life! Now, I'm afraid it will never again be the spry, witty, devil-may-care machine that it was in say, 1986, but honestly... who among us ARE that way any more?

As mentioned in my previous post, I decided to go ahead and crack the clock radio open for the first time in 24 years, just to see if I could figure out a way to fix the dial, which suddenly no longer moved when I turned the knob.

I turned the clockradio bottoms up and saw a message molded into the plastic, warning me that if I even dared to turn the screws holding the machine closed that I would no doubt send my heart into cardiac arrest from the 200 megawatt blast of leftover electricity from some capacitor that would no doubt vaporize me instantly. The message also said there were no serviceable parts inside the clock radio, and that if I had any questions, I should write to some General Electric office in Syracuse, New York. (We forget how quaint life was before the internet, don't we?)

Ignoring all warnings and putting my life in sudden jeopardy, I removed the screws, opened the case, and nearly CHOKED on the 25 years of dust that had accumulated inside. The cloud filled the room! Feeling my way inside, I found no obvious path to the tuner knob, so I removed the knob and found a string wrapped around the knob post... I untangled the string, gave it a gentle tug, and discovered that the string operates the dial... you can pull it in either direction to find your station of choice! Somehow, it had detached from the tuner knob, and therefore ceased to work! I was not able to reattach the string, but now that I know how it operates, I can set the station again!

Not a perfect solution, but it'll keep me from having to find a replacement! Sometimes, prayers really ARE answered!