Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

WBC >>>> NBC

If you're looking for a reason to get excited about the World Baseball Classic, I'd recommend trying to follow the Olympics coverage on NBC.  Not only will it give you the hunger for a live sporting event of any kind, but it's also made me somewhat glad that the IOC dropped baseball from the 2008 Olympics.

To sum up the job NBC's doing with the Olympics, I'd call it "absurd."

At least with the WBC, you'll be guaranteed international competition with better athletes, and you'll be able to see it when it actually happens.  Maybe it won't capture the same drama as the Olympics, but given that the next Olympics are in Beijing, NBC would've sucked the life out of it anyway.

I oversee Olympics coverage during the day, so there's really no point in me waiting for the tape-delay broadcast.  But I can understand that some people can only watch in the evening, so that's not really the issue.

The real issue is that when something's happening, I can't see it.  And there were two things that demanded to be seen while they happened:  the U.S. women's hockey team debacle, and the Lindsey Jacobellis...also debacle.

I saw the story cross the wire that Sweden and the U.S. were tied entering the third period, so I went to turn on the TV to see who won the game on any one of the six or seven channels NBC's using to broadcast the Games. 

Nothing.  Despite the billions of dollars the network spent to televise the Olympics and how many hours of programming it bragged it offered, I was relegated to getting my stories from the AP.  Not too different from the days of the telegraph.

Anyway, the U.S. lost, failing to make a final for the first time since the start of international competition in the sport.  There were some exciting developments, such as the U.S. keeping the Swedes scoreless during a 5-on-3 advantage, the Swedish goalie standing on her head, and the most dramatic of all endings, a shootout.  And NBC failed to make me care about watching history because it kept the game from everybody who cared enough to watch it when it happened in the first place.

(Besides, that's what they get for knocking Downers Grove native Cammi Granato off the team.  As we say in the Grove, "Don't dick with D.G."  Okay, we don't really say that at all.)

I missed Jacobellis' fateful run while I was in a meeting, but given the description of the 50-yard lead and the completely unnecessary stunt she tried pulling, it was something I had to see.  So I flipped the various NBC channels to see a recap, and it was all soaps, newscasts and government stuff. 

However, when I went by CNN, they were going live to Turin to talk about it.  It said "Live" in the top left corner.  It all seemed promising, especially when the correspondent said Jacobellis' name. 

Of course, all I ended up seeing were a series of photos that had already crossed the wire more than an hour before.  I had forgotten NBC put the chokehold on other networks to prevent them from airing footage before they did.  So I've still yet to see this infamous moment in Olympic history, and at this rate, I may not see it until it shows up on some list show where D-list celebrities and "comedians" crack jokes about it for a $75 check.

It's absurd to have to wait nine hours or so to see what you already know happened this day and age.  It's a shame that the Internet wasn't around during the Cold War, considering how the Olympics were the one way the two countries actually battled.  Imagine if nobody saw the 1972 Olympics unfold, and just heard "USSR 51, USA 50.  USA might've been cheated, Russia got three chances to make one play.  Game's under protest."  That would've gotten rid of some of that arms race tension, right?

Anyway, to channel this rant back to the WBC, it'll be refreshing to see countries compete while it's actually happening.  After the 2008 Olympics and the 2012 games in London, it might've been 12 years before we were actually able to see live international baseball with each country sending its best (or close-to-best) players. 

Maybe this thing will be a success, maybe it'll be a poorly-planned mess, but either way, we'll at least know at the same time everybody else does. 

Looking on the bright side

It's not often we should take cues from Albert Belle, who was arrested last night for allegedly stalking an ex-girlfriend and using a GPS device to track her.  One thing he said touched me, though -- legally, and only metaphorically:

"You didn't write a story about my Hall of Fame induction," Belle said. "You guys never report the good stuff that I do."

Well, we can't write about Belle's Hall of Fame induction -- you know, since it never happened.  But we can talk about another good thing that happened.  I'll call it the smartest thing Ozzie's ever said to the press off the field.

After his inflammatory words from a Sports Illustrated were posted in advance, he actually apologized for them. 

"I learned a lesson. I never took a first shot at anybody in my life and now I feel like I took the first shot. I feel embarrassed, I feel guilty. I wish I had not said it the way it sounds or the way I said it."

Hey!  A real apology!  Not a Bill Parcells-variety non-apology apology where you pin the blame on the people who took offense to the statement, but a legitimate "sorry."  Then he solidified his remorse further by rephrasing what he said in a realistic way:

"I don't call him a hypocrite in that way. Alex is not a hypocrite. I was just trying to say he doesn't have to please people. He doesn't have to make people from the United States or from the Dominican Republic or from Venezuela happy. When you do that, you sound like you are a hypocrite. You say, 'Hey I want to play for the United States and that's the team I belong on,' move on and that's it."

Perfect.  He admitted he used the wrong word, yet didn't back off.  Many times athletes or other public figures will say something controversial, then disown all their words and pretend nothing ever happened for the sake of their appearance. 

Hypocrites say one thing then do another.  Rodriguez never makes up his mind in the first place.  There's a slight difference, and I'm surprised Ozzie acknowledged it.  But as someone who had to hear about A-Rod's trials and tribulation over picking a friggin' team, I wholly appreciated his viewpoint in the first place.

I've never been a fan of Ozzie's mouth, although I do recognize the entertainment value.  But now that we've seen him exercise this sort of discretion -- even if it's ex post facto -- will make the roller coaster ride known as Ozzie Guillen: White Sox Manager easier to bear.