NBC has been covering the Olympics since 1988, but it never has faced a challenge like this one.
It’s hard to remember an Olympics with a more negative vibe: Terrorist threats; Russia’s horrid civil rights policies; an uninspiring locale for a Winter Games; disgust for Vladamir Putin, who spent $51 billion to build up Sochi while so many people in his country can’t put food on the table; and really, really bad hotel rooms, to name a few.
Reporters who couldn’t drink the terrible water over there weren’t the only ones who had bad tastes in their mouths about the prospect of these Games. I do, too, along with many other Americans.
Yet NBC has two things going for it: The brutal weather in most of the country will keep most everyone indoors and in front of their televisions; and it’s the Olympics.
NBC has an investment of nearly $1 billion in these Games. It is hoping that the spirit of the Olympics will trump all the other problems that came with the misguided decision to be in Sochi this year instead of Salzburg, Austria.
During a teleconference, I asked Jim Bell, NBC’s coordinating producer for the Olympics, if he had concerns about Americans warming up to the Games in light of all the negative talk and the security issue.
“I think the short answer is that we don’t know and that’s certainly a fair question,” Bell said. “There has to that balance between the security which everyone expects and wants to be very rigorous, but not to the degree that it stifles people’s enjoyment of the Games.
“We think the plan in place is good, but again, we’ll have to see when we get there once the Games really start off. It has definitely created awareness.”
Still, will it all be forgotten, or more accurately pushed aside, when NBC airs the opening ceremonies tonight? Americans have a remarkable ability to compartmentalize the bad stuff so they can enjoy the good stuff.
After all, these are the Olympics, which always produce great drama and the quest for gold that exists only once every four years.
Dan Patrick explained the essence of the Olympics:
“I think you look at a two-week period every four years depending and you may not follow these sports before or after. But during, you bring it to the nation’s and the world’s attention. So you’ll fall in love with the sport.
“You know, when you look at Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards with ski jumping, you may not have followed ski jumping, or if you see curling in the outfits that they’re going to be wearing. There’s a fascination there that you just can’t script.
“We’ll tell the stories but the stories tell themselves. You sort of gear up for it, and then you’re in it, and then you’re disappointed when it ends. And it happens every time we have the Olympics. You’re like, ‘Wow, it’s over already.’ It will be Opening Ceremony and then it will be Closing Ceremony. It will go by that quickly.
“And you’ll probably have five to seven, either events or people that you’ll take – you’ll extrapolate from the Games and you’ll go, ‘I remember that person or I remember that event.’ And that’s what great about the Olympics. It’s the memories. We all have those memories growing up and we’ll continue to have those. It’s our job to make sure that they are firmly implanted in your minds.”
The torch gets lit tonight.