Shame(s) on You: Olympic Sized Shame

So much to rant about so little time. Here's a quick look inside my head at everything that bothers me from Torino, Italy to 1600 Pennslyvania Ave:

1. Is NBC retarded? Sorry, that was a rhetorical question. Of course they are. First they cancel the hit show American Dreams featuring break out star Brittany Snow. Then they give Matt Lablanc his own show and create the worst mini-series of all time, The Book of Daniel. And if all that wasn't bad enough they go out and ruin the Olympic viewing experience.

You would think that since they're the ones televising the games that they would want high ratings. Having a captive audience, sitting on the edge of their seats, as they cheer on their favorite athletes to gold medals, should be something they strive for. And yet at almost every chance they get they ruin the natural suspense of watching something live by giving away the predetermined results.

Sure, they warn you ahead of time on the local news and nightly news with Brian Williams. They tell you to turn away if you don't want to be spoiled. As well they should. But then during the succeeding commercial break they go out and show a promo for the Today Show featuring the new gold medalists who won at events set to air later that night. Are they really that dumb?

Why go out of your way to warn viewers that the results are coming if you're just going to give away the results during commercial breaks? They blame it on human error but I blame it on network wide shortsightedness. I could understand if a competing network gave away the results, ala Monday Night Nitro during the rating wars with the WWE's Monday Night Raw. But NBC giving away their own results, turning their own viewers away? That makes no sense at all.

2. How are baseball and softball not Olympic sports? I know these are the winter games and I'm talking about summer sports but headlines were made this week when it was annoucned that not only were they banned from the 2008 games as we already knew but that they were also now voted out of the 2012 games. I don't get it. Baseball is one of the most popular sports in the world. Certainly not soccer but in North and South America and the Far East it's huge.

Baseball organizers are hoping that the upcoming WBC (World Baseball Classic) will expand the game even further globally. If that's the case and the WBC helps to increase baseball's popularity wouldn't it make sense to have it as an Olympic sport again? At this rate even if baseball blows up worldwide this year it won't be an Olympic sport until at least 2016. Way to kill momentum IOC.

Softball on the other hand shouldn't have been voted out all together. Baseball at least has the MLB to keep it going. Softball's one defining moment was the Olympics. Now what are softball players supposed to look forward to? Getting old and coaching a high school team? If we want to create a level playing field for female athletes why are getting ride of the defining moment for one of their signature sports? That makes less sense than what NBC is doing.

3. Is Wayne Gretzky serious? He said yesterday during a press conference that he doesn't want to talk about the NHL betting scandal anymore. That he'll only answer questions about the Olympics and Team Canada.

I'm sorry Wayne but you don't get to decide when you're done talking about the scandal. A grand jury does. Until that case is over you have to talk about it. Your wife made bets with the mob through your assistant coach. You're guilty by association at the very least although I'm willing to bet (pun definitely intended) that you're even guiltier than that.

Gambling by professional athletes is a serious manner. It brings into question the integrity of the game. It's why one of the greatest baseball players ever to play the game, Pete Rose, can't get into the Hall of Fame. And it's why this media firestorm won't go away no matter how many times you say you're done talking about it.

You're just like Jason Giambi, who said last week, that he wants to put the steriods scandal behind him. Sorry Jason but you don't get to decide that. We won't just forgive and forget that easily. I'm just so sick and tired of professional athletes trying to dodge the truth so that they get on with playing a game. You made mistakes and now you both have to live with them. Get over yourselves.

4. From the white covered mountains of Torino to the White House. I'm sure by now you've all heard about Vice President Dick Cheney shooting a pal during a quail hunt. You would have to be a complete idiot not to have.

It may have been an accident and Mr. Wellington may have even been the one at fault but I can't stand the Bush Administration and their feeble attempts to cover it up. Scott McClellan, the poor White House press secretary, has been bombarded by questions about the slow response to the event ever since word got out that nearly 18 hours elapsed before the press was notified about it....by a local citizen. Like the White House wasn't going to say anything if they weren't asked about it.

And what really burns me up is now that they're being asked about it they're trying to, ala Gretzky, cast the questions aside. McClellan kicked off his briefing yesterday by talking about energy concerns failing to even mentioned the incident that was on the forefront of every reporter's mind. How could he have omitted that? Not even an update on Mr. Wellington's health? After all, the man had just suffered a shooting related heart attack.

I'm sorry but this is a big story. This isn't just a hunting accident. This isn't just something to joke about on the late night circuit. This is the second in command of the most powerful nation on Earth shooting another person in the face. A Vice President of the United States hasn't shot someone since A. Burr was in a duel. This is a historical moment to be sure.

So that begs the obvious questions that reporters like David Gregory are right to ask. Why the slow response? Why wasn't the press notified? Why were they notified by a private citizen and not the White House directly. Why doesn't the White House want to talk about it?

Maybe there's more to the story than has been revealed. Maybe the Vice President could be investigated for homicide if Mr. Wellington turns for the worse. Maybe, just maybe, the Bush Administration is trying to cover something even bigger up.

To that end, I arrived at the newsstand yesterday during lunch at the same time as this crazy old guy. He struck up a conversation with me and blasted the Bush Administration for their handling of the situation. He thinks something's up and I believed him. After all, when it comes to government conspiracy theories it's always the crazy people who have the inside scoop.