Olympics - as viewed from their birthplace

What a great change of pace it has been to watch the Olympics outside of NBC's reach!  As you might guess, given a moment to think about it, the Olympics (or should I be saying "these Olympics?  - how annoying is that..) are a big deal here in Greece.  TV coverage is more than I could have imagined.  There are 4 government stations and a Cyprus channel that carry the games, so there are many options for what you can watch at any given time.  I have been able to watch sports I didn't even know existed in the Olympics and others I don't remember ever watching more than  a highlight of in the States.  I haven't spent a lot of time watching prior to this morning, but here's some of the sports that have been broadcast in full (as opposed to highlights):

Water Polo

Volleyball - beach and regular

Air Rifle

Boxing

Women's soccer

Canoe/Kayak

Judo

Handball

Distance sidewalk spitting (oh right, they have asked the Chinese citizens to hold off on that till everyone goes back home...)

And those are just the ones I find surprising to see so much of (I am already tired of Beach Volleyball and Water Polo).  

Aside from how much is shown, there are some other benefits as well.

Commentators - aside from the opening ceremonies, there is only one commentator per sport, so no lame banter and silly discussion.  Granted I can't understand everything they are saying...

Opening Ceremonies - 4 hours of uninterrupted, LIVE coverage.  Awesome.  Sure, we only have a 5 hour time difference with Beijing, but there were no concerns about Prime Time showing here!

NBC's Olympics theme - I'll admit I missed it at first, but then was reminded of how much one actually does hear it when watching in the US.  I have it bookmarked on my computer, so can call it up when I am feeling the urge.

Competition only - so far I have seen no interviews with athletes, or coverage of their small town life and how hard they worked to get to Beijing.  Not that I am knocking the reality of their hard work by any means, I just remember being very tired of the touchy feely pieces NBC's schlocks together every 2 years.

I have run into one dilemma though, Greece and the US are playing each other in basketball as I type.  Who do I root for?  Or do I just happily watch and come out on top regardless of who wins?   I think the easy answer is change the channel and go back to swimming.  I'm not a big enough b-ball fan to care.  

I'll admit to a small bit of confusion while watching this game though.  There's a black player on the Greece team (who's incidentally the size of a small linebacker).   Of course, I know these things are possible - one must simply prove sufficient connection to the country they are competing for (which varies from country to country).  I'd say this basketball player has got that locked, just look at his name, Sophocles Schortsanitis.  Looking no more (typically) Greek than Sophocles, is my classmate Donna Vakalis who is hoping to compete for Greece in the Modern Pentathalon.  Her father emigrated from Greece to Canada some time ago.  I believe at this point she's there as an alternate in case someone has to drop out - who knew there were alternates?  Anyway, there ends my lame effort at Olympics name dropping...  =)

Regardless of where I am watching it from, I do love the Olympics.  There are sports that I don't think should be in the Olympics (most team sports - especially ones that have professional international venues already) but what a great experience for the athletes to see another country as well as meet people from all over the world.  And we get to learn new country flags, only to forget them well before the next Winter Olympics.