We’re back with our coverage of what we call the Quadrennial International Sporting Event, to avoid the ire of the QISE Committee. Paris last hosted the Games exactly a century ago in 1924. They also hosted a very early Games in 1900, making this a three-peat.
As usual, this blog will NOT concentrate on the actual competition as much as it will the pomp and circumstance, as well as how NBC/Peacock/Kabletown covers it all. We’ll hit the daily highlights, and cover the quirks and scandals.
Here’s what we already know, a day before the opening ceremonies:
Technically, the games have already begun, as some of the team sport tournaments take longer that the actual Games.
The Seine River, site of both the “open water” swimming events as well as the opening ceremonies (featuring a flotilla of barges), is apparently disgusting. French officials have declared it clean enough, I guess.
Many events will be held at major tourist attractions--Beach Volleyball in front of the Eiffel Tower, Equestrian events at Versailles.
Paris is in security lockdown, the result of terrorism concerns and a misinformation campaign from the Russkies. Most of the locals have run for the hills.
Speaking of the Russkies, they won’t be participating--at least not officially--due to various doping scandals. They will be there as “Neutral Athletes” showing the QISE rings. Many of those eligible were blocked as they participated in the war in Ukraine (that pesky “Neutral” rule).
We also have two NEW scandals:
Charlotte Dujardin, the top UK female equestrian, has pulled out of the Games (or was kicked out, depending on who you ask) after a video surfaced of her beating a horse. PETA, of course, wants the whole event dropped.
Canada may be charged with spying on their rival New Zealand women’s soccer/futbol team during a practice session, using drones above the action. The Great White North has been previously caught doing this, and French officials have intercepted at least 6 drones.
I’m sure this will only be the start of a scandal tsunami.
Meanwhile, at Kabletown:
Mike Tirico returns as lead sports anchor, joined at the Opening Ceremony by Peyton Manning and well known athlete Kelly Clarkson (synergy!) Jimmy Fallon steps in to co-host the Closing Ceremony--perhaps he’ll normalize another cretin.
In order to get the kids to watch, Snoop Dogg will be all over the Games, doing interviews and hanging out. A battalion of influencers have been brought in to do their Tik-Toking and ‘Gramming and whatever the new thing is.
They always say this, but the network is going “all in” on coverage. Reportedly, every single event in its entirety will be streaming on Peacock, with wall-to-wall coverage on the broadcast mothership. This will be interesting, since the time difference results in live coverage only occurring during the day (as early as 6a EST), with NBC prime time being “curated” with “enhanced storytelling” (don’t call it a rerun). They promise to include a gold-medal victory every night in the first ten minutes.
The Kabletown networks--USA, E!, CNBC, Golf Channel, and Telemundo--will be in the mix. Peacock will livestream all of this. There’s even a partnership with Roku.
If you’d like to get out of the house, you can watch the Opening Ceremony in IMAX at your local theater, and AMC will feature daily simulcasts on the big screen.
Streaming will reportedly include a “Red Line”-esque multiscreen option, so you can watch four events at once, notifications based on specific athletes or events, a real-time medal count, and the AI-generated voice of Al Michaels, providing customized a daily capsule report. We’ll try them all.
OK, that’s plenty for now. Tomorrow--get your noseplugs ready for the Opening Ceremony, which will be aired live starting 1:30p EST (with a pre-show at noon), with an “encore” at 7:30p.
Viva la QISE!