JOPLIN, Mo. —
I don’t want to spoil things for you Olympics fans, but on Friday in London, somebody from somewhere competing in something won a medal.
I hope that doesn’t ruin things for you.
Apparently, some folks are upset because NBC has prematurely let folks know who won events that the network will broadcast later. The incident that upset Olympics fans the most involved the great U.S. swimmer Missy Franklin. Shortly before NBC aired a race that Missy won, the network showed a clip of Missy on the “Today Show” wearing a gold medal for the race it had not yet broadcast.
The problem, I think, stems from the fact that most Olympic events take place in London during the day while most of us Americans are at work.
I don’t think that’s fair.
What’s so special about England that it can’t run on the same clock we do?
Look, I don’t care if the folks in England call soccer “football.” I don’t care that they call a bathroom a “loo,” and I don’t even care if they call a dollar a “pound” — although, according to family legend, I’m supposed to get a dime every time someone spends a pound in England. I don’t even care that they drive on the wrong side of the road in England.
But I draw the line at England using a different clock than we do.
So really, this whole spoiler thing is England’s fault and not NBC’s. I expect Mitt Romney to get on this right away.
I first read about NBC spoiling the results of some contests for people after reading about it on Twitter. I sort of like Twitter because it’s today’s version of playing computer solitaire at work, but at least when you’re on Twitter you can claim to be working.
“Oh, hi boss. I was just checking Twitter to monitor the ongoing turmoil in Syria in order to better write a column in which I try to use the word ‘googly’ as many times as I can.”
Look, I’m sure Twitter has many wonderful and important qualities, but the No. 1 virtue of Twitter, as far as I can tell, is its ability to allow people to waste an incredible amount of time.
Earlier this week, when NBC prematurely let folks know about Franklin’s gold medal, many people on Twitter were critical. Many people chastised NBC for spoiling the race for the rest of us. But first those people on Twitter had to spoil a bunch of other Olympic races for the rest of us by tweeting, pretty much nonstop, the winners of events NBC was set to broadcast later in the evening.
First some news organization sends out a tweet that reads something like this:
“Phelps wins gold in 10-mile backstroke.”
Then the same news organization sends out another tweet that reads something like this:
“Public outraged when NBC shows Phelps with gold medal b4 showing race.”
It’s about 1:45 p.m. on Friday as I write this, and no fewer than six tweets just popped up telling me that Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin just won gold medals again.
I hope NBC doesn’t find out.
Do you have an idea for Mike Pound’s column? Call him at 417-623-3480, ext. 7259, or email him at mpound@joplinglobe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikepoundglobe.
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