Gold Medal complainers

You can tell by the television ratings that America loves the Olympics. The competition, however, seems to just barely edge out one of our other favorite pastimes - complaining about the Olympics.

This happens like clockwork every four years. You can't have gold medals without gold medal bitching. We've gotten past complaining about whether Eastern European women are using steroids and now worry about when Far Eastern gymnasts were born. People who used to whine about "up close and personal" profiles of athletes in obscure sports now blog about how broadcasters only show high-profile sports and don't focus enough on the minor sports.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who do the most bitching even watch the Olympics. I know I have come across some people who haven't, yet want to tell me everything that is bad about them.

My response? Screw you. I just like sports.

They don't realize that weepy profiles of athletes have generally given way to commercial after commercial after commercial. Sure, it sucks, but that is why the baby Jesus gave us digital recording technology. I can get to sleep at a reasonable hour, wake up and watch the interesting parts of the prime-time coverage.

But the biggest thing I think the complainers are missing are the stories that you kind of have to dig for. Sure, you can find plenty of problems with the coverage on NBC, but you can also find some really cool shit on USA, MSNBC and CNBC.

That doesn't even take into account the online coverage, which gave people the chance to take a short break from work and watch doubles badminton live at nine in the morning. Sure, I had no real idea who was playing and had nothing invested in the outcome, but those people were freaking amazing.

When you get beyond the interviews of Kobe and the in-depth analysis of Michael Phelps feet (did you know they were like flippers?), you might learn a little something about Vincent Hancock.

Did you know he won the gold medal in skeet shooting? That shouldn't come as a surprise because he has dominated the American shotgun shooting scene for the past three years.

Did I mention that when he won his first world championship in 2005, he was only 16? And he turned 19 earlier this year before he won the gold, his fourth international championship? But the coolest part is that Vincent isn't sitting on his couch playing Guitar Hero as he prepares for the Olympics. He's a freaking marksman for the Army. That should count for something.

But you won't get a chance to process that if you spend most of your time acting like it's a horrible burden that you saw that damn Samsung commercial for the 100th time or reminding people that the uniforms in women's beach volleyball personally offend you.

Sure, NBC could do a better job at telling us those stories, but we also need to get over our obsession with finding fault with everything in the Olympics and change the channel to the stations showing the lesser-known sports. I spent a good half an hour one day just riveted to the weightlifting competition on MSNBC.

With just short time left in the competition, do yourself a favor and turn to the secondary channels where they don't have as many commercials and show sports you might not get to see for another four years. Don't worry if any Americans have a chance to medal. Just sit and watch people bust their asses for pretty much nothing more than this moment of glory.

Because that's what the Olympics are about - not pointing out every little flaw in the coverage or complaining about how the athletes are professionals or dismissing something as "weird" because it's not popular in America.

If you like sports, watch them and shut your damn mouth.

Brian Shea is probably enjoying a beer in his basement right now. You can contact him at columns@regularguycolumn.com.