Olympic Hoopies and crazy-eyed quasi-Dave

I love Olympic basketball. Love it. Cannot get enough of it. Women's or Men's. Need it, want it, can't get enough of it. I have definitely built my mornings this week around watching both teams play in the morning.

The international game is fun to watch--offensive goaltending is allowed, the 3-point line is obscenely short (but is getting moved back after these Olympic games, which isn't necessarily a bad thing), every player on the good teams can shoot, pass, and dribble, the reffing is unquestionably erratic, but everyone just accepts it and doesn't complain (that much), and it genuinely looks like the men's team actually cares this year, in stark contrast to 2004.

Now, having expressed my deepest affections for this game....NBC just needs to stop worshipping at the Michael Phelps altar.

I mean it. Stop. It. Right. Now.

I honestly remember watching a ton of the Summer Olympics in 2004 and 2000. I just don't remember there being this many swimming events. I went to bed last night and swimming was on. I got to the computer today, AND SWIMMING WAS STILL GOING ON!!! How many different lengths for EVERY SINGLE swimming style are there? The last time I checked, there wasn't a 150 or 500-meter dash, or a 600-meter relay on the track.

I get that Phelps set an unbelievable record, he's all rocked up, etc. I get it. But this isn't a soap opera that you can control the plot and characters on. There are SO many different events going on with great stories that simply are getting pawned off to the other channels or simple highlights. And what happens when this neverending slate of swimming events stops? Then who does Bob Costas turns to for his man crushing on primetime television?

I assume one reason NBC is focusing so much on ALL the swimming is because of the amount of drug-fuelded stories there have been on the track side, and those events don't start until this weekend. Nevertheless, this just needs to stop with all the swimming. And don't even get me started on synchronized diving. Are we really supposed to get excited to watch 2 people dive at the same time and understand that if one guy has his toes pointed, and the other one doesn't, then you get points taken off for it? How about we watch boxing--if one guy gets hit in the face, the other dude gets a point. I like that. Simple.

I also hope both the men's and women's hoopie team start getting their games shown on NBC, and why in the name of Larry Herndon doesn't NBC take about a 5-minute segment of every men's game and show them on primetime? There have been some redonkulous dunks by Bron-Bron and Kobe. I don't want to hear about broadcasting restrictions. That's a bunch of garbage. The Olympics already schedules certain events based on American Primetime television coverage. Something can be changed if it needs to be changed.

Here are the sports that need more coverage

Indoor volleyball--Let's be honest, who isn't watching women's indoor volleyball if that's on? And the men's game is insane--they look like they all have 48" verticals and they cram and slam the ball.
Boxing--See above.
Water polo--It's 12 people in the pool at the same time kicking the crap out of each other. I'll take it.
Shooting--You can't tell me the NRA wouldn't sponsor this?
Men's Basketball--EVERY GAME needs to be on. EVERY GAME. I said it.