It’s five-twentysomething a.m., and I’m watching the U.S. play
Germany in Olympic basketball. The score is 31-12, us. Deron Williams
is playing the two guard, with Chris Paul at the point and Dwayne Wade
out on the wing. Wade has just driven the lane, successfully, again.
Aside from a Eureka realization I see Dwight Howard have about his free
throw shooting, there’s not a thing to be learned. (You know the game’s
a dead dog when NBC goes to the Fredric Weis dunk and not a minute’s gone from the second quarter. ) So, I slipped back into a revelry about the weekend gone by.

In the part of LA that’s north of downtown, just west of East L.A., that Miguel the Cranky Spaniard
explained to me that the U.S. isn’t actually the world medals leader in
the Olympics. NBC just frames the competition as such by counting all
medals. In the rest of the world, China is perceived as winning the
Olympics
simply because it deals with the standard measure of victory, overall gold. Miguel, who is often confounded by American sports traditions,
conveyed this with a mildly miffed demeanor. Only somewhat irritated.
He had barbecued chicken on this night  before he flew off to Oakland,
for work. Our girls were in and out, putting way bottles and dishes.
And, just to be clear, China is creaming America in the medals race. “It’s not even close, he said. It struck me as a network TV thing.

Television doesn’t have to be boring.
I hate when it’s dumbed down, but it’s understandable why NBC has let
the games seem to be primarily about swimming and beach volleyball.
Athletes like Michael Phelps really do only come along two or three
times a century. And, after watching Australia v Brasil smack that ball
across
the sand, it’s clear that the network has on its hands a nightly set-up for a softcore porn flick. Cook and Barnett were charismatic, as were the Brazilian Girls. So many lithe bodies, so little clothing, so much hugging. After primetime  Olympic beach volleyball, everyone goes to bed happy.

I
don't get so upset about the truth of the medal competition, actually.
It would be nice though to see a more honest representation of the
dramas taking place nightly.  In the middle of the night on, I think,
MSNBC, I watched  absolutely compelling
The best stuff is not on NBC during prime time. I watched 139-lb. (I think) female wrestler Randi Miller battle her way to a bronze medal. Physically, Miller is the opposite of arguably the single hottest athlete
competing, but she's a riveting athlete. Much more of what we come to
the Games for. Badminton, fencing and field hockey and badminton — 
"You wanna make sure the shuttle is flying true," the announcer said
while 7500 badminton maniacs went absolutely apeshit.  — all gave me
non-sexual chills in the course of Sunday's viewing. If only MSNBC
trusted its audience to appreciate the full scope of what's going on in
Beijing.

Donnell Alexander is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Sports & Fitness. He posts Mondays and Thursdays.