Summer of Sports '24: An Appreciation for the Best in the Biz

BY DC CUEVA 

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All Photos: My Own, from both Thanksgiving 2014 and DC Snapchat

For most of the time on here over the past ten years, DCBLOG has dedicated time, resources and effort to cover the world of MTV Reality TV, and becoming a gold standard in covering The Challenge and so many other shows that I watch as both an avid fan as well as one who's covered it for the passion project that you're seeing here. But one of the key aspects of how I've gotten to cover this world for this long is actually something that comes from a surprise source... so much so, it is actually one of the small handful of content I am most comfortable in along with those guilty pleasures -- one that was been on my mind for two weeks we got to experience this summer, and for which gave us that good feeling inside of watching the world's very best.

Sports represents one of my four biggest passions (along with music, Las Vegas and our primary beat - for which a new season of it just began), and one that's been embedded in my blood since I was a kid growing up as a '90s kid. In this case, the facet of how things operate on this site doesn't come from a particular favorite pro team -- not even the Bay Area teams that I passionately follow, but from of all things -- a company that covers the action at the venues as both an observer and as a giant in its field. And here, they also happen to share the same vision and philosophy that I have with these posts: creating quality work and telling great stories like those they got to tell from that event.

And for one who would only read a book provided that it would fall into any of the big four subjects above, last year I discovered that I could buy those same books I love to read in an eBook form and not have to worry about filling up the library in my room as much. There, the first digital book I've ever purchased was from the man who helped create a dynasty in sports media... and where his influence was felt on the only time in my life that I spent at least part of the one holiday every year where the feeling of family is most prevalent. And that's only the start to an appreciation for the best in the sports media biz -- one that's taken a full decade for this story to marinate until its publication ten years later.

On a normal Thanksgiving every year, my family invites our relatives to our house (or sometimes, the other way around) to enjoy food and quality time to start the holidays... but 2014 was a little different. There, me, my sister, brother-in-law and our late dad spent part of that holiday night at Levi's Stadium to watch the 49ers vs. Seahawks in their first meeting since their 2013 NFC Championship thriller, and at the height of their intense NFC West divisional rivalry. In the end it became a lopsided win for Seattle, and we left once Richard Sherman grabbed the game-sealing pick not knowing that he would later don the red & gold. And while the rest of my group stayed at the same place -- a standing room area located in the far side of the 50-yard line, I spent much of my time alone walking around all over Levi's taking pictures and video for later publishing online, just as I would whenever I travel to Sin City.

   It was a November 27th night that was dampened on a personal level of sorts by the untimely passing earlier in the day of MTV Challenge alum Ryan Knight. But my own highlight of the night came just before kickoff, when I walked to the other side of the stadium by myself without letting my party know about it. There, with me wearing a jacket not only had the Niners' prominent color of red, but also that boasted the logo of the network that was airing that game on that Thursday evening. It was an NBC Olympics jacket, and as part of the first of its two renewals of their Sunday Night Football deal it added the third Thanksgiving Day game in primetime, a few years after that tradition began on a then lowly-distributed NFL Network, and after the first Harbaugh Bowl between brothers Jim and John just before their Super Bowl XLVII rematch remembered most for the blackout after Beyonce's halftime show.

   On this Thanksgiving, I stood only many feet away from a man for whom for a quarter-century since I was a young kid, I had a 17-night appointment to enjoy sports' biggest event with him and the best in the business. Seeing Bob Costas in person behind that NBC host desk was, for this Olympic super-fanatic, a surreal experience... not to mention seeing a team of elite production pros who not only work on the Games but also took the NFL's primetime network slate, turned it into not only primetime's top-rated show and rejuvenated their once "Proud as a Peacock" network, but also into what's become the gold standard among today's sophisticated productions of football & sports TV. Just the ten Sports Emmy Awards it's received as Outstanding Live Sports Series is mere proof of that mark of excellence that's on display every Sunday night in the fall for almost two decades... and that's only part of this appreciation.

Yes, this one loves his reality shows, is a strong pop culture enthusiast and loyally enjoys daily YouTube content from Vegas... but sports has always remained my first love. However -- and although this is largely understated across my social portals, I am also an avid sports television viewer as well... and a strong enthusiast in the behind the scenes aspects of it. Proof of that comes in collecting a library of sports media-related reading material ranging from guides given to the press on aspects of their coverage to manuals provided by host broadcasting organizations who bring to the world television coverage of the Olympics, World Cup and the like.

   You might not believe this, but other than for those MTV shows that I cover on here, YouTube content or for streaming programming on any of the seven streaming services that I subscribe to, much of the time when I'm in front of my screens I am typically watching a sports channel or any kind of sports event. Although I am able to watch events and programming on any channel that airs any sport at any time on any screen, you won't believe this other fact too: generally much of the time it's a sports channel where it's actually not an ESPN network like is usually the case. And here, that broadcaster is actually my favorite network in sports television... which it has been to me for the last two decades.

   In 2007, our local cable provider Comcast moved its sports channels Golf Channel and the now-defunct general sports channel known first at Outdoor Life Network, then as Versus and later as NBCSN to its widely-distributed expanded basic tier, joining my two local regional sports networks (NBC Sports Bay Area & California, nee Comcast SportsNet). The reasoning was to give two main sports properties that it had recently gained cable rights to -- PGA Tour golf and NHL hockey -- wider exposure after years of being on cable channels with a broader reach than them. They also happened to be premier properties for the sports division of the TV network its parent company would acquire years later when Comcast acquired NBC Universal from co-owners General Electric and France's Vivendi conglomerate.

Almost by default, those aforementioned networks joined those I'd have on my TV during the week... but even as cable and streaming have expanded the competitive offerings the past four decades (and more top-tier content moving there of late, too), real sports fans know that there is nothing quite like watching events for free. Sports on American television have long had its traditional home on weekend afternoons on the broadcast networks, with the occasional weeknight primetime offering and more events being offered frequently at local level. Only on free terrestrial TV that the biggest possible audiences can be won over, regardless of whether fans can pay... and where those who still rely on an old-school antenna can get not only premium sports, but also network shows and local news too.

   ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, and of late The CW and ION networks, all feature live sports events on their schedules. It's premium programming in this new age from football and basketball, to motor sports, golf, soccer and most everything else worthy of being exposed to a national audience in a sports world that can be drowned out by hot takes. But somehow, I seemed to have gravitated towards the Peacock: NBC's long and proud tradition as the first network to go on air -- in 1926 on radio and then TV in 1939 -- has meant that every major league, minor sport, global organization and big time event has, at one time or another, gotten into bed at 30 Rock. So have the most recognizable voices from the aforementioned Costas and Curt Gowdy, to old-school radio announcer Bill Stern and now by the versatile Mike Tirico.

   Another key reason why I love NBC Sports lays in the current media landscape: many sports fans can easily flip the remote whenever they hear the voice of a certain outspoken commentator from the Queens or his longtime Dallas counterpart. Those debate shows perhaps is best representative of the sinkhole of lowest common denominator content... and also for a four-lettered 800-pound gorilla that popularized those morning chat-fests and made millions off of it. But the Peacock is perhaps the anti-thesis of that: the network has long placed a strong premium on high quality, best-in-class production -- one that has its roots in how director Harry Coyle wrote the book (in fact, a small booklet called "Harry's Bible") on how to best cover a baseball game when the network was synonymous with the national pastime for almost five decades starting from when the World Series was first televised in the mid-'40s, among a long line of many firsts the division has achieved throughout its history.

   What it might not have in divisive, headline-making personalities like Skip or Stephen A., it surely makes up for in perfecting the art of telling sports' best stories. When the man who came to be known by an Awful Announcing sports media blogger as the "Emperor," longtime NBC Sports head Dick Ebersol brought with him a characteristic emphasized by his mentor of the GOAT in sports television production, ABC Sports president Roone Arledge. While producing Wide World of Sports, ten Olympics, Monday Night Football and other events, he and his ABC team placed an emphasis on telling the stories of the people in sports, and "Up Close and Personal" athlete vignettes became standard in TV sports to where its influence is seen not only in the Olympics but also ESPN's 30 for 30, combat sports, and other longform sports programming series that have popped up on every platform you can think of. And in a way, the way I tell stories of The Challenge and the MTV world derives from that philosophy.

   Of late, the streaming age that we are in now has seen me expand my personal relationship with NBC Sports to Peacock. When I signed up to the service three years ago, it was for the primary reason that sports would be a focal point of Comcast's entry into that world as they planned to sunset their NBCSN channel by the end of 2021. I made Peacock the second streamer I ever signed up for, and I have used it much more often than what will soon be seven of those OTT's... mainly watching sports programming more than anything else aside from the occasional Bravo show, Saturday Night Live or selecting a film for my mom to watch. Recently, I even did something I'd never done before: I shared my Peacock login info with my sister and niece just so they can enjoy their favorite content too including that event.

Ebersol -- who also expanded NBC's late night dominance creating Saturday Night Live, Friday Night Videos, Costas' talk show Later and bringing WWE wrestling to the network -- once told the media that, "Many of you through the years have said to me that an event seems bigger or seems to have a certain stature or context when it's on NBC. They feel more than just a game, they feel like an event... at our best, we aspire to give the viewer the best single seat at the event." It's that allure of having a network that's covered every big sports event the last 100 years in radio, TV and streaming, and a team that does this better than anyone else that creates that allure. And it's the case when it televises those tentpole events that brings America together: the Kentucky Derby, major golf events, motorsport, and ones that have moved elsewhere like the World Series, Wimbledon and the NHL's Winter Classic.

   Any one my age vividly remembers how fantastic the NBA on NBC was when we all grew up -- that memorable era with Jordan, Kobe and the biggest stars, the voices of Marv Albert, Ahmad Rashad and the like, and of course "Roundball Rock." A recent Sports Media Watch post laid down the differences between how NBC and ESPN have treated covering my favorite sport, and in most categories the ladder was given the edge as it stayed true to letting the game and the players be the stars, all as the league took advantage of the Must See TV era and the network saw pro hoops as synonymous as Friends, Today and Law & Order. This partnership was made possible not just by NBC looking for replacement content after it lost baseball at the end of the '80s, but also by the instant connection Dick had with commissioner David Stern which began after he took office, and which translated into what became the most iconic network sports partnership of this era. And with next year's return, those memories of my adolescence being brought back can take the sting off of losing such a beloved national treasure in Inside the NBA.

   There was a time when NBC was on the sidelines of major sports after the NBA left, but both a mid-2000's ratings slump and new ownership sought something new. We all know what happened to the old XFL (but it did give us SkyCam & enhanced field access), but letting go of AFC football left a hole... spring arena games helped some, but the choice to bring the NFL's big primetime game ahead a night earlier single-handedly gave them new life. Sunday Night Football is spiritual successor to ABC's MNF era from combining the NFL under the bright lights with the finest production to go along with it: Bob, Al Michaels and John Madden when it began, and now with Cris Collinsworth and Mike. In fact for some reason, SNF is actually the only Sunday NFL game I watch (the only one available to all fans both free on network TV & on streaming - and even above my team, the 49ers) - and it was for them airing the first Super Bowl in this second era (XLIII) that I looked forward to them airing the game even before the '08 season began -- same for when they air that NFL finale in the now quadrennial rotation.

   Both SNF and the first NBA on NBC share that same legacy of being created by Dick and who kept alive those same first-class standards created during the baseball days, and whose influence is also felt elsewhere at the Peacock. Soccer has grown considerably here in the U.S. with every network and streamer having a piece of the pie, and one can attribute NBC's acquisition of the Premier League in 2013 as a key point in that growth as it turned weekend mornings into a can't miss for those who love the beautiful game. When Comcast and NBC merged, they brought TV's original specialty sports network Golf Channel under the same roof as NBC golf coverage that encompasses the U.S. and British Opens, the Ryder Cup and all major tours. And I grew an appreciation for both those sports and the NHL when they needed to bounce back after they lost an entire season to a lockout... among many others.

And then, there's that time where, when that fortnight comes around every other year, this fan who loves all sports of all kinds and looks forward to that time when all of them converge in one part of the world, my attention is almost devoted to the Olympics... and it becomes so almost from the minute I turn on the Opening Ceremony (or the events that take place before it) right up to the "Remember the Titans" music montage at the end of the Closing. They are, far and away, my favorite sporting event... and with the vast array of events that take place across the diverse kaleidoscope of sports I love, it is no doubt the only thing that I actually consider binge-watching. And unlike most of us who watch a season of those shows which are filmed in advance, the Games are taking place live (or on a short time delay) from the other side of the world most of the time.

   This is where my NBC Sports love affair is at its best when it covers sports' ultimate event... all to the point where I look forward to their coverage the same way I look anxiously forward to the battles for the gold medals, the world's greatest athletes, Team USA and the magic of the host city and country. Once I hear John Williams' musical suite, a big smile adorns my face knowing that I'm about to enjoy sports' biggest event being produced by the very best in the business. Yes, while some might have had an issue with them at times in the past, I wouldn't have it any other way to enjoy a biannual Binge-Watch of the Games with the Peacock... it's certainly much better than any shout-fest coming from Bristol (and ESPN or Fox would likely have ignored covering most of those niche sports anyway outside of just a few).

   Being as ready for the Olympics as the athletes themselves, for avid fans like myself it has meant two weeks every two years of an enforced lockdown of sorts: for Tokyo I tapped into my rainy day fund to buy two new tablets to go along with my Peacock subscriptions and my mom's Comcast account, and for Paris I added a projector and a portable monitor. I was more than ready to take advantage of having as many as seven screens in my room and in my computer den (not all at the same time) to enjoy streaming all the action myself... and to add to that, I also added to my collection Olympic merchandise -- hats, clothing, lapel pins with the Paris name, and the star of the show in the mascot Phryge. I love wearing NBC gear around my neighborhood to tip off people that I work for them (though I wish).

   And for one who spent all but only a few hours of his hours awake tuned to this binge-watch, we had the Games of a lifetime that once again felt like it was the Olympics we all grew up with, in a city my parents visited just after the London Games. It all began with that opening act with Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and the parade on the Seine, followed by an unforgettable fortnight that followed. We all stood in awe of Simone Biles as she returned to glory, had our ears ringing for when Leon Marchand winning four golds and Mondo Deplantis set a world record to the roar of the French crowd, and many athletes rising to the occasion just by being themselves in front of the world. We were jaw-dropped at Stephen Curry going lights out in that men's basketball clincher, mesmerized by the deep U.S. track team, saw the next generation of U.S. women's soccer, and so much more.

This year marked a new strategy for NBC to embark on for the Olympics: yes, they stayed true to Roone's playbook with in-depth storytelling and features on the athletes as centerpiece of the primetime shows at night in front of the family audience, just as it has always been for six decades. But besides those, there was a fresh approach for these Games that raised an already high bar even higher for an event unmatched in both production quality and technical complexity in the sports media business... and in turn gained even greater respect from fans everywhere in addition to loyal viewers like myself.

   Thanks to both the six-hour time difference between Paris and New York, and a resulting larger at-home audience available with kids still off from school on their summer vacation, NBC saw daytime as the new primetime in bringing for the first time marquee events to the morning and afternoon for those who want to see it live as it happens, as sports viewing should be. In seeing live major events take place in the daytime period on linear television itself and not just streaming only, it no longer made sense for these events to be held back for primetime, and in turn this gave it the aura that every day of the Games felt like an NFL Sunday or the first two days of March Madness due to the array of live events going on simultaneously. It was a new experience for them, and one that was certainly worth messing up my sleep schedule so I can see gymnastics, track and swimming events live with all the spontaneous excitement and unpredictability that comes along with it when you don't know what happens.

   Until this year, I didn't really get to experience the feeling of what many football fans consider their #1 fall Sunday afternoon destination and one that they'd give up watching their local team for a ride around the NFL unlike any other. RedZone is a can't miss for anyone who loves America's Game but didn't want to pony up hundreds for Sunday Ticket... and it's because of it that Scott Hanson and Andrew Siciliano are icons in taking fans from game to game, and showing every possession inside the 20-yard-line with a potential touchdown at stake. Their long vacation was cut short by two weeks for Gold Zone with that same concept but with different sports, and they along with Cris' son Jac and Ninja Warrior's Matt Iseman gave us perhaps the breakout star of NBC's Paris effort. Just a glance at social media, and you'll know why all of us were enthralled by the summer version of the granddaddy of whip-around shows as we saw every medal awarded while also getting introduced to archery, judo and other niche sports beyond the big ones -- all by applying that Midas touch of fall Sundays to this biggest of blockbusters.

   What made Paris different from NBC's other Games efforts was also diversifying the talent roster: if the Taylor Swift effect brought a new fanbase to the NFL, then the Olympics have been well ahead of the rest when it comes to crossover star power. NBC's promos for these Games featured Emily in Paris' Lily Collins, Megan Thee Stallion, Sabrina Carpenter, John Legend, Peyton Manning and Paris Hilton... and it was that in mind that they enlisted anyone from SNL cast & alumni (Colin Jost, Leslie Jones, Jimmy Fallon, etc.) to podcaster Alex Cooper, original American Idol Kelly Clarkson and even the Sesame Street gang to bring the pop culture fandom to Paris. And of course, there's Snoop Dogg -- him sitting with Kevin Hart on Peacock's Tokyo highlights show brought to NBC the idea of Australian TV cult favorite The Dream and its irrelevant humor, and in turn came a whole new angle of fandom. He was quite literally everywhere: big medal events, hanging with Bob and Al at beach volleyball, and with Martha Stewart at where his Olympic legend was born at equestrian's dressage event.

   The last time Tirico was in Paris for a major event, it was his last ESPN assignment hosting part of the Euro 2016 soccer tournament... and it was his departure that came as a surprise to many. But in internal sports media circles, NBC put out an opening for someone to fill a main Olympic host chair that Costas would step away from after Rio, along with calling their part of a pre-Amazon Thursday Night Football slate. Mike made that move and immediately fitted right in, thanks to being among the few left in that breed of sportscasters who excel both in the studio and the booth, having taken over on SNF two years ago and is in line to follow in Marv Albert's footsteps calling the NBA on NBC's return season. But it was in Paris that he occupied primetime both U.S. time and on Paris's clock in the heart of the U.S. afternoon... and the attributes that has made Mike stand out among today's broadcasters was on true display -- informative, smooth, well-prepared, well-versed and a touch of humor spiced in as he, Rebecca Lowe, Maria Taylor and their teammates guided us through all those hours on the air.

   Mike & co. weren't alone: 2024 has been a banner year for the Eagle sportscasting family as Ian took over calling the Final Four for CBS and TNT, and working the Super Bowl in both the pregame in the U.S. and the game itself for the world audience. His son Noah handled the big game's first-ever alternate telecast alongside Nate Burleson and the gang of SpongeBob SquarePants, and only someone so talented can go from fun in the slime to the bright lights of primetime: NBC tabbed him as their voice of Big Ten football and Olympic basketball, and after the thrilling calls of the men's and women's team here no wonder why he was bestowed the Sports Emmy Award for Best Emerging Talent (their version of any big music awards show's Best New Artist). He was only part of their deep commentary team: there's nothing more soothing than Dan Hicks & Rowdy Gaines at swimming, or Sonya Richards-Ross & Ato Bolden bringing their energy alongside Leigh Diffey to the track, to name just only a few.

Back in 1992 when the head of NBC's Paris coverage -- Molly Solomon was a researcher in Barcelona before becoming Olympic executive producer after heading similar efforts at the Golf Channel, the Olympic Triplecast set out to change the way viewers saw the Games. And while the three-channel pay-per-view effort was a box office bomb as fans back then weren't quite ready to take on more Olympic viewing than just watching it on NBC in primetime, it did offer a blueprint for the later and future expansion of their Olympic franchise into cable, Telemundo in Spanish, streaming, social media and every possible form of media that has expanded the Olympic experience. No longer does the network have to rely on just TV alone: they have been able to service the Olympic fan in every possible way on every screen, with one platform becoming the prime reason why we all enjoyed Paris so much more.

   After they did it for the Beijing Winter Games (and with a Super Bowl taking place in the midst of it), this year marked the first time the Summer Games has had every minute of coverage available to all fans -- old-school viewers, Olympic fanatics and streaming-reliant cord-cutters all on Peacock. It was the prime reason I signed up for it in the first place, and their robust offerings from every competition airing live to Gold Zone and beyond made it worth spending that $8.00 for. Combine that with airing the big events live in the network itself, Tirico, Snoop & friends and everything else -- and with respect to the likes of Salt Lake, Beijing '08 and others, this was perhaps NBC's finest Olympic effort yet. And it is for presenting such high-quality coverage like what they do with the Games, Sunday Night Football and everything else in its proud history which is why those who vote on industry awards always single this network out over everyone else: it's the gold standard in this business... and which is why it garners my trust and my first choice in sports over that 800-pound gorilla of an empire as best in the biz.

For a good companion to this appreciation this blogger personally recommends the following book which he made as his first eBook purchase: back in the fall of 2022 Dick Ebersol wrote a memoir entitled From Saturday Night to Sunday Night -- a recollection of his experiences starting at ABC as an Olympic researcher under Roone Arledge, then teaming with Lorne Michaels to create Saturday Night Live as he expanded NBC's late night offerings, and then returning to the network to head the sports division to produce SNF, the NBA and the Olympics. It's a must read for anyone who has an interest in the sports media business as well as the great history of the Peacock network...and personally, sports is only part of my NBC relationship -- an appreciation of Saturday Night Live comes up later this fall.

- I AM DC

@DC408DXTR