‘Tis the season. A year later than originally planned and don’t ask me how elite athletes can plan for that. And still riddled with Covid between no spectators at events and athletes actually testing positive for Covid and being unable to participate. And um bears?! There’s a lot to worry about beyond the actual competitions.
The logistics: Opening Ceremonies are Friday, though technically some of the team pool play has begun. It runs from 7/23-8/8 and will be shown on various NBC Universal channels. NBC, NBC Sports Network, USA, CNBC, NBC Olympics Channel, the Golf Channel, and Telemundo. Streaming is available on NBCOlympics.com, NBCSports.com, and new Peacock which will have their designated coverage available to stream for free (other than US Men’s Basketball coverage, Peacock is normally a combo of free and paid).
So let’s get into the spirit. First I’m always intrigued to see what new events are: baseball/softball (previous recent appearance in 2008), karate (seems odd that this wasn’t included), skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing.
Opening Ceremonies – 4-8am Pacific (ouch) – Not entirely sure how the parade of teams is going to work with Covid protocol. While I do like to see all the different outfits I’ll likely record to catch the showmanship of the event part of this.
I don’t have all the time in the world, despite what I tell myself. So these are the ones I’ll be making a point to check out. Maybe because they remind me of my So Cal upbringing:
- Skateboarding – Men’s/Women’s street final, NBC, Saturday/Sunday (respectively) 7/24-25, 8:30-9pm, 12-2am
- Surfing – Finals, USA, Wednesday 7/28, 2am-12pm
- Beach Volleyball – Women’s/Men’s Finals, NBC, Thursday & Saturday (respectively) 8/5-7, 12-5pm, 1:30-6pm
- Tennis – Women’s/Men’s finals, Olympic Channel, Friday/Saturday (respectively) 7/30-31, 7am-3pm and 11pm-2am
And then I tend to do a little dabbling in the classics, they tend to run these on NBC primetime coverage so that’s good for pop ins:
- Gymnastics – Watching the team competition is fun though I tend to fade by the time individual competitions hit – It runs the whole time from Saturday 7/24 to Sunday 8/8, Men’s/Women’s Team final NBC Monday/Tuesday (respectively) 7/26-27, 8pm
- Swimming/Diving – There are a bunch of events here so will likely dabble by checking in between Saturday 7/24 and Saturday 8/7
- Track and Field – Friday 7/30-Sunday 8/8
And I personally like to get in a few rogue sports by just popping through the channels, Dressage anyone? (NBCSN, Wednesday 7/28, 1:30-8pm) It’s the one with the dancing horses.
For sure check your local listings and a number of these events will replay on various networks/times. But don’t stress too much about catching everything or anything specific. Just turn it on and get invested. For a full listing of events here’s a couple of links that might be helpful Deadline and TV Insider.
