michael phelps sports announcer,Michael Phelps has hinted at an early retirement and now according to TMZ many major networks have high hopes of nabbing Phelps to become a sports broadcaster for them. A high up source at NBC sports tells TMZ, "The man is smoking hot right now"- and they "would definitely hire Michael" to cover the Olympics in 2016, and other world sporting events between now and then. If Phelps does indeed retire after the 2012 London Olympics, he'll be leaving as the most decorated Olympian of all time.I don't believe so," Gaines said on NBC's primetime broadcast Thursday night. "Maybe that's wishful thinking about what he means to this sport."
Gaines predicts Phelps is "going to get bored" and will come back to compete in the 2016 Summer Games in Brazil.Phelps did not take the bait. Asked about Gaines' comment by NBC's Andrea Kremer, Phelps smiled and said, "Rowdy always has a comment, you know that that Andrea. … But this is the last of everything" for Phelps in swim racing.
"This was my last semifinal," Phelps said after winning his qualifying heat in the 100-meter butterfly.
NBC swim announcer Dan Hicks in the broadcast booth: "You heard him Rowdy, he says he's done."
Gaines did not back down. "Just check back with me in about three years," he says.
Well, we're winding down another night. Feel tired about now? NBC says its research shows that of its primetime viewers, 44% say Olympic-watching cut into sleep time.
11:35 p.m. ET: NBC gymnastics analyst Tim Daggert suggests U.S. gymnast Gabby Douglas could "become the gymnastics queen" heading into floor exercises. Daggett is prescient: "It looks pretty golden for this girl right here."
TV ratings tend to build the later in the night that events last. Right now, NBC's ratings are probably close, or at, the network's ratings peak for the night.
"Another moment of numerical agony," says NBC announcer Al Trautwig, as we await a score.
Gabby Douglas wins gold! (I'm off to collect big-time from my bookie. Kidding.)
NBC closeup of crying mom. Says Trautwig: "It seems so perfect!"
Trautwig calls 'em as he sees 'em with Douglas: "There's that fabulous smile!"
"It's almost as impossible to look at her and not smile as broadly as she does," says Bob Costas, who pleasantly sends us off to commercials.
11:10 p.m. ET: NBC swim analyst Rowdy Gaines says something about if there's any justice with the swimming gods, then Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte - in their last meeting in an Olympic race - would tie in the 200-meter individual medley.
Gaines is likable, but not exactly provocative. Funny how Gaines, logically, has to be thinking that Phelps, if he wants it, could take his NBC on-air job for at the 2016 Summer Games.
"One last time, side by side, the two best in the world," says NBC announcer Dan Hicks.
Phelps jumps out to the lead.
"Phelps will breath to his right, so he won't see Lochte as he comes home," Gaines notes.
Doesn't matter. Phelps wins gold, Lochte takes silver. But you knew that if you really cared.
"I tell you what, that was a gutsy swim by Lochte," says Hicks.
"It really was," says Gaines. "You have to give Lochte credit for not giving up. He was fighting down to the end."
On replays, Ryan Lochte's father looks very red-faced. Can you blame him?
NBC's Bob Costas: "Now to more gymnastics."Yes, a swimming semifinal that's on tape, which eliminates any suspense about results, is likely getting a bigger TV rating than anything outside NFL action and the annual Oscars awards show.
TV camera angles are good on Olympic swimming, from underwater cameras - which have been around for years - to extreme close-ups from overhead cameras.
But we can't just lollygag watching actual action. "Now, that's an ultimate veggie!" says Olympic short-track speedskater and Dancing With the Stars contestant Apolo Ohno in an ad for a fast-food chain.
By the way, U.S. swimmer Tyler Clary, who earlier told NBC's Andrea Kremer that he couldn't boil down his thoughts about winning the 200-meter backstroke in a way he sees as brief enough for TV, but he had no problem tweeting thoughts on his race despite that medium's limitations on expression.NBC gymnastics analyst Elfi Schlegel on Gabby Douglas: "Her mental preparation here in London has been fantastic."
Hmm, I have a hunch about Douglas' chances.
"Sometimes you have to re-assess what's possible and what you're shooting for," says NBC gymnastics announcer Al Trautwig.
That's true in gymnastics and beyond.
Adds Trautwig: "The balance beam is the great separator. It couldn't be more dramatic."
Think NBC wants us to keep watching?
"The pressure cooker of women's gymnastics can boil over," says Bob Costas, as we head to commercial, but not before a NBC promotional voiceover says "the drama continues at the pool."
That must be why there's so little sports action in NBC Olympic primetime, although it used to be worse with long-winded features and interviews. Maybe it's too much of a pressure cooker.
Back to swimming, although we were just getting into gymnastics.
Ryan Lochte, the favorite in the 200-meter backstroke. "You have a feeling at some point he's going to take off," says NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines.
Lochte gets the bronze as the USA's Tyler Clary "shocks Ryan Lochte and the world" by winning the gold, says NBC announcer Dan Hicks. Says Gaines: "Unbelievable!"
First Olympic medal, and an Olympic record, says NBC's Andrea Kremer, asking Clary if he "was shocked." Says Clary: "I was."
So, Kremer asks Clary, what does he make of it all? Says Clary, suggesting he won't have a career as a SportsCenter anchor with signature catchphrases: "No way to sum it enough in short enough words that broadcasters would be OK with."
10:20 p.m. ET: Says NBC gymnastics analyst Tim Daggett as women's gymnastics continues: "The Chinese are always so good on the (uneven) bars because they take the time … on the micro-basics."
Sometimes, sports can offer lessons for the rest of us.
OK, marquee action of women's gymnastics. Sadly again - why have I been paying those electricity bills - I know how it works out. Although, interestingly, NBC said today that viewers who know results are actually more likely to watch primetime coverage. Have domestic chores "that need a vise grip?" asks NBC analyst Tim Daggett. No you don't, he says, you just need Olympic gymnasts' toes to grip things. Chores around the house don't have to be mundane.Says NBC's Rowdy Gaines: "Unbelievable."
Soni is the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic golds in this event.
Says Soni in post-race interview: "That was my career right there. I've done it finally. … I didn't feel like I was going that fast, but I was looking for a gold medal. And it means so much more than that."
You'd guess this even if you don't happen to be watching TV: We're off to see commercials.
Personally, I feel like a tough customer right now, even though the night is early. The AT&T commercial has the race call for Soni's win we just heard on NBC. A gimmick, but I am not impressed. I mean, this happened hours ago.
In the next ad, a cute kid (actor) is playing with toy truck as voiceover talks about Chevy's most-powerful truck ever. Not impressed.This really is sports coverage for people who don't want to follow sports, which is also proven by NBC's stats on its Olympic TV viewers.
NBC's Daggett says he knows he's seen as "obnoxiously critical" in his analysis of U.S. gymnasts. Not really. NBC, more than most TV networks around the globe, does a pretty good job in not rooting for the athletes from the same country as its viewing audienceAs we stand by for more women's gymnastics, a bit of Olympic history. Granted, this is subjective. But the Olympic record for best U.S. TV announcer call is still held by Dick Button for this observation during ice dancing at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games. Said Button, memorably: "That was an angry tango." (It was.)
But on to today's Olympians.
NBC analyst Tim Daggett notes "the slight little hop" can cost you points on landings. Whoa, off we go. Bob Costas tells us we're going to swimming "right after this." We all know what that means: commercials.
The first ad: "Why does the finish get all the glory?" Good question, if you're in the mood for existential quandaries.
Turns out "there's no finish without the most important part of the day. Kellogg's!" I don't totally disagree. Youngsters out there, eat your breakfast.
Now we're back to an up-close-and-personal about swimming, which happens to be about Rebecca Soni. But it could be about anybody, given the uplifting background music and positive comments. Definitely more upbeat than Obama and Romney commercials aired tonight. But then, with Soni there's a swimming gold at stake.Says NBC volleyball analyst Kevin Garnett (not the Boston Celtic) as U.S. men's volleyball team zeroes in on win over Brazil: "This is the best volleyball the U.S. has played since four years ago in Beijing." Can't argue with that. At least not in a detailed way.
NBC's Al Trautwig as we're taken to one of NBC's Olympic meal tickets - women's gymnastics. Says Trautwig: "This is one of the most-anticipated days in the Olympics - when one woman stands above everyone else."
Stands above everyone else? Think they're saying that about gymnastics on Olympic TV coverage outside the U.S.? That was just a rhetorical question.
NBC's Trautwig helpfully points out that people who've recently "reached out" to U.S. women gymnasts include President Obama, pop stars Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga as well as NFL player Wes Welker. What's great about Olympic TV: How often do you hear those names in the same sentence?
NBC analyst Tim Daggett on gymnastics landings: "If you want to hop, you want to go straight forward." Also sounds like a potentially good title for a self-help book.OK, by now I'm mouthing the words in the Chevy ad where the guy thinks he's getting a good price by agreeing to pay what's on the price tag. Does Chevy really think that, by the end of the Games, they can grind it into all our heads that we're lucky to get list price and we should forget about trying to talk down the price? You know, that could happen.Announcer Paul Sunderland and analyst Kevin Barnett talk about "back-to-back kills." Yes, we know that's part of the sport's jargon. And yes, we've said it before. But remember when everybody in the sports media vowed to take war-like imagery after 9/11? Is all that forgotten?
But this point about Brazil, made by NBC's Barnett, is entirely appropriate and helps newcomers get inside the subtleties of Olympic volleyball: "Can (Brazil) overcome the kryptonite of the United States?"Once again, it's Deion Sanders and Eli Manning wearing tights and cheesy butterfly wings and made to look as if they're tiny miniature people, hawking DirecTV. You wouldn't guess it until you see it: It all makes complete sense.
Promo for upcoming NBC drama. You know this series means business when everybody is seen walking in slow-motion. That can help in real-life too: Try it at the office.Sadly, I know the result and so, presumably, does everybody here in the office. Wouldn't it be great to find people who didn't know that it's 2 a.m. in London and talk them into a hasty bet on the result of the action onscreen?
Brazilian coach steamed during timeout. At home, if he's watching, Bobby Knight might be nodding in approval.
Was just getting into volleyball match. You know what that means: More commercials!
NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus says NBC might actually might make at least a little money on the London Olympics. Everybody out there, congratulate yourselves. We're the ones who sat through all the commercials.50-meter freestyle semi. Consider that, so far, NBC primetime is averaging 19.3% of U.S. households - higher than some World Series and NBA Finals games combined - with shows that include stuff like, as we've seen, taped rowing and swimming qualifying heats. Yikes.
"There's no more S-curve in freestyle," says swim analyst Rowdy Gaines. "It's all straight back."
Exactly, whatever that means.
After Costas, at primetime opening, hypes what's coming up, and then NBC swim announcer Dan Hicks hypes what's coming up. If you didn't know, Hicks notes "it's the final meeting of Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps." You know, unless they get together for dinner or something.
I still don't get the Visa ad where some (presumably mythical) town supposedly combines their "thank you points" to make the town sort of look like London. As I watch it again and again, the only message is still: Why bother getting the points at all?
OK, the aircraft carrier is officially starting to turn toward next week: Costas does voiceovers hyping track and field, which will be the lead dog in NBC's coverage in the second week of the Games.
By the way, back to that U.S. eight-woman rowing team that won gold. Which reminds us that, amid the promos, we have seen some sports action already tonight.
Some of the U.S. women rowers shed a few tears in interviews. They talk about their coxswain, saying "she's our brain and we're her body."
Shot of national anthem, stars and stripes being raised. Think this kind of footage might explain why the Games get their giant TV ratings?
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