Go Big Or Go Home

Say this much about American television and major sports events.
It's damn the torpedoes and spare no expense.
Go big or go home.
So is it with NBC Universal's monstrous effort about to unfold at the Beijing Olympics. Seven networks and NBCOlympics.com will combine to produce a staggering 3,600 hours of Games coverage over 17 days. To put it in perspective, that number far exceeds the sum total of U.S. television time for the 12 Summer Olympics that preceded it combined (2,562 hours from Rome 1960 through Athens 2004).
Better yet -- at least for American viewers -- is that about 75% of it (2,900 hours) is live coverage. Again, a quantum leap for a country in which perhaps its greatest Olympic moment ever (the 1980 Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid, N.Y.) aired on tape delay in most of the nation.
More numbers: Some 106 commentators will be used to tell NBC's stories of the Games. Some 2,200 hours of live coverage of 25 sports are being streamed on NBCOlympics.com. Every hour of every telecast is set to air in high-definition format, an Olympics first.
What does all of this mean to Canadians? Not much, really.
Other than the 225 hours being broadcast on NBC itself, nothing else will be made available to viewers north of the border (and that includes the Internet component). But still, it's worth taking a moment to marvel at the scope of it all.
Back in 1960, American viewers saw 20 hours of coverage from Rome. Now this.
As the old saying goes, you've come a long way, baby.