The Great American Race

They're still talking everywhere about the Olympic swimming relay race of races.
And we're guessing the buzz in Beijing won't be subsiding anytime soon.
We refer, of course, to the men's 4x100-metre freestyle relay, which the U.S. pulled out by the barest of margins when all seemed lost. France's Alain Bernard, the reigning world-record holder in the men's 100 free, had a seemingly insurmountable lead on the final dash down the pool, only to have 32-year-old American Jason Lezak reel him in and out-touch the Frenchman for the gold.
The victory, by a scant .08 seconds, also kept alive U.S. uber-swimmer Michael Phelps' dream of a record-breaking eight gold medals in one Olympics. You know NBC, which has built its first week of live prime-time coverage at Beijing 2008 around swimming and gymnastics, was cheering rather loudly, too.
Still were on a conference call earlier today, it sure seemed.
"Without a doubt, it's the greatest Olympic moment I've ever experienced or called, head and shoulder above everything, and we've done some pretty good things," said NBC's Dan Hicks, who called the epic race. "That race is why we get into the business of sports broadcasting. It just was absolute excitement, shock and the utmost of wattage. It was just so unexpected."
NBC swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines called it "certainly the greatest Olympic relay race I have ever seen. I have been trying to think about another race that I got more excited about and I can't think of one."
That frenzy spilled across America on Monday, with NBCOlympics.com reporting more than one million video downloads of the relay race. NBC Universal's Beijing viewership (seven networks) hit 107 million on Sunday, making it the most-watched first Sunday in Summer Olympics history. Some 81 million were tuned in to NBC's prime-time coverage, which included the relay and Bob Costas' interview with U.S. president George W. Bush.