Another Winter Olympics has begun with all its good and bad elements. The best parts are the pageantry, seeing athletes from so many diverse countries, the competition itself, and the skating. There is something about the Winter Olympics that make them, to me at least, much more interesting than the Summer Olympics.

The worst element–as usual–is the coverage. I was not surprised last night that NBC’s two broadcasters, especially the abysmal Bob Costas, talked through much of the Opening Ceremonies, often interrupting the musical accompaniment. Do they really believe that more than 1% of the viewers would rather hear them show off their knowledge–most of which was probably written down for them anyway–than listen to the audio part of the ceremony? At one point they were fortunately cut off in the middle of an inane conversation about drinking in pubs that was interrupting some outstanding fiddling.

At least somebody finally informed them that it defies the Olympic spirit to denigrate all the countries marching into the stadium who are not America’s allies, something which Costas and his cohorts did regularly prior to last night.

I am not looking forward to NBC’s blatant jingoism as its broadcasters always root so hard for American athletes to kick the other athletes’ butts, which I also feel is against the spirit of the Olympics. It is why I often root for athletes from other countries such as Italy, Canada, China and Australia. If that is unpatriotic, blame it on NBC. I do not believe that the Olympics were ever meant to be an “us versus them” event. It’s all about brotherhood and various nations coming together peacefully, something the American media has never really understood.