I personally love the Olympics. The earliest one I can remember where I truly paid attention was 1996, but I was very young. I remember watching the Magnificent Seven in gymnastics (even though back then I thought gymnastics was “dumb” but my dad told me it took a lot of skill, dedication and sacrifice…something which I truly appreciate over the years and after having watched the Fab Five pull off one of the best Team All Around floor routines in recent history).

There is something to be said about how the games has evolved and changed over time. Think about how more and more women are competing in major events, countries are actually letting their women participate (whether or not it’s lip service I cannot tell; I’m looking at you, Saudi Arabia) and the level of competition and human achievement that we have seen from our athletes.

However, given all of these monumental changes, the way we present the games to the world has been largely unchanged, specifically with regards to the broadcast via NBC. I haven’t been as upset with everyone else with regards to NBC’s coverage of the Olympics: I’m in the camp that, if you want to see the games during the day, turn on your TV or head over to the live stream online to watch. Granted, there are definitely some problems with the live stream at NBCOlympics.com but for the most part, they got that right. I will also say I was particularly annoyed when I saw ads actually interrupt a live stream of the All Around competition in which the Americans were very close to winning the Gold, yet I got an ad for P&G moms for 15 seconds. My frustration quickly melted away as the Americans took Gold for the first time since 1996. I can also appreciate why individuals would be very mad when they find out the results of a competition via an advertisement, rather than even a website or the tape delay.

Beyond the live stream, there was the issue of the opening ceremony. In the age of social media when arguably news about an event can travel faster than the actual event happening (think the tweets firing off as the Japanese Tsunami happened) NBC should have learned that they could not tape delay such an important event. Why was the opening ceremony not offered to viewers on their live stream? If they were so concerned about their advertisers, couldn’t they have just included advertising as part of the live stream? Or perhaps included some more innovative ways to mesh online advertising with the live stream? I recognize they have sunk close to $1.8 billion in these games, so money is clearly a huge factor here; but they could have done a better job handling the opening ceremony, and the fallout thereafter.

The games are an awesome time for everyone to come together and root for our country even when things aren’t looking so great both in the economy and in the country as a whole. Let’s hope NBC can learn from their mistakes and get things right as the games progress. Here’s hoping the Americans can keep the medal count neck and neck with the Chinese!