What a Waste!

A few minutes ago, I tried to finally watch one of Michael Phelps' races, the 200-meter butterfly, live, so I could see this amazing swimmer compete.

I mean, this guy must be the story of the Olympics, at least so far. But when I turned on the television set, guess what I saw: Women's gymnastics.

Women's gymnastics? Yes, women's gymnastics.

But we're not talking just any women's gymnastics, mind you. No, we're talking the Japanese National Team women's gymnastics.

Ugh!

I waited patiently, hoping that the broadcast would switch to swimming.

The race was supposed to start at 11:21 local time.

11:20 rolled along.

Nothing.

11:21.

Still nothing.

11:22.

Still nothing.

No swimming.

And then, a news flash appeared on the screen.

The first thing I deciphered was: 200-meter butterfly.

Could this mean they are about to switch to the race? Please, please, please, switch to the damn race before it's too late!

But then I saw the word "medal." Oh, no. The race is over. Crap!

What's with this damn Japanese television station!? Sure, Michael Phelps isn't Japanese. But who cares? He's maybe the best athlete at the Olympic Games and I want to see him. Come on! Don't the Japanese want to see this guy in action?

And then I saw a Japanese swimmer's name: Matsuda.

And something about him winning the bronze medal.

Oh, hooray for Japan! Your guy won the stinkin' bronze medal.

What about Phelps???

I waited a couple more minutes to see if they would announce the winner of the race.

No such luck.

Maybe they planned to show the race after all, perhaps a few minutes later.

But I didn't care.

I wanted to see the race live. I wanted to see history in the making, not on tape-delay.

So I switched off the TV.

And pulled up ESPN.com on my laptop.

Gold medal #4 for Phelps. And I missed it.

Thank you NHK. You suck!