Pewter
Watching the London Olympics on Australian television has to be one of the finest examples of how bad sports television can be. If the Nine network can't do any better than this, how did they manage to get the contract for the broadcast in the first place? God only knows there must be some people who think field hockey, horse jumping, and rhythmic gymnastics are popular, but not in prime time, especially when you're playing, effectively, replays all day long, and even more so when you have analog and digital channels, so that you could play more than one event at a time - and, God help us all - more than just the same four advertisements.  But if there isn't an Australian in the event, it doesn't go to air, and if there is, and he or she doesn't do well, God help them in the interview, which will inevitably be abusive, derogatory, or skipped altogether in favor of using BBC coverage to gloss over it.  But, Bolt, Pistorious, and even the bronze, silver, and fifth-place finishing Australians, well, it has been special and worth watching (everything but the drag queen wannabes with their ribbons etc.). Sport - even outside the Hemingway definition (motor racing, bull fighting [which is immoral], and mountain climbing only; all else being recreation) - is remarkably compelling.