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What NBCOlympics.com Can Learn from McCain's Website

Still fuming over NBC not allowing me to watch their Olympic coverage without knowing the result beforehand, amongst my internet wanderings last night I set out to find the presidential candidates' television ads.  Many hate them but I find them interesting...and...well...when you live in a state that is the antithesis of 'swing' you have to actually ask to watch campaign commercials.

All politics aside...found something extremely interesting on the candidates sites: Barack Obama greeted me with a video required my email to move ahead (which I on a second trip found out wasn't true, but it was not obvious how to go straight to his website).  JohnMcCain went straight to his page, where I was greeted with a BRILLIANT option, and what I wish NBC would do on NBCOlympics.com

John McCain actually ASKS me what I am!!  Am I a supporter?  Am I undecided?  or Am I Unregistered to Vote (he's obviously missing a few options but you get the point).

I didn't play around the site much but I hope those options then give you a different "John McCain experience"  I really want NBC to ask me if I've seen an event or not, and then let me watch it.  I have no idea who won many of the medals, even with the Olympics over, and would definitely go back and watch some of the events.  Not if the result flashes across the screen as I watch it though. 

Well done McCain's website people.  Well done. 

NOTE: I was slightly off on Obama's site.  If you click on a GOOGLE ad, you get the personal welcome message and need to enter your email (click on his logo uptop to skip).  HOWEVER if you go to his site directly it's a picture of him and Biden, again asking for your email, but there is a 'skip signup' button.

Where NBC Dropped the Ball

The Olympics this year were fantastic.  As much fun to watch as any I remember (which, granted, starts somewhere between Barcelona and Atlanta).

NBC offered an unbelievable 'complete Olympics,' with 3600 hours of coverage between its multiple television channels and its website, nbcolympics.com.

TechCrunch called NBC's web strategy a failure.  Despite having to download silverlight (which gave a great picture) and a difficult UI, I thought it was successful.  It gave me video options on demand, which is nice for a very busy startup founder who can't follow Bejing time.

But.

But.

But.

What's wrong in the above picture?

Do no sports fans work at NBC???  What's the most important thing when watching a sporting event?  Chips?  Beer?  Recliner?  How about NOT KNOWING THE OUTCOME BEFORE WATCHING THE GAME.

Why....why....WHY did NBC tell me the outcome of the game/event/race/Michael Phelps spectacular that I was watching????  WHY?

They probably lost 20+ hours of my viewing time (which my company benefited from) because...well...it's much less fun to watch an event you know the outcome of.

I missed the basketball final.  I would have watched it.  But no.  Even though it's midway through the first quarter....the video player finds it important to tell me that "US survives to beat Spain for Gold"  and then scrolls: Watch the NBC replay of the United States battling, but then hanging on to claim the gold medal vs Spain.

I WAS ALREADY WATCHING!!!! This actually ruined the greatest moment of the Olympics (thanks Jason Lezak) for my girlfriend because...well...as she was watching that amazing finale the outcome was scrolling on top of the screen.  Lezak's amazing finish was a lot less exciting when you saw the result during the first leg of the relay.

It would have been so simple.  Go to NBCOlympics.com.  There's a welcome screen.  It says 'Don't show me any results'  or 'Show me results'  and then you click one of the two options.  Then it goes to identical screens, the scores are just removed if you click the first option.  Seems so simple, and would have gotten a LOT more pageviews from me. 

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Dara Torres, the Hero of the Olympics

I absolutely love the Olympics.  I've never cheered louder than we Lezak caught France.  I've followed Lance, Jordan, Tiger, and all the other American greats in my generation, and agree with many that Michael Phelps just completed the greatest athletic achievement in history.  I am insanely proud to be a citizen of the country that he represents.

But...BUT...Dara Torres is my hero of this Olympics.  Hats off to Phelps...but I have never wanted a pro athlete to succeed as much as I wanted Dara Torres to win that 50 m freestyle.  She didn't.  She 'lost'  by 1/10 of a second.  But I know that four people in a living room in Seattle where inspired by her.  I'm sure millions of others where as well.

I hope, that if Dara Torres ever sits down and reads the thousands upon thousands of internet posts about her she reads this one, and knows that four rencent college grads in a small apartment where just as inspired by her silver as we could have been by her gold.  We were rooting...well screaming... for her.  Not just because she was older than the gold and bronze medalist combined, not just because she skipped the last two olympics to be a mother, not just because she was the only one to step out of the 'zone' to remember what was important and stop a race so that another swimmer could fix her broken swimsuit, but because, not matter what the odds, she was going to give everything she had to her goal, and in doing so inspired 4 young adults in a way no one else ever could while finishing second, not first but second, and by her grit, her determination, and by every value this country holds dear she showed us the model by which we should attack the many goals that we have.

I am so proud to be a citizen of the country of the flag that Dara Torres wore on her cap.

Congratulations Dara.  Thank you for inspiring me.