Sunday, August 7, 2016

Brokaw Beached

The new American beach volleyball team of Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross are hitting the sand running at the 2016 Olympics, dominating the court and putting away their first rivals, a duo from Australia.  (Australia, meanwhile, scored a gold medal in the women's 4x100 freestyle swimming relay, with the Americans taking silver, though Dana Vollmer and anchor Katie Ledecky put up a good fight against the Aussies.)  Walsh-Jennings may be without Misty May-Treanor, but she hasn't lost a step in her new partnership with Ross. 
So far, the person who's gotten tripped up the most in beach volleyball is NBC anchor emeritus Tom Brokaw (below).  Right after a live women's beach volleyball match between duos from Switzerland and China ended with the Chinese pair winning, a report from Brokaw about the Amazon River (you knew it was going to happen) started to run. It then was pre-empted when a challenge to the Chinese was accepted and the two pairs had to play again for a match point.  (The Chinese still won.)  Brokaw's report then aired in its entirety, and Bob Costas had to apologize for it.  Because you don't just pre-empt Tom Brokaw.
Speaking of Costas, he reported for those that didn't hear it that Virginia Thrasher won America's first gold medal in air rifle, with two Chinese competitors taking "silver and gold."  Something missing there, isn't there?  A medal of another color, perhaps?  And two gold medals were awarded in the ten-meter air rifle competition?  No, there was no tie or anything like that; it was one gold.  Costas did not correct himself.  Bob, you're slipping.   

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