Godd*mn Visa

This is why I hate this stupid NBC tape-delayed stuff, ridiculous!

I mean how much cooler would that incredible 4x100m Freestyle Relay would have been had I seen it live. I mean I wouldn't have known that Michael Phelps would have set an American record racing in the first leg in one of his weakest events (the 100m Freestyle). I wouldn't have known that the Australian Eamon Sullivan set a World Record racing in his first leg.

I would not have known that old man Jason Lezak (down and out at the grand old age of 32) would have made up half a body length on the current World Record holder Alain Bernard to win the race by 8/100th of a second, while racing the fastest split in swimming history at 46.06 seconds.

I would not have know than the Top 5 teams all broke the previous World Record.

But I did know, so while watching the race was cool, it did not have the same sense of drama if we had watched it live (that still did not keep from me hootin' an' hollerin' for the French - what can I say my sister is married to Frenchie - and The Better Half from threatening to throw me out - she's a right patriotic girl).

Anyway, so back to today.

Phelps was going for his record-breaking 10th and 11th Gold Medals tonight (well tomorrow Beijing time, but tonight in Prime US Time). I mean, we all knew he was going to win, but for once I wanted to preserve some sense of drama so I purposely kept away from the news as much as I could (very hard to do given my job).

I stayed away from websites, from news channels, from radio stations, everything, waiting for the West Coast feed to finally kick in (isn't it illegal for NBC to have that huge LIVE logo up on screen...I mean seriously?).

It's late, and I have to go to work tomorrow, but it'll still be worth it, I tell me myself, just hang on, just hang on...

...and then...

...Morgan Freeman narrating...

...a Visa ad...

...a Visa ad?!...

...and they give it away!

A Visa ad on the NBC broadcast gives it away before they show us the "live" race!

Bastards!

A Visa ad?!

"Go World"? Yeah, go eff yourself if you want to actually live the drama of the Olympic Games and not be a victim to the compromises made in the name of crass commercialism!

Seriously...a Visa ad?!