Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Thursday, July 18, 1996

Bill Kwon is on vacation

So the TV's tuned to NBC, the network of the Olympic Games. I've got a six-pack of Budweiser at the ready for the evening events, a six-pack of Coke for the morning sessions.

Mind you, I'm not endorsing either libation. It's just that Bud is the official beer of the Atlanta Games and Coke its official nonalcoholic beverage. Of course, things go better with Coke, which is the city of Atlanta's official drink as well.

I'm just trying to be a loyal supporter of the Olympic or Capitalist Games - doing my bit to help all the official sponsors. Hey, buddy, wanna Big Mac?

Besides drinking Bud and Coke, I'm renting a General Motors car (a Pontiac) during my stay on Kauai for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.

GM is the official sponsor of the Olympic Games. So's BMW, but I don't think my boss would look too kindly on my renting a Beamer. Besides, Kauai's traffic is so congested that it would be a waste.

I'll fill the tank with Texaco gasoline during the Games even though I've been a Unocal customer since 1964.

The long-distance phone calls transmitting my copy are billed to AT&T. I'd use a Kodak Instamatic to take pictures, but the union and the staff photographers would frown on my infringing in their territory.

What else?

I'm going to videotape what events I can't watch live - at least live, Hawaii time - on my Panasonic VCR, drink more Bud and Coke and charge the whole thing on my Visa card.

By the time I'm through, I'll be Olympic-ed out, although I do plan on sneaking a peek or two at the British Open this week

NBC is planning 171-1/2 hours of television coverage of the Atlanta Games. Anyone who watches the whole thing should get a gold medal.

Also, you'll be able to surf the Internet for all the results and every conceivable tidbit about the Olympics. Talk about being dot-com'd to death.

It all begins with the opening ceremonies tomorrow afternoon - night, Hawaii time, on KHNL-TV.

Despite the delayed telecast, the colorful spectacle of the opening ceremonies is the can't-miss event of any Olympics. It was the highlight at the three Olympics I've been attended - Montreal in 1976, Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988.

Some people consider the Olympics to be too political and divisive because of the emphasis on nationalism. But you still can't help but get ''chicken skin'' when athletes from every country march into the stadium with their national flags and, finally, when the Olympic torch is lit.

My unforgettable Olympic moments? They include Nadia Comaneci's perfect ''10'' in gymnastics and Cuban Alberto Juantorena's galloping victories in the 400 and 800 in Montreal; Carl Lewis' golden performances in the L.A. Games, and Ben Johnson's world-record 100 even though it was later nullified when he tested positive for steroids.

In terms of the events worth watching in Atlanta '96 (no, it's not the official temperature), they include track - the only truly Olympian endeavor - and volleyball (not the beach kine, please), gymnastics and field (as in pole vault).

Basketball? Forget it. It's a gold-medal lock for the NBA pros.

Baseball and boxing? Cuba, unless more of its athletes defect..

Football? I mean soccer? Forget it. It is not and will never be America's game.

By the time we get to the closing ceremonies, you and I will probably never want to see another peacock. Not that you can blame NBC. After all, it forked over $456 million for the U.S. television rights.