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From the headlines I\u2019ve seen, but haven\u2019t actually bothered to dig into, (Mostly due to a rampant case of I don\u2019t care-itis), the ratings are sinking faster then the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Part of the problem is the flat out incompetence of NBC in covering the games. For instance, we have this gem from Screen Grabber<\/b><\/a>:<\/p>\n When Ester Ledeck\u00e1 crossed the finish line of this morning\u2019s run of the women\u2019s Super-G a hundredth of a second ahead of reigning gold medalist Anna Veith, the Czech couldn\u2019t believe she\u2019d beaten the Austrian champ<\/a>. Ledeck\u00e1, after all, is best known for her achievements in a completely different event: snowboarding, where she\u2019s won two world championships and is a favorite in Pyeongchang.<\/b><\/p>\n Apparently, neither could the NBC commentators.<\/p>\n Ledeck\u00e1 wasn\u2019t the only one surprised by the outcome. By the time Ledecka finished her miracle run\u2014one, it turns out, she accomplished thanks to her lack of experience in the event, leading her to take a faster but unorthodox line on the course\u2014NBC had long crowned Veith the gold medalist and had switched coverage to a simulcast of NBC Sports Network\u2019s men\u2019s figure skating free skate broadcast. <\/b><\/p>\n Dan Hicks pronounced Veith the gold medalist no fewer than five times, with worthless (and incredibly robotic) analyst Bode Miller at no point interrupting to note that there were still 25\u2014twenty-five!\u2014skiers left to compete. Only a throwaway \u201cthe last skier down with any chance at the podium\u201d at the end of Cornella Huetter\u2019s run suggested that the event wasn\u2019t even halfway through. <\/b><\/p>\n The utter stupidity and incompetence regarding Ms. Ledeck\u00e1 win by NBC is going to come back to haunt them. Just reading the rest of the article, and how NBC basically ignored the fact that they were wrong is excruciating. NBC is hurting so badly, that they tried to hire Adam Rippon as a commentator. Of course, the reason they tried was pure politics and had nothing at all to do with Rippon\u2019s abilities as an athlete or a sports commentator. Intelligently, he turned NBC down. Here are some of those details from Deadline<\/b><\/a>:<\/p>\n After some thought, Adam Rippon<\/a> has decided to decline the offer of becoming an NBC correspondent for the remainder of the Olympic games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. <\/b>Earlier today, it was announced that the figure skater, who has become a prominent highlight of these games, was going to have his hand at commentary. However, he has decided to turn down the offer after he realized he would have to give up his Olympic standing and credential for the position. By joining NBC as a correspondent, he wouldn\u2019t be allowed to participate in the closing ceremony. <\/b><\/p>\n While I do believe that was part of his decision making process, I suspect he wasn\u2019t to thrilled with the probable reasons NBC offered him the job.<\/p>\n The outspoken Rippon first made news when he criticized Vice President Mike Pence in mid-January. Pence fired back, leading to Rippon\u2019s rise as a gay youth spokesperson. Rippon, along with skier Lindsey Vonn, have declared they will not join other US athletes at the White House in a post-Olympic celebration. <\/b><\/p>\n Frankly, I don\u2019t care about either Rippon or Vonn. The mean nothing to me in the course of my day and other then what I just read about them while researching this post, had never heard of them. Meanwhile, more and more people are tuning out the games. The ratings are not good. Here are some details on this from Deadline<\/b><\/a>:<\/p>\n On the second Saturday of the South Korea-set competition, NBC and NBC Sports Network pulled in a 10.4\/19 in metered market result for their joint primetime coverage. Down a hard 20% from the previous February 15 and February 16<\/a> lows of the 2018 Games, that\u2019s the worst rating so far for PyeongChang coverage. It is also a drop of 32% from the melded NBC and NBCSN results of February 10,<\/a> the first Saturday of these games. <\/b><\/p>\n In other words, if the ratings were an asteroid, the results would look something like this.<\/p>\n At least the people running NBC don\u2019t have the same worries as North Korean athletes. They\u2019re worries are a bit more…worrisome. Here is what The Sun is saying<\/b><\/a>:<\/p>\n Having failed to land a single medal in South Korea so far, its Winter Olympic team could suffer the same fate as previous underperforming athletes – imprisonment in one of the country’s sick gulags. The most infamous case is that of the North Korean football team which made history for reaching the second round of the 1966 World Cup. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n