The women’s beach volleyball gold medal match was at 11 AM Bejing time, or 11 PM Eastern/8 PM Pacific. Does NBC show the match live on the West Coast? No, they make everyone in May and Walsh’s home state (California) wait until 11 PM Pacific to see the match.

You wouldn’t think it would be that hard to show it live on both coasts. On the East Coast, you have your normal programming, starting with all the diving and recorded track and field. Then, when the match is about to start, you air it live (as normal). On the West Coast, you start the night with the live match at 8 PM PT, and when it’s over, you go back to the diving and the track and field. The only downside for NBC is Bob Costas has to record a few more transitions in between events so that the West Coast feed makes sense. Since the match would reach a wider audience if it aired earlier on the West Coast, you’d think that it would be worth NBC’s time and trouble if it generated higher ratings.

This whole unnecessary three-hour Pacific Coast delay becomes even more troublesome for those that spend any time on the internet while they’re waiting for the match. I’m halfway through the first game of the gold medal match right now, but I already know the outcome because the news is splashed all over the internet, which includes my MSN.com home page.

(By the way, we here at The Scores Report have made a concerted effort not to post results of these Olympic Games until the event has aired in the U.S. Here’s an idea – maybe I should make The Scores Report my home page. Hmmm…)

All right, I’m going to quit my bitch session now. Misty May and Kerri Walsh are running around in wet, white bikinis (it’s raining in Bejing) trying to win a gold medal. And they’re in high definition. I really need to focus.