Spoilers, Spoilers Everywhere

 

I am as mad as a hornet!  I could spit nails.  Think of any cliché that means being angry beyond all measure and I am that angry.

As I sat typing on my laptop, my Microsoft Outlook email manager flashed an incoming message.  It was Breaking News from the New York Times. I have it set to flash that way in case I decide to write a post about some breaking news story and I want to be the first to do so.

As I glanced at the pop up containing the headline, I realized it was the results of a major event in tonight’s lineup:  women’s gymnastics.  Unfortunately, it only took that one glance to ruin my evening.  Now I know how things end up.

Damn!

The two weeks of the quadrennial Summer Olympic Games have always been among the most exciting television viewing for me.  The whole idea of the entire world gathering on neutral ground to showcase each country’s elite athletes in civil competition is even more appealing now that the world has become tiny and the world’s problems humungous.

The first week has all of my favorites: Tennis, swimming, beach volleyball and my number one love, gymnastics. 

I love the tension leading up to the moment the pistol fires, the digital signal beeps or the first ball is served into the opponents’ court.  I thrive on the back and forth of a close competition.  When things go the way I wanted them to go, I actually jump from my seat, clap my hands and yell “Yessssssss!”  And when things don’t go the way I’d hoped, I feel the disappointment almost as much as those courageous young athletes do.

Not tonight.  I won’t be a spoiler here for anyone reading this.  I won’t be the one who ruins it for you.  If you can manage to dodge the tweets, the Facebook status updates, the emails and the TV results that even NBC insists on showing on their screen (without sound, but still…) maybe you can still ride the roller coaster of emotions.

In this day of social networking instantaneous coverage, with tweets and photos from even Prince Harry himself, is almost impossible to evade.  The television networks have failed to anticipate the effect these “new” ways of finding out what’s happening would have on their wall-to-wall coverage.  The window for news is measured in seconds and characters, not hours and tape delays. 

I am so bummed!