Well, they kind of were, since it was their west-coast division that made the decision. Also, NBC’s showing every event live on television this year on one of their networks, so your second point is now moot. Also, there were tons of athletes that emerged from the Winter Games at some point, but they weren’t exactly the ones we were going to be talking about over Shawn White being the best trick snowboarder ever and Apollo Ohno becoming the most decorated American Winter Olympic athlete. I will point out that Evan Lysachek got tons of coverage after his win, but had little before the fact.

Still, the Winter Olympics are puny compared to the Summer Olympics, and I guarantee you NBC looks at the Summer Olympics as a much, much bigger deal.