Some thoughts on the Olympics.

Once again the world has come together to celebrate physical excellence, sports-man and woman like conduct and extreme displays of nationalism.

• Very cool that Peter Gabriel sang John Lennon's "Imagine." Even more cool was that all the athletes sang along and knew the lyrics. For one brief moment you had a glimpse of the possibilities.

• Watched the Canadian women's ice hockey team shut out the Russian women 12-0, which makes me miss the Soviet Union. You know that would have never happened under the Soviets. OK…so the women would have had 5'oclock shadows…but they would have at least given the Canadians a game.

• The snowboarders are the coolest.

• I miss the Norwegian women's beach volleyball team.

Now on to today's topic. Television.

Now, admittedly, I live in the US and thus my only recourse is American television and their coverage of the games. But what I really want is to see universal coverage of all the events. I want to see what the French, Germans, Norwegians, Russians, Japanese etc. see.

If I can call my journalist friend in Afghanistan on my cell phone, then I should be able to pick and choose my coverage on the Internet.

But it's not that easy.

Just try finding international television on the net. There's very little.

The Official Olympic Site from the UK, Eurosport, and a few other places but it's slim pickings out there.

Either NBC has it locked up, or I'm not good at researching the net. Which is eminently possible.

My own choice would be that the IOC has complete control of the broadcasts, and that the coverage is 24 hours a day, NBC and other television networks can put together packages for prime time viewing for those who are not able to watch the men's downhill at 3AM California time.

And it should be available over the Internet.

For free.

Especially women's beach volleyball.