Allison Reed

If one watches NBC's coverage of the Opening Olympic ceremony, as we do every two years, one can't help but be baffled at the TV hosts'... what's the world we're looking for... ineptitude? Incompetence? Indifference? Inanity? Something like that...

Let's focus on the parade of nations, where the hosts have a chance to shed some light on various countries for the American public. There are 92 nations in this edition, surely they can regale us with a tidbit better than "it's winter in Chile when it's summer in America".

Take Lithuania, for instance, a little country with little Winter Olympic pedigree (their athletes did win medals when they competed under the Soviet flag, but have not come close since then). These games represent an outside shot at a medal, from ice dancers (and flag bearers) Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius.

Now, the hosts did mention that Allison is American, but couldn't they have done just a little more research? If they did, they would have found out that she already competed in the Olympics (for Georgia; the hosts would likely confuse it with the state) and tried to make it for Israel (no, she is not Jewish), before settling on a Lithuanian partner. And her brother and sister were also Olympic figure skaters... for Japan, where they were seven-time national champions before the brother's untimely passing. Truly, a fascinating family story across three continents!

Of course, we heard none of that. The hosts have moved on to New Zealand... where, you won't believe it, it's winter when it's summer in America!