When it comes to the shooting sports, media have Olympic Fever immunity

If you're like most sports enthusiasts, you're waking up groggy this week because you're maxing-out on the Olympics. And you've got another week ahead, so try to get those catnaps in when you can, because there are literally thousands of hours of virtually any summer sport imaginable on TV.

I used the qualifier "virtual" because if you're a shooting enthusiast and you're hoping to watch on the large screen, you're hugely out of luck. That's because NBC Sports has- once again- relegated shooting sports to the smaller screens.

Yeah, I know USA Shooting contributed the first gold medal to the Team USA medal count, and I get it that Cory Cogdel-Unrein is now being called "bronze squared" because she's scored her second Olympic medal in Women's Trap.

None of that matters. Granted, NBC showed Ginny Thrasher's gold medal ceremony, but they didn't show a single shot of the women's 10m Air Rifle competition.

We're seeing plenty of archery -and I'm betting that's because no one would ever think the archers we're seeing would ever be caught dead anywhere near a hunting stand. They're largely perfectly matched athletes with archery gear that looks like gear more out of a sci-fi fantasy than any field shoot.

Before you get ruffled feathers (or fletch) about the coverage of archery, I'm enjoying it. So much that I've even pulled my ancient gear out of mothballs and managed to remind myself that neither my eyes or my shoulders are what they once were. And the idea of hitting targets at 70 yards- if they're smaller than, say, planet Earth- would be more an example of blind luck than an archer reclaiming the skill he enjoyed when he used to rabbit and squirrel hunt with a stick bow.

There is obviously a good side to the archery coverage. As I was visiting a couple of sporting goods locations over the past week, I've seen people buying archery equipment. And there's always the "Olympic bounce" in the sports that are getting so much positive coverage.

It's no secret that I think NBC has -again- missed a great story in Kim Rhode's quest for a sixth consecutive Olympic medal- in six consecutive Olympics. But it's also no secret that whomever actually owns NBC has absolutely zero interest in promoting anything that remotely portrays shooting sports, guns or gun owners in a positive -or even fair- light. That doesn't fit their narrative.

The Olympics are supposed to be one of those "bright, shining moments" where the world puts aside its differences to root for "the human drama of athletic competition" where we can all cheer at "thrill of victory" or commiserate "the agony of defeat."

Jim McKay, we miss you -and the rest of the old ABC Sports Team.

Republished from The Outdoor Wire.