I love how Phelps turns and screams at the French team (0:57) and holds his hands out in a "how do you like me now" kind of way.

I was hoping that Collins and Breen were going to finish outlining the three wishes Collins wants in life. After learning he wants to be LeBron for 24 hours, there was surely gold from the final two.

not sure if its been mentioned yet, but the directv interactive olympics channel is pretty cool. i was watching the argentina/aussie game today and you can get updated medal counts and stuff on the screen. very well done.

props to dan hicks, a fellow tucsonan.

i was searching youtube for the 4x100 (since i hate nbc) and came across a clip from some guy named 'gold medal mel'. there was a stipped down version of the relay from the stands which was pretty cool.

mel found hicks afterward and asked him a couple of questions.

he has his own site here:

http://goldmedalmel.typepad.com/

it looks like there are videos, but my work filter is blocking them.

-dan

I could watch this once a day for a long long long time!
SusanB

i wonder if Hannah emailed him first with congratulations or wonder boy Josh.

Phelps' celebratory scream has got to go down in history as one of the most memorable images ever in sports. That was just 100% pure emotion there.

I think its true that hes not there openly rooting for the US. In the down time you dont hear him expressing personal opinions about wanting the US to win. The US happened to be involved in this spectacular race and the emotion that came out of him was raw and unplanned.

I wonder how many "Endless Pools" Rowdy Gaines has sold in China?

all videos are on nbcolympics.com, you will have no luck on youtube.com

Funny, I didn't know that Gus Johnson was in Beijing.

i won't go to nbcolympics.com either.

some guy on youtube recorded the race off the tv and uploaded it.

the quality was pretty bad, but it was better than supporting nbc since they are crapping all over everyone out west.

-dan

i hear a little gus johnson in hicks' voice, not bad at all. loved the energy. that being said, can we get gus to call the olympics sometime soon?

Eh... I got more emotional when Chris Carpenter left Sunday night's game with soreness in his recently repaired pitching arm.

I like the emotion, but this was the 2nd straight race he basically got the facts of part of the call wrong. With about 40m left, he's basically saying the race is over ("US is trying to hang onto second, they should get the silver medal") and then changes course 2 seconds later when he sees, hey Lezak is closer than I thought and is making up ground.

Worse, the race before this he yelled Katie Hoff won (when she was being closed in on at the end) before having to quickly switch to another swimmer who actually DID win.

Emotion is great, but I want my play-by-play guys to get the "play" right.

@rob: Huh? I didn't see the Hoff thing, but Hicks went with what he knew. He knew Bernard was a strong swimmer and would be very tough to beat if the US weren't already ahead going into the final leg of the relay, and then Lezak started gaining on him well after the turn. I think he nailed it. I've watched it over and over again and I don't see any reason why he should've been changing his tune about the outcome of the race until he did, when he saw--as I saw--Lezak starting to gain significant ground.

I'm sorry but Dan Hicks is GAWD awful.His call was amateurish. They should have shown him wearing his skirt and pompoms going "yay team!" By the way Gus Johnson still SUCKS! so comparing Hicks to Johnson just confirms it.

Also Hicks did say Hoff won when she did not. It took Rowdy Gaines to throw some cold water on him and say that she did not.

I'd have to disagree (with Anon 8:37:00 PM). Hicks' statement that "the United States trying to hang on to second" meant to me that the U.S. was more likely to go to third than win the race. When he said that, I scanned the pool b/c I thought "wow, someone must be gaining on Lezak...it looked at the turn like he decisively was in second and still had an outside chance at first". If you look at the replay, he was almost a full body-length ahead of 3rd place, while Lezak was "only" about 1/2 a body length behind the French.

In any case - I don't like it when announcers in any sport basically sound like something is over when it's not over -- and that's what he did. Lezak's comeback was amazing b/c of the time he put up and, more notably, the fact it kept Phelps' 8 gold dream alive. But people come back from behind from as far as Lezak all the time -- like Hoff's race which was just an hour (in TV time) before!

All that said, I do like enthusiasm (and Gus Johnson). Just get the info right.

Minor, but since it is "Awful Announcing," Hicks and Gaines violated the Yogi Berra cardinal rule of broadcasting in their call of the final leg: "it's never over until it is over."

Gaines says "It doesn't look like he's (Lezak) going to be able to catch him" with more than 50m still left. Then Hicks chimes in "the United States trying to hang on to 2nd. They should get the silver."

Big "no-no's" overshadowed by the screaming they did when Lezak proved them wrong.

I think Hicks is a hidden gem of the broadcasting world. I personally loved his call of the US Open, and he's been fantastic in his swimming calls.

Without question, one of the worst calls ever delivered on network TV. Dan Hicks is only good at one thing overreacting. His cheerleading for the favorites whether it be Tiger Woods or Michael Phelps is getting tired and underscores the weakness in his announcing skills. Frankly, I thought NBC made an audio error and was running a tape of Howard Dean after the Iowa caucus as the race was ending.

Hicks has talked over the start of almost every race. He literally talks right over the horn that signals the start and continues his ramblings as the swimmers explode into the water.

A sporting event is like a piece of music. There are times to play your notes and there are times when you let the moment stand on it's own -- you let it breathe -- you 'lay out' -- you shut the f up. The start of any race is one of those critical times. Set the table, build the drama, then get out of the way. Fold your commentary into the body of the race.

Listen to Tom Hammond call the Track & Field venue. Better yet, someone please ask Dan Hicks to listen to Mr. Hammond. He'd learn how a pro conducts the call of a race.