So as we told you earlier, all of the Long Beach athletes on Olympic teams are competing for the gold—two of them have already competed (you didn’t miss this or this did you?), and these are the other three. Because these are gold medal matches on the last two days of competition, NBC’s schedule is all kinds of messed up, so I’m going to give you two pieces of information—when the game is actually happening, west coast time, so you can track results on line if you want to, or so you know when to go into media blackout mode if you’re waiting for the TV broadcast, which of course I’ll also give you the info on. Sound good? I did all the confusing bits for you, so you could just sit back and watch our athletes do their city proud.
Saturday, August 23rd
Indoor Women’s Volleyball—GOLD MEDAL MATCH
Playing for their first medal in 24 years, the US Women’s Volleyball team will be facing Brazil, which is no small order, as the Brazilians are dominant, and have yet to lose a set in these Olympics. This game will be happening at five in the morning our time, and then airing on television maybe during the daytime broadcast, but for sure at midnight tonight. NBC, 10am-6pm block; TELEMUNDO, Midnight (Saturday night).
Sunday, August 24th
Men’s Water Polo—GOLD MEDAL MATCH
After an improbable and frankly shocking run to the gold medal match, the US Men’s team has just one more opponent standing between they and gold: Hungary, another strong foe. Can Tony Azevedo and the other four LB high school grads get it done? You’ll have to tune in to find out! This game will be happening at 12:40am on Sunday, and then will be rebroadcast later in the day. NBC, 12pm-4pm block.
Indoor Men’s Volleyball—GOLD MEDAL MATCH
After suffering the tragic loss of head coach McCutcheon’s father-in-law, the men’s team has rallied together and played with passion, going undefeated thus far in the 2008 Olympics. Now they have just one more opponent, a dominant Brazilian team that defeated China three sets to none in the semifinals. This game will be happening Saturday night, but NBC is apparently not planning on broadcasting it until Sunday evening, so you’re going to have a long blackout period if you want to pretend it’s live on television. NBC, 7-11pm (Right before closing ceremonies).