Try this sometime. The next time a big sporting event is going to be on television, tape it. Tape the Super Bowl next year, yeah Buffalo will probably lose again, but tape it anyway.

Then wait six or seven hours before watching it. In the meantime, try to avoid hearing anything about the game -- the score, who did well, how much the Bills lost by -- ignore it all.

Chances are you won't be able to. At some point, you'll hear somebody mention the final score, or you'll catch it on TV.

After all of that, watch the game. No interest, right? You know the ending, why watch? It all just boils down to one big anticipated rerun.

Well, here's a message to those network executives at CBS and TNT who shelled out millions upon millions of dollars for the rights to televise the XVII Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. No matter how much effort, how many camera angles, how many guest commentators, or how much money you pour into covering the games -- when the Olympics aren't on prime time television in one of the U.S. time zones, it's all just one big anticipated rerun.

With the games now over, here are more Olympiad thoughts and reflections . . .

We've all heard stories about how kids get inspired by watching the Olympics. So what outlet would a local kid here have if he was inspired watching the luge finals on TV? Where is the closest luge/bobsled track? If the kid is really serious about this dream, what kind of parents would deny their child the opportunity to pursue it?

So the parents would have to move to Lake Placid, N.Y., or some other place with a luge track -- small price to pay for a child's livelihood.

Speaking of luge, bobsled and other timed sports, are the Winter Games really proving anything when performances are won or lost by hundredths, or sometimes even thousandths of a second?

Take Tommy Moe's gold medal in downhill skiing for instance. He and silver medalist Kjetil Andr Aamodt were separated by a mere four-hundredths of a second. That's 0.04 seconds.

If anybody could physically tell the difference between the two skiing runs, and honestly say, "Hey, Moe was faster," that person deserves a gold medal.

Come on, 0.04 seconds. In essence, a guy works his entire life to reach the pinnacle of success; spends years of practice to make the Olympic team. Finally, in his one and only shot to prove himself a winner, he loses by a few hundredths of a second. That doesn't prove who's the best.

Moe couldn't have done anything radically different to make himself faster. If the skiing conditions had been different in any way, Moe might not have won. That doesn't prove who the best athlete is?

Even the Buffalo Bills get more than one shot. They have to play 19 games to show the world they're only the second best team in football.

Lastly, would somebody please give figure skating commentator Scott Hamilton a dose of reality. Maybe he's a little biased, but he shouldn't be allowed to make a statement like, "Pairs figure skating is a dangerous sport."

Sure, he said it after a female skater was dropped by her partner -- hitting her chin on the ice, bleeding profusely. But has Hamilton seen a NASCAR event lately? When the success rate of figure skating is measured in fatalities per year, then Hamilton can open his mouth.