Eeyore does Geography during the Opening Ceremony....

"here's denmark, (sigh) they're responsible for the cartoon that everyone hates. here's iran, they want the bomb (sigh) and are going to destory israel. has anyone seen my tail?"

I wish that NBC would stop interupting the commercials with all those Olympics breaks.

As an Air Force public affairs officer, I had the opportunity to meet and work with NBC's Brian Williams in the spring of 1991.

You know him today as host of the NBC Nightly News; back then, however, he was a rising star, working as evening anchor for WCBS, CBSs flagship TV station in New York City.

I was serving as chief of public affairs for the 347th Tactical Fighter Wing at Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Georgia. [Note to file: For you trivia buffs, the base is located about 30 minutes down the highway from the site where they filmed the swamp scene in the movie, Deliverance.]

Operation Desert Shield was about to turn into Operation Desert Storm a.k.a., the first Persian Gulf War and Mr. Williams wanted to do an up-close-and-personal story about the folks who would soon be flying their F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft into harms way over the skies of Iraq. The folks at the pentagon sent him to our sleepy little base deep in the heart of South Georgia.

In addition to arranging interviews with fighter pilots and others at the base, we were told to provide Mr. Williams with a ride in the backseat of an F-16. Before anyone rides in the back of a fighter jet, however, he has to have a physical and complete pre-flight training that includes learning how to get out of the jet in the event of an emergency. Part of that training was something we called hang and harness training.

Hang and harness training is just like it sounds. A person hangs from a harness to get an idea of what it feels like to use a parachute. Standing on a platform several feet off the ground, Mr. Williams had a parachute pack strapped on his back and was connected by cables to a mechanical rigging device suspended from the ceiling.

The gear worn by Mr. Williams included two main straps, each of which extended from his shoulder area, down across his chest and under his crotch where they passed by his family jewels one strap on each side and continued up his back side where they connected with the bottom of the parachute sack.

Despite being told more than once by his Air Force instructors that he should tighten those straps until they were very snug, the anchor-man ignored the advice. When the time came for him to jump from the platform to the ground below, simulating the feel of a real jump, the anchormans less-than-snug straps suddenly became snug and in an oh-so-painful way.

These days, I cant even watch him on the NBC Nightly News without thinking back to that painful moment which, by the way, he didnt even mention in his story. Thanks for the memories, Mr. Williams.

He's ignorant. I just flipped away from NBC. It's a sporting event, not political bashing, you moron. This is why most of us (who'd admitted it) got satellite hookup or Tivo-ed away from this sort of satire crap. Thanks for ruining the Olympic, Williams.

Bob Costas and Katie Couric were a winning combination at the Salt Lake Olympics. If it ain't broke - don't fix it.

you miss the point...the amazing thing about the olympics is that enemies can suspend animosity and sit together. the one exception in summer when iran refused to let its rep compete against israel. this is not only about athletics.......it is political and hopeful that we can really live together!

i agree, he stated the things we know and really didn't watch the olympics to hear about...

Geeee but I do miss the east germans and soviets...

Yes, but people who bother to tune in to the opening night of the games, have already heard the news on dozens of other outlets throughout the week and on Friday..those folks who do not know what is going on in the world are probably not watching Olympic coverage of any sort.

I disagree. Brian Williams seized an opportunity to inform many who pay little or no attention whatsoever to world news events. Too many Americans live in their own bubble. The world at large effects us all.

I 100% agree. B-Will had no business at last night's opening ceremonies. He was dishing out the stuffy negativity at such a rapid clip, I thought I was watching a SNL "Debbie Downer" skit.