Olympic ticker: NBC critic's Twitter account is suspended - Detroit Free Press

Ever hear of Guy Adams? Or his tweets criticizing NBC's Olympic broadcasts? No?

Well, now you will, because NBC went to the trouble to get him this extra coverage.

Adams is an L.A.-based correspondent for London's The Independent. He was carping about all the usual stuff -- delayed telecasts, dumb stuff he heard Matt Lauer say, etc. -- when he suggested his followers complain about it to NBC Olympics president Gary Zenkel and gave his e-mail address.

NBC reported to Twitter and Adams' account was suspended, because you're not supposed to tweet personal data like that.

But Adams said it was Zenkel's corporate address, which he found in a simple online search.

"If this Gary Zenkel doesn't want to hear from the many tens of thousands of customers he upset with his network's coverage, I think he's in the wrong job," Adams told the Associated Press.

Not all are complaining

Mr. Adams' complaints aside, NBC reports record audiences for the first three nights of the London Games, an average of 35.8 million viewers. It was 30.6 million for the first three nights in Beijing in 2008 and 24 million for Athens in 2004.

At the games, however, there have been an embarrassing number of empty seats. Organizers blamed it on countries not using the tickets they've been provided.

They're working on getting some tickets back for the public, and have tried filling seats with soldiers and schoolchildren.

Quick hits

London Organizing Committee spokeswoman Jackie Brock-Doyle, tired of questions on the keys to Wembley Stadium getting lost: "They got lost. I don't know. The police lost them. The locks were changed. I don't know what more you'd like me to say."

U.S. sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross, on the Jacksonville Jaguars giving her husband, cornerback Aaron Ross, time off from training camp so he can watch her compete in the 400 meters (but not the 200): "The 200 would be icing on the cake. The 400 is the cake."

Hey, are any Packers getting time off to compete in Olympic skeet shooting?

If you think water polo is just hockey in a pool -- NBC did assign Doc Emrick and Pierre McGuire to it -- here was a teachable moment Monday from expert analyst Julie Swail: "One of the main differences between men's water polo and women's water polo is the women have a lot more suit to grab, so you'll see a lot more suit-grabbing going on."

Compiled from staff reports and news services by STEVE SCHRADER, who can be reached at 313-222-6710 or sschrader@freepress.com.