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I apologize for the slow weekend, but, as it turns out, I actually wrote seven posts on Saturday and Sunday… you just won’t be seeing them until later today due to a new mandate handed down by NBC which stipulates that all sports coverage be delayed a minimum of 10 hours. So, stay tuned to CB to find out how Cole Hamels fared on Friday night in his first start since signing a $144 million contract. Now, let's send it out to some village for women's equestrian peeing. Bob?

Let’s hit it.

 

But first, a word from our sponsors:

OH MY GOD WE’RE HOSTING A FIFA TOURNAMENT. Tomorrow night. 8 p.m. Drinker’s West in University City. All the details are here. It’s FREE to play, and there will be prizes to the winners, but spots are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, so get there early. If you plan on coming, we’d ask that you RSVP on Facebook to help us better structure the event.

– See your favorite former local college basketball stars this Sunday at St. Joes. The-BALL, a league officially launching in the summer of 2013, will hold a showcase event Sunday night featuring Curtis Sumpter, Dionte Christmas and many other former local college stars. Students get in FREE, the rest of you can take $5 off tickets by entering code CrossingBroad at checkout. All the details hereBuy tickets here

Meet Carlos Ruiz and Steve Carlton. Lefty will be at the Sports Vault in the King of Prussia Mall on Saturday, August 11, from 12-1:30. Chooch will be at the same Sports Vault on Saturday, September 8, from 11-1. Details here.

– Philly Phaithful has launched an all-new line in time for football season. My personal favorite? Dallas Sucks.

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Shop them all here.

 

The roundup

– The tape-delayed Olympics are no longer a suitable experience, and folks are lining up to take shots at NBC:

Shane Ryan, Grantland

But we are living in the age of the spoiler. People are going to find out the results if they're around the Internet, television, or other humans. They just are. And if they don't want to know? They're going to avoid everything, including NBC stations. So, my question: How does it change anything if you broadcast the events live in the afternoon?? The people who watch prime time are still going to watch prime time. They're ALREADY avoiding TV, presumably while at work, and it wouldn't change anything to throw the rest of us a bone and put the swimming on CNBC. I mean, they even announce the results on the NBC news show that leads into the prime-time coverage! Even the rest of NBC isn't avoiding spoilers! AHHHH THIS RAGE IS GOING TO KILL ME! I should probably just give up and light my TV on fire, right? 

 

Richard Sandomir, New York Times:

Still, NBC cannot fully savor the success, at least not yet. By streaming all sports live to an audience more ravenous than ever for video content on computers, iPads and smartphones, NBC might have believed it had found a complaint cure-all. If no streams were held until the events aired on tape in prime time, how could anyone complain about delay? If fans absolutely had to see Michael Phelps swim live, they could see it. Up to 40 live streams are available at once. Such a fetching bonanza sounds ideal, doesn’t it?

But people want what they want when they want it — and they don’t want the video to freeze, skip, pixelate or buffer excessively. Some who wanted to watch Phelps race Ryan Lochte live (many hours before they raced, on delay, on NBC) were disappointed when the live streams seized up as if hexed by an NBC rival.

 

NBC’s chief digital officer is firing back at complaints.

– Not only is Twitter killing the viewing experience, it’s also hurting the games themselves– networks used for Olympic timing data are being overburdened by folks with smartphones.  

– This Delco Times columnist is in a swing-up pissing contest with Buzz Bissinger, whom he angered with this unfair column wondering why Bissinger wasn’t as outraged at his alma mater, Penn, for protecting a child predator as he was at Penn State. 

– There are conflicting reports on whether the Phillies will trade Hunter Pence to the Giants.

– Like Olympic women’s beach volleyball? Well! You should see Olympic women’s beach volleyball dancers

– A source tells The School Philly that Silas Redd will stay at Penn State. There will, however, be no announcement today

– Jerry Jones would like some “glory hole.”

18 best porn names at 2012 Olympics.

– Riley Cooper fractured his left collarbone and will be out six weeks.

– The Sixers signed Villanova’s Maalik Wayns.

– Finally:

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Der.