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Reports from Belo Interactive contributors at the Olympics in Sydney, AustraliaJohn Miller: Diary from Down Under Macaroni and Brokaw 09/19/2000 By John Miller / KTVB-TV, Boise, Idaho
The International Broadcast Center is an interesting place. Especially the
NBC section. The room is chock-full of computers, editing equipment and 46,000 miles of cables and wires, probably sucking up most of the electricity
in Eastern Australia – not to mention about 60 uptight media people constantly
running amok like their hair's on fire.
You can seek brief respite from the chaos by stepping across the hall into
the NBC commissary. That place is also full of chaos, adventure and mystery – even beyond the bean casserole. Today I found myself spooning up some macaroni
and cheese, and noticed Tom Brokaw across the buffet table. So I said, "Hey Tom,
can I slap you a clump? It's gooooooood eatin'!!!"
Mr. Brokaw looked up and
said, "Why no, but that's certainly kind of you to offer. You certainly don't
find generosity like that every day." Then he slapped my shoulder, and said,
"You are a fine man, John Miller! I'll be sure to mention your kindness and goodwill in an upcoming broadcast."
So maybe that's not exactly the way it happened. But I did see Tom Brokaw
near the commissary. He looked very serious and concerned, like he had just
reported some incomprehensible natural disaster. Or eaten the bean casserole.
The other mystery of the commissary is exactly how bad it is for us. It's
kind of like college, but even better. I mean, come on, a freezer full of the
Australian equivalent of Dove Bars and Nutty Buddies. FREE. As many as you can
eat, before your belt buckles and arteries burst. Mark and I like to think that
eating 19 Dove Bars every day is offset by walking 19 miles every day. (Please
don't email us the actual medical truth.)
The REAL truth is that walking 19
miles is far more dangerous in Sydney than a few dozen ice cream novelties. Every day someone comes running into the NBC complex (hair ablaze), huffing and
puffing about how they were nearly flattened by a shuttle bus. We're all having
trouble remembering to look RIGHT, then LEFT. It goes against everything we
learned in kindergarten, including that rule about wearing clean underwear in
case you're in a shuttle bus accident. THAT rule is exactly why I'm heading back
to "home sweet mental ward" (see previous dailies) to join Mark Johnson for a
rousing evening of laundry.
More later!
John Miller and Mark Johnson are reporters for KTVB-TV in Boise, Idaho, a Belo Interactive affiliate. They are writing a daily notebook column from the Olympics.
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Track star 
1996
swimming gold medalist Ryan Berube 
