2012 IM World Championship broadcast on NBC ...

I agree, the live race is 10x better than the NBC broadcast. 

I know it may sound strange given that the live race is so long and the NBC broadcast is edited to 1.5 or 2 hours but there has been this intensity in the live race that just isn't acknowledged or captured in the NBC broadcast.  An example of this would be the Macca/Raelert showdown the last few miles in 2010.  Seeing them battle it out real time, mile after mile was amazing to watch but it wasn't captured in the NBC broadcast.  They talked about it sure, but it was only given a few minutes at best because of time constraints.  I really think they missed the mark that was the highlight of the live race.

I was actually surprised at how good the live, on-line coverage was. 

My 12 year old observed that "it must be hard for them (the announcers) to do this whole race, since it lasts all day!"  No kidding, but I was hooked!

I only stopped watching to go for my (piddling by comparison) 12 mile run, so I missed a small portion of the bike.     What a bada$$ race this year!

The one thing I'm looking forward to in the edited coverage, though, is a bit more on the AGer side.  While I'm sure it will be heavy on the pros (especially as the race was so well contended right up to the end), there was comparatively little on the AG folks during the live coverage.

Understandable, but it's great to see the "non-pros" kicking it, too!  Talk about motivational...

Looking forward to this. But I'm just really, really disappointed that this is the ONLY race that is/was broadcasted this year. Before I disabled my FB account over the summer, I repeatedly asked IM about updates to race broadcasts, given that most providers weren't carrying NBCUS anymore.

Looks like they've essentially shut down their production studios with the exception of Kona. A real bummer.

Sounds almost like an SNL skit.

"Cancer Girl" is a friend of my wife's, and she's an effing stud.  

I did the Waterman's Half (70.3) on Kona Saturday.  My race sucked, it was 34 degrees at the start, I lost feeling in my feet before I even jumped in the water, and it was all I could do to keep going (see race report).  There really was more than one occasion that I thought to myself that I knew Beth-Ann was going to finish, and there was no way in hell that I was going to DNF just because I was cold!

Good on NBC for making a pretty boring to watch sport, compelling and possibly motivating to those that have little to no clue what Ironman is.  I might watch it just for the highlight of those success stories...which are always motivational to me.

Do you want anyone to ruin the surprise for you? :D

Kidding.

Can't wait to watch it...I finished so late in the day that I didn't even know who won...that was one of the first questions I asked my jockstrappers.  I saw the lead pros fly by on the bike and that's the only action I saw!

Another vote for this. I know it's cool to hate on that aspect of it, (moreso on the other white meat site) but for a vast, huge, number of us, the NBC (and prior, ABC) broadcasts are what first introduced us to the world of Ironman, and triathlon as a whole. Only a couple hundred lottery spots take people to Kona each year, but thousands of us are inspired to get out there and get moving in our local sprints, and onward. I spent 10 hours watching online coverage for the pro race. I am into this thing now. But for the intro level on tv, I want to see the people I can relate to, just finishing.  

Should the day come when I am in a position to apply for, win, and accept a lottery spot, I will do so without hesitation. There was a great RR on ST from a lottery spot winner, and it was nice to see a lack of hate. But human nature holds - the haters won't say it to a person directly. 

OF course, I think we can all agree that with limited air time, I don't need to hear about some rich restauranteur/wine guy and his "journey" but that's just me playing class warfare I suppose. 

Well according to local TV the world will end starting tomorrow night when hurricane Sandy hits.