The most vivid memory that the majority of Americans have of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, apart from the awe-inspiring opening ceremonies which will no doubt be bested tonight by the appearance of over two dozen Mary Poppinses, was that odd 40-day stretch in which women's beach volleyball was the only thing on television. Not the only competition being broadcast on the NBC Olympic channels. Not the only sport on all the sports channels. Literally the only thing being shown at any time on any channel, including HBO which is not even TV, it's HBO, was women's beach volleyball.

As we take stock of the winding-down Summer Olympics, not every story emerging from Beijing can deal with an upbeat panoply of would-be stars and swimmer abs. There's plenty to improve on for 2012, starting with women's beach volleyball — an athletic travesty so grave that readers of one TV blog have mounted sort of an accidental revolt against its continuation four years from now in London: