The NBC is copping an absolute bollocking for sticking to a (for them) tried and trusted formula in covering the Olympic Games - or as Americans insist on calling them, the Summer Olympics. Taking the day's highlights, packaging them up and wrapping them in a journalistic narrative worked in the 20th century. Problem is, we are now a dozen years into the 21st.

20:52 The Socialympics Begin with 9.66m Tweets on Opening Night! | UKSN - The Social Media & Sport Resource http://t.co/tMBBMz3p #london2012 #
19:30 The NBC has returned Australia to its customary location - http://t.co/wpYDjm63 #
19:22 that's three Jeep ads plus that awful "cmon Aussie cmon" trailer #
19:21 ch9 has just shown three version of an especially jingoist Jeep ad in the same break! #
18:09 Austrians all let us rejoice. @nbcolympics #
17:20 In short, Rabbitohs are contenders. Tigers should start thinking about good holiday spots in September. #nrlsouwst #
16:46 Good lord. We won a scrum against the feed! #nrlsouwst #
16:33 Attendance 29863 at the ANZ. #nrlsouwst #
16:23 Ugh. Or for those of you watching on delay, ugh. #nrlsouwst #
15:35 Far be it from me to complain about refereeing. However.... #nrlsouwst #
15:09 Game under way at the ANZ. If you're watching ch9, feel free to delay reading my tweets by an hour. #nrlsouwst #
14:35 Aargh! Is there no escape from Jaimee Rodgers anywhere? #
14:30 At the SOP. Caught the end of the Toyota Cup. Souths came from behind to win 36-30 but a serious injury to their 5/8th Dylan Walker. #nrl #
14:11 On Global Tiger Day the @weststigers playing the @ssfcrabbitohs #nrl (@ ANZ Stadium w/ 13 others) http://t.co/2qOG8t76 #
13:21 The Sydney Olympic cauldron has been re-lit for the duration of the London Games @ Cathy Freeman Park http://t.co/ymC8p5ji #
09:12 Good comeback by Team GB to get within 16 of the Opals. #london2012 #basketball #
08:46 Straight sets win to USA over Australia. Or if you're watching NBC, I wonder how the beach volleyball will go tonight. #london2012 #
08:45 You'd think ch9 would supply their anchorpersons with ip*ds so that they don't need to read score updates off bits of paper. #
08:34 though I personally have no problems if tigers have two special days. #
08:32 Today, July 29, is Global Tiger Day. Not to be confused apparently with International Tiger Day on September 27. #
08:05 Beach volleyball 11pm at night nowhere near an ocean. This is what the Olympics is all about! #london2012 #
07:31 Emily Seebohm. Yolane Kukla. Libby Trickett. What do they get for being part of the 4x100 freestyle team that put Australia into the final? #
07:24 I do love the live match pages on the official #London2012 website. Here's the Opals v GB game: http://t.co/HzoFOktv #
07:16 Good morning. We've won something, I see. #london2012 #
00:50 My Youtube playlist of ten pieces played at the #london2012 opening - http://t.co/SDCK7gNo #

23:51 All that was missing from the #london2012 opening was British police arresting demonstrators. My blog rectifies that - http://t.co/4GXpKLnh #
23:00 Shock as #ch9 shows the gold medal performance of a NON-AUSTRALIAN, named by Karl Stefanovic as "her". #london2012 #
22:45 Having re-read my blog post of the 2008 opening ceremony I could repeat the first 3 paragraphs http://t.co/rC3Ofg0m #
22:17 Catching up slowly. My Day Minus One #london2012 blog post featuring Cate Blanchett as Galadriel - http://t.co/C9EZN00n #
22:15 Sigh. Channel 9 has crossed to the #liveanimalexports. #london2012 #
21:31 I do hope "Howzat!" starts with the bit where KFBP missed out on the TV rights to the tennis. #
21:19 And what exactly, Rabs, are the "Nether Lands"? #london2012 #swimming #ch9 #
21:10 Profile of #london2012's first gold medallist, Chinese shooter Yi Siling http://t.co/n3zkIROT #
20:50 My nomination for #Infographic Of The Year. RT @bipolarbearnz: For those who find Hey Jude too complicated > http://t.co/ab6LNpW5 #
20:42 Progress score: China 1st, Poland 2nd, Rest of the World equal 3rd. #london2012 #
20:32 Must say though that I would never have thought of Yakety Sax/The Benny Hill Theme as an example of zydeco. #
20:30 It's not The Benny Hill Theme and it's not even British. "Yakety Sax" was first a hit for Boots Randolph in 1963 http://t.co/xzxp8069 #
14:49 I will never get over the concept of a musical tribute to the NHS. #
14:07 Now watching the first half hour of the #openingceremony that I missed this morning #
10:30 Oops. Left ch9 on, now a youngish Donald Trump doing a walk-on in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air #
09:55 Any Olympic #OpeningCeremony is irrelevant to sport and indulgence on a grand scale but having said that @DannyBoyleFilm did a brilliant job #
09:44 I can turn the volume down now. The one down note to a brilliant #openingceremony, which was really the warmup for a Macartney concert #
09:42 Macartney is off-key. And besides, he's from Liverpool. #london2012 #
09:40 and finishes with one of my least favourite Beatles songs :( #
09:38 and Pink Floyd. #
09:37 Best Olympic torch lighting ever. Correct decision. #openingceremony #
09:28 who takes the Olympic oath on behalf of the pharmacists? #
09:26 must say I feel the suspense right now over the lighting of the flame #
09:24 Pah. I remember Ron Barassi "walking" on the Yarra with the Commonwealth Games torch in 2006. #
09:23 But always great to see Muhammad Ali, regardless. #
09:22 It makes me a little sad to see these great people being used as bit players for what is now a miserable commercial enterprise. #olympics #
09:20 How did these guys win the raffle to carry the Olympic flag? #
09:18 Her Majesty keeps it short and concise. It's after her bed time too! #openingceremony #

Here is a Youtube playlist of ten of my favourite pieces that were performed at the London Olympic Games opening ceremony.

All I can say is that I am as much in awe of Danny Boyle's craftsmanship as ever. This was the best stadium-based opening/closing ceremony ever, and it should be the last because no one is ever going to have a hope of topping it. Seriously.

If being Australian cricket captain is as important a job as Prime Minister, then carrying the Australian flag at the Olympic opening ceremony must be on the same level as winning a Gold Logie. Well, maybe not quite.

23:20 Have the Olympics become so big that hosting them may become out of reach for democracies? http://t.co/z4G0jzxQ #
20:17 This is so ridiculous. #london2012 RT @mediaguardian: Olympic ban stops Radio 4 shows being streamed internationally http://t.co/Uc9KKD2Y #
19:18 What former NSW premiers are up to: MT @ACA_Players: World's player unions condemn statements of #WADA chairman Fahey: http://t.co/sgS5MQq7 #
18:44 #ff @homeofcricket and @aggerscricket for all your #london2012 archery needs. You know it makes sense #
17:20 Tempted to get up at 3.30am to listen to Barenbohm conduct Beethoven's 9th at @bbcproms then go back to sleep for the #london2012 opening #
16:11 Back to you, Barry. #NDIS #auspol #nswpol #
16:01 And now my #london2012 Day Minus Two blog featuring Kim Jong Un's wedding present and stand up comedy from Boris http://t.co/ICznJSZn #
15:23 Maybe Bailieu is going it alone with a state version of the #NDIS... called hopefully the VDIS #
15:11 The Liberals not running a candidate for Lord Mayor of Newcastle, which will probably help Jeff McCloy's prospects http://t.co/NFjQ6Lho #
15:07 by the way, the hashtag I will be using for the Australian equestrian team is #liveanimalexports #
14:58 I promise to do a daily blog post on the Olympics but unfortunately I am two days behind my self imposed target already #
14:56 Warning: My latest blog post about #london2012 includes a video of George Carlin - http://t.co/gqIXN2h9 #
14:17 @AnyoneButAbbott 4.30 news or 6pm news? #
09:46 Australian exported goods at work: Iran nuclear plants hit by virus playing AC/DC - http://t.co/hEW2vcL9 #
06:59 It's thirty years since Vic Morrow and two children died during shooting of a film scene. - http://t.co/b1iUxZ5t #
06:45 Lauren Jackson does look like Cate Blanchett a bit #
06:12 What, another basketball player carrying the Australian flag? #london2012 #

A storification of my Olympic-related tweets and retweets in the five days prior to the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. Most of my #london2012 tweets from the past few months can be found under my automated Daily Twitter collection, which unfortunately hasn't been functioning properly all the time.

The Games have begun. That traditional opening to the Olympics, unknown up till now as Women's Soccer Wednesday. The twelve teams of this Matildaless tournament got the Games of the XXX Olympiad under way, but one team received preferential treatment from the organisers. On the day it was announced that Kim Jong Un was no longer the world's most eligible bachelor, LOCOG chose the ideal present from their wedding gift register.

There is a List A and List B of words that are prohibited in certain combinations. List A comprises Games, Two Thousand and Twelve, 2012 and Twenty-Twelve. List B includes London, Medals, Sponsor, Gold, Silver, Bronze. You can't use two List A terms together or one List A with one or more List B. Sounds like the opposite of opening a bank account, doesn't it?