Saturday night prime time and NBC is showing a women’s marathon at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Interesting.

Actually, marathon running is something I like watching, but I'm not sure that holds true for many people. In general, I find the Olympics to be a bit overblown. Most of these sports are things the general sports audience has no interest in 47 months out of a 48-month span.

Swimming, for example, does not draw much in the way of television ratings at any other time than when Michael Phelps is chasing a record.

And it seems like every morning when I get up during an Olympic stretch and flip on the TV — whether the games are in Europe or Asia or Australia — rowing is on, which makes me change the channel in search of a MASH rerun.

Some other events, such as synchronized diving, equestrian, don’t do much for me.

But some of the sports I have always thought should be able to make inroads on the American sports scene.

In the Winter Games, I always enjoyed short-track speedskating, which can be a little like watching NASCAR on ice, dating back to my days of covering sports in St. Louis. That area is a short-track speedskating hotbed with a few Olympians (J.P. Kepka, two-time silver medalist Nikki Ziegelmeyer) and standout Tom O’Hare, so it’s not a sport confined to Lake Placid or other northern regions.

It also had a standout centerpiece athlete to build around in Apolo Anton Ohno, some rivalries both in the United States (O’Hare claimed a conspiracy kept him off the team) and internationally (Ohno vs. South Korea).

Alas, there is no professionally short-track speedskating league.

There are some summer events I enjoy watching every four years:

Table tennis and badminton. I love to play when I get a chance, and I like to see how my mad skillz compare with the Olympians.

Team handball. A sport that looks like basketball with soccer-like goals defended by keepers, I am not sure why this doesn’t catch on in the U.S.

Points racing in cycling. I used to like to watch cycling but the doping problems of the Tour de France make that nearly unbearable. This race Saturday was 160 laps (about 25 miles) on a velodrome with points awarded for sprint winners every 10 laps and big points awarded for cyclists who sprint off to put a lap on the field. Pretty cool, especially when you consider the bikes have one gear and no brakes.

What sports for you are can’t-miss or surprisingly interesting?

The New Zealand women's basketball team, which beat Mali in the opener and then lost to Spain on Sunday, also lost 80-63 to host China and 90-59 to the Czech Republic this week.

Natalie Purcell, formerly a standout at Southeast Missouri State, scored five points in the loss tom China. 

The Tall Ferns are to play the United States in pool play, too. Ouch.