KEY POINTS:
According to some reliable sources my new, award-winning sports show, Olympicho, is set to take the coverage of the Olympic Games to a new level and may be the front-runner for best sports coverage at the television awards.
For the next three weeks my Olympicho team cover the
Beijing Olympics from Los Angeles. Incidentally, Los Angeles hosted the Olympics in 1984, but that's not why we are going there.
Why LA, I hear you ask? Well, it's important you don't get too close to the action, and putting distance between yourself and the action is a method of broadcasting I have adopted in the past.
It would be fair to say that it is tried, proven and incredibly effective.
You may recall I covered the Athens Olympics from Rome and Venice and the recent Rugby World Cup in France from the Poenamo Hotel in Northcote.
Both broadcasts were award-winning and it's not surprising TV One has adopted a similar approach, with Simon Dallow doing his New Zealand newsreading role from Beijing.
I will have media centres at the Crowne Plaza Beverly Hills and the Disneyland Hotel. The Crowne Plaza operation is the more advanced and is where we will do the bulk of our link-ups with Beijing and New Zealand.
We are unable to do this from the Disneyland media centre as it is more of a Mickey Mouse operation.
My exclusive coverage will be broadcast every Wednesday night on Sports Cafe on TV2.
This was the logical television platform to broadcast from as it is the only TV show I am on at the moment, and Ric Salizzo's credit card is taking care of my costs.
I have spared no expense on this one, and I think this will show in the footage, my clothing and my sex life.
Some media commentators felt that our coverage of the Athens Olympics, although technically brilliant, didn't really capture the atmosphere in Greece. This was to be expected as it was filmed in Italy.
I find this criticism a little harsh, but as a professional I'm dedicated to delivering the best coverage possible and so am willing to adapt to ensure we do just that.
In an effort to show the vibe, flavour and colour of Beijing, we will be paying regular visits to LA's Chinatown, where many Chinese eat, sleep, work and interact.
We also did a lot of research in Balmoral and Howick before leaving New Zealand.
To the untrained eye it will be very difficult to discern between our authentic "China" footage shot in Chinatown and the footage shot in China by other sports broadcasters.
There's an old saying in sports journalism that goes: "If you have seen one Chinese restaurant you have seen them all."
To be honest, I'm not really sure what this means, but it's a saying we have been using a lot on this trip.
Of course, while I'm in LA, I'll continue to do my Herald on Sunday Olympic columns.
Most of these will focus on issues in the spotlight during the games, such as human rights and atmospheric pollution. Next week, I will focus on pollution.
Scientists have been doing research on smog to ascertain where exactly China's smog goes when the readings are lower than normal.
American scientists suggest it simply shifts to another country, which can be as far away as the United States.
An analogy I find useful to explain this concept is the one that if you fart in your kitchen, there is a good chance you might smell it in the lounge, corridor or the spare bedroom.
This is because, in many cases, the kitchen shares the same atmosphere as the other rooms.
Of course the smell is likely to be far more pungent and long-lasting in the kitchen as this is at the epicentre of the fart zone.
I will explore this concept in more depth next week.
