Dan Patrick loving life after ESPN

Here is a story I wrote for the Tuesday newspaper about Dan Patrick, his 2010 Olympic adventure and his life after ESPN.

Speaking of the Olympics, a loyal, valued WatchDog reader expressed great disappointment in me for spilling the beans on Bode Miller's results in the men's downhill, which NBC presumably will show in prime time.

As a journalist, I have a right and obligation to report news when it occurs; NBC's tape delay policies are not my doing.

However, out of respect to readers henceforth I will avoid reporting major Olympic results before they are shown on NBC without a prominent spoiler alert.

Sigh.

Elsewhere on the holiday weekend sports TV front . . . props to TNT's analysts for not being shy Saturday night about blasting the poor quality of the NBA's slam-dunk contest.

That kind of blunt candor stood out compared to the generally sympathetic weekend coverage of the Olympics by NBC and of the Daytona 500 by Fox - two events that dealt with serious problems over the weekend.