Courtesy New York Daily News

(July 10, 2009) Andy Roddick meets Roger Federer in Sunday morning's men's final at Wimbledon. Well-embedded tennis moles say NBC may actually carry it live. Some cheap shots are richly deserved. It happens every year. And it's ridiculous. NBC, for whatever reason (or lame excuse concocted by sports boss Dick Ebersol and his Memorex posse) puts some big match, or matches, on tape, like it did with Federer's Wednesday win over Ivo Karlovic.

This infuriates the small, but intense, brigade of racketheads. It also agitates some TV critics who respond angrily to 30 Crock's dubious decisions.

The outrage is justified. No one likes to be treated like a moron. That's what happens every time an NBC executive flaps his or her yap, trying to justify the Peacock's shoddy coverage of Wimbledon.

Tennis ain't our thing. No prefabricated anger here. Nonetheless, the body has sympathetic bones. There is concern. We feel your pain.

Some things just don't change. In the opening rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, there are complaints about CBS not showing the right game or making the wrong switch. In October two things are certain: 1) baseball's postseason arrives. 2) it is greeted with complaints of late start times.

Annual annoyances produce reflex bitching. But no matter how many times the hammer comes out, the targets won't come tumbling down.

In the case of NBC's yearly misadventures at Wimbledon (and the French Open), it's comforting to know executives (some who even have been referred to as geniuses and trailblazers) are still capable of making conscious decisions that diminish the value, and impact, of events they pay millions - in some cases billions - to televise.

Wimbledon might actually attract casual fans. Yet NBC won't showcase the event by airing every match it presents live. Network brass is terrified at the prospect of a viewer revolt, or government intervention, if a second of the "Today" show, or a Saturday cartoon festival, is pre-empted by tennis.

NBC's Wimbledon strategy is like buying a $3,000 custom-made suit, hiding the jacket in the closet and only wearing the pants. Here's the deal: If NBC had confidence in the ratings potential of Wimbledon, all the excuses over why certain matches are televised on a delayed basis, and why certain ones are carried live, would suddenly disappear. NBC would go totally live.

This won't ever happen. This is why NBC should consider getting out of the tennis business.

Why bother paying for events like Wimbledon, or the French Open, if there is no inclination to afford them maximum, live, exposure? Why bother? Unless you are motivated by the prospect of treating viewers like garbage.

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