— Watching the Olympics, I’m reminded of a Bette Midler quote that adorns the wall at Sadler Arts Academy: “When it’s three o’clock in New York, it’s still 1938 in London.”

Time has stood still at the Network of the Olympics. It’s 2012 in London but it’s 1992 at headquarters.

Let’s have a quick count: How many family fights did you have this weekend leaking Olympic spoilers to someone in the living room who wanted to see it for themselves?  Or maybe you got the unwanted news while innocently checking out baseball scores and the centerpiece on ESPN told you America’s top female gymnast didn’t qualify for the all-around?  

Or, try as you may, you tried to dodge all news and sports sources on the web, visited your twitter or facebook account but got caught off guard when Ryan Lochte gave a shout out to Lochte Nation, letting you know that Michael Phelps’ time in London isn’t bearing a resemblance to his party in Beijing.

If so, there’s less of you.

Because it’s just too plumb easy to get the results as they happen.

There’s always been a way. Even back on the winter side of the games in 1980, I heard on my car radio that Miracle on Ice had occurred with the U.S. upsetting the Soviets.  That was played in upstate New York, one hour ahead of us but a couple hours ahead from the TV coverage.

London is six hours difference.

And the Internet is too much a part of our lives.

At work today, chances are your dodging the answers became even more difficult. Too much web, too much conversation. Add to it those smartphone updates.

While the second-teamers (MSNBC, CNBC and Bravo) are carrying a certain amount of live events, and NBC’s website is doing the same, the Network of the Peacock is staging a mix of the events embraced most by the mainstream viewing audience — gymnastics and swimming. You won’t see those live and the mere discussion of the results is forbidden. So primetime is a carefully concocted mix of old news and cute, sometimes moving stories on the athletes, their moms in the stands or their dogs at home.

And somehow, NBC’s coverage for the first two nights was the highest-rated ever for an Olympics staged outside the U.S.  All that with not even a glimpse of the latest model of the Dream Team playing their men’s basketball opener against France.

Get used to that. The home teams in both basketball and soccer — the two most popular Olympic sports among sporting purists — will be restricted to the NBC Sports Channel, formerly Versus and available only through premium cable and satellite packages, or on some packages two made-for-Olympics channels, also available only through premium offerings.

Or, via the Internet. Only the medal games will be shown on NBC, so you’re stuck with a primetime plan free of it until the final days.

That’s a risk for NBC, which apparently thinks their current strategy will work. I can’t see that happening. The games span three weekends, which will wear the newness out. The mainstream favorites of gymnastics and swimming will be over within a week too, and try as they might, there’s only so many dogs to talk about, and so much Ryan Seacrest we can take.