'This is why some people just raise chinchillas'

In our book, this one has been logged as the early leader for the gold medal in the Most Poignant/Warped Comment Made by an NBC Employee competition during the Beijing Games.
You more than likely missed it -- it came at about 1:30 a.m. today in the NBC late-night portion that had been pushed back about a half hour because of the extended "live" prime-time coverage of the women's team gymnastics competition.
Andrea Joyce is interviewing U.S. team member Alicia Sacramone (above, trying to avoid another hug of condolence from coach Marta Karolyi). About an hour earlier, poor Sacramone had some missteps in her beam and floor routine that may (or may not) have cost her squad a gold against China.
Sacramone is trying to hold it together, but the anguish and emotions were evident in her face as Joyce asked her to explain her feelings.
After a couple of very painful minutes, NBC goes back to late-night host Mary Carillo in the studio. Carillo is equally as distraught by the whole exchange and says: "It's a killer watching (that) ... I mean, they're just kids ... as a parent ... "
Carillo catches her breath and finishes her thought with a sort of throw-away line that was hardly insincere:
"This is why some people just raise chinchillas."
Moments later, a commercial for the upcoming movie, "Beverly Hills Chiuahua."

Runner-up quote of the Olympics came hours later, in the USA Network coverage that recently ended. Host Matt Vasgersian: "For those keeping track, Michael Phelps has participated in only five events in five days of Olympics and already made more appearances this year on NBC than Howie Mandel." And as Bob Costas signed off from that NBC prime-time coverage that started Tuesday night but ended Wednesday morning in all the U.S. time zones that it aired in (except Central time, where it was only 11:30 p.m., rather than 12:30 a.m.): "Considering the fact it's just past noon in Beijing, past midnight in parts of the U.S., we can say, depending on where you are, good morning, good afternoon and good night from Beijing."