Despite Friday's opening ceremonies for the Olympics being the most-watched program on NBC all year, the games have been losing popularity.

The 22.8 million viewers that tuned in are only half the number that watched the events four years ago. People just don't seem to be as interested in the games or have as much national pride as they used to.

It's sad, really, that one of the sports venues tainted the least by money and endorsements has fallen to such little importance.

One of the best parts about the Olympics is that the events often don't involve big sports stars with billion-dollar deals. Instead, many of the athletes are passionate about their sport, even though their dedication isn't usually reflected in their paychecks.

And fewer and fewer people even take the time to watch these devoted individuals.

For those that actually do follow the games, even the coverage of the Olympics has changed. We used to have to stay up late to watch the events live. It was exciting to watch the events, falls and medal ceremonies as they happened.

Now, we get the information throughout the day, on the Internet. Instead of relying on newspapers and television, we can read reports of the results instantly while we wait for the tape-delayed TV coverage to catch up.

This makes everything almost anticlimactic. Rather than being surprised when seeing someone fall or win a medal on TV, we already know what will happen because we saw the results on the Internet and are just watching to get a better visual.

If we still want to be surprised while watching the Olympics, we have to go out of our way all day to avoid information.

The Olympics has been changed to try to accommodate us. Snowboarding — which wasn't an Olympic sport until 1998 — has become an event dominated by American athletes. Why can't we change for the Olympics?

All it would take is a little effort. Take a little time to watch. Cheer for our country. Reward the hardworking athletes with some attention.