NBC: Olympics proves that we're a nation of slackers and crybabies

OK, now they're just getting punchy inside the NBC Sports P.R. department. In its latest Olympics release, the network credits the Winter Games for keeping Americans from doing their laundry -- or paying their bills.

So ironically, when viewers' electricity is shut off next week -- preventing them from watching the launch of "Parenthood" and "The Marriage Ref" -- NBC can blame its Olympics coverage.

Here are the stats from the Peacock:

· 46% of Olympic viewers changed their typical routine to watch the Olympics.
· 34% delayed doing laundry or other household chores - including paying bills - in order to watch the Olympics.
· 59% said they didn’t watch some of their “regular shows” in order to watch the Olympics
· 35% of viewers cried or became teary-eyed while watching (25% among men)
· 66% of viewers cheered aloud while watching the Olympics
· 63% stayed up longer than usual to watch, resulting in 42% being “more tired than normal.”
· 42% of viewers said the Olympic sport they would most like to try is bobsled (Source: Research Results)

According to Nielsen, 177 million Americans have have now caught some portion of the Vancouver Olympics through 13 days of the Games; four million more than watched the first 13 days of the 2006 Winter Games in Torino (173 million).

The Vancouver Games have averaged 24.9 million average viewers through those 13 nights, more than four million more than the average viewership of the 2006 Winter Games through 13 nights (20.7 million).