NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Winter games did not begin the way so many have in the past — with celebration and hope. Instead Bob Costas and Matt Lauer opened NBC’s coverage with the somber news of the death this morning of Georgian luger 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili during his final practice run.

Costas and Lauer then turned things over to NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams who reported in depth on the crash that took Kumaritashvili’s life and on the track which itself has become a news story — for its speed, dangerous for several sliders and deadly today.

But the NBC News incorporation into the Opening Ceremony coverage didn’t end there. In the second segment NBC Newsman Tom Brokaw reported on the U.S-Canada relationship, at one point flashing pictures of famous Canadians, including his old friend and competitor, longtime ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings.

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