Here’s a stat for you:
Number of hours of coverage of the Beijing Olympics on US television: 3,600 (2,900 of which was live)
Number of hours of coverage of the Beijing Paralympics on US television: 1.5 (0 of which is live)
That’s right. Of all the US TV channels, there is a single 90 minute highlights in the middle of next month. That’s it.
The BBC, incidentally, is showing 5-6 hours live a day (albeit on digital) alongside a nightly one hour highlights package on BBC2, with more live action at the weekend.
In the 2012 London Paralympics, I think it’s a fair assumption that the US team will probably include a significant number of athletes who are ex-military and have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.