The insistence on reportage, at the expense of interpretation or even opinion, leaves the reader knowingalmost too much of the how and where and when, but not quite enough of the why.
People who drink chili out of Denver Bronco cup-holders and pray to Dustin Pedroia Fatheads suddenly become absorbed in tiny Olympic events like shooting and curling and pole-vaulting, despite knowingalmost nothing about shooting and curling and pole-vaulting.