The great Olympic channel takeover

Ah yes, the Olympics are finally here.

That magical time every couple of years when literally everyone watches the finest athletes from around the world compete for global recognition and the chance to star in more Subway ads than Michael Phelps.

And I only say “literally” because – as hard as it is for a sport-a-holic like myself to understand – I know that there are some of you out there in the greater Bay Area that aren’t going to be happy come Friday night when your regularly scheduled programs are moved to different channels due to the broadcasting of the The Summer Games.

That might be because the Games are taking over nine channels.

Yes, nine.

NBC, CNBC, NBCSN (which dominates three stations,) NBC Olympic Soccer, NBC Olympic Basketball, NBC Olympic 3-D, Bravo and Telemundo will be taken over by coverage from the Games in London.

That’s a lot of coverage of Misty May-Treanor sliding her 20-pack abs across sand with the rest of the US Women’s Volleyball team.

But have no fear Bay Area sports faithful: You will still be able to watch your Saturday afternoon baseball and Sunday morning golf. Comcast SportsNet will still be showing A’s and Giants games – as they’d better, since the Dodgers are in SF this weekend. And you can pour yourself an Arnold Palmer and tune in to the Senior British Open or the Beltran-Lundy boxing match on ESPN2.

And seeing as how most premium channels won’t be affected, you won’t miss a single minute of “Weeds” or the psychotic new season of “Breaking Bad.”

SFGate’s sports page has released a schedule up through Friday night, and will probably keep all you Bay news-readers up-to-date with which stations are showing what. Unless of course you lose your remote and are stuck watching competitive racewalking. (yes, that’s a real event that will be on one of nine taken-over channels.)