As bad a history as NBC has about holding things to primetime, there still were some great moments I saw live on the 2008 streams. One of the most satifying to watch was actually the first stream I ever saw, the 2008 Women's sabre final, sometime around 6AM Eastern. And it was done without commentary, IIRC. To the best of my memory, they withheld so much from streams, there were probably only 10 events or so streamed where there was a US gold medal.
Vancouver as you say was even worse, I think they only streamed hockey and curling.
Then The Dick Ebersole Era ended at NBC and things started to improve.