A word of warning: The United States athletes in tonight’s parade of nations at the Olympic Games opening ceremony won’t be marching toward the back of the pack. They’ll be the 55th contingent to enter the stadium among the record 202 nations.

That’s because the nations will march in the order of the Greek alphabet. The U.S. team will come in between the United Arab Emirates and Japan.

Another twist is that the Greek flag will be at the front of the parade, the Greek athletes at the end. Traditionally, Greece marches first in the parade of nations, and the host nation enters last. Of course, in this case Greece is one and the same.

A problem that faced NBC in covering the parade of nations was finding enough time to introduce all 202 nations. Considering that the parade takes about two hours, NBC, subtracting commercial time, would have 100 minutes to cover it, or about 30 seconds a country.

So NBC decided to have co-hosts Bob Costas and Katie Couric talk about 40 to 50 countries, and have the others introduced graphically.

“It would have been tidbit pingpong,” Costas said of trying to comment on all 202 countries. “You take Pakistan, I’ll take Peru.”

The idea is that less talk will give NBC’s four hours of opening-ceremony coverage a chance to breathe. Good thinking. NBC’s four hours of tape-delayed opening-ceremony coverage will begin at 7 p.m., Central time, with Tom Brokaw introducing a report on Athens’ readiness to host the Games. Brokaw will be joined by correspondent Robert Hager, who will have a report on Olympic security.

NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol is fired up about the opening ceremony.

“A few of us have attended rehearsals, and while protecting well-guarded secrets, I can say no opening ceremony has ever had as unique an environment,” he said. “It will be really breathtaking.”

Dimitris Papaionannou, the artistic director, said, “My task is to update the perception of Greek history in such a way that it expresses modern Greece and promises a bright future.

“We are controlling our emotions in a professional way,” he added.