Posted on 07/29/2015 6:52:54 AM PDT by C19fan
The reason Boston’s residents didn’t want to be Athens is the same reason the residents of Oslo or Krakow or Stockholm don’t want to be Athens. Hosting an Olympics is a corporate sinkhole sucking billions of dollars and a city’s future into a bottomless abyss of excess.
The internet is clogged with slide shows of empty, broken, useless stadiums built in the euphoria of a coming Olympics or World Cup then abandoned soon after, allowed to fill with weeds, rodents and other signs of human escape. Is there a better sign of Greece’s collapse than a pile of useless sports facilities crumbling since the torch went out in the summer of 2004? What use did Athens have for a baseball stadium anyway? It’s crumbling among the weeds just like the field hockey venue, the canoeing center and the training pool green with algae.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
And the “girl” with the gold medal is the one with the pe....
NBC killed it for me with their 95% sob stories and 5% actual sports.
Another excellent reason to do it!
Why not run an Olympics with the INFRASTRUCTURE you all ready have?
Who cares if the Croatia v Bolivia Woman’s Basketball match up is in a HIGH SCHOOL GYM?
The problem is the Olympic demands for the venue designs! They REQUIRE a stadium big enough to handle X-number of spectators (whether they sell that many tickets doesn’t matter), has to be within a certain distance to the venue and/or training facilities, x-number of housing MUST be within a single area for the athletes, if over a certain distance - traffic has to be diverted to allow Olympic traffic as priority, etc..., etc..., etc...! It really IS a nightmare!
I was on a subcommittee when Arlington, Texas was entertaining the idea of bidding for the Summer Olympics. The requirements are ALMOST insurmountable, and the cost of the “wavers” (i.e., BRIBES, KICKBACKS, ETC...) is WORSE! But that is what is MOST OFTEN PAID - the bribes!
I don’t think the “gay” flags helped much either.
And there’s nothing wrong with having different events spread out across the globe. Have basketball in one country, track and field in another. Have the countries bid on individual events instead.
I might watch those.
Maybe if we crawl out of the rubble, we can think about a new set of Games. Call them the Armageddons or something.
That’s what I was thinking. A DemocRAT scandal event would help also.
Things were a lot simpler then.
I agree with those who say one location: Athens (I have felt that for many years)
But then recall the 1984 Olympics. LA did not go broke, they used (reused) existing facilities and the event was spectacular.
In other words, it ain't gonna happen. Insufficient opportunities for graft.
ABC had the gold standard for Olympics coverage.
Because ABC would actually focus on foreign competitors, like Olga Korbut, Nadia Comeneci, and my all-time favorite...Vasili Alexeyev.
Siberia
IIRC, Atlanta made money, but the IOC hated it because they didn’t grease enough palms.
Still get a tear when I think of McKay saying “They’re all gone.” during Munich.
Yeah, skipping three gold medal finals to do a twenty minute profile of a guy from Youngstown, Ohio who finished seventh in the luge and is working at Pizza Hut to put his terminally ill sister through college is not a winning broadcast strategy. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.