Olympics 2012, in Londontown

Was discussing the possibility of certain cities hosting. Reality is there are only 15-20 countries who have the money to do it. Hosting the 2004 Olympics probably led to Greece's massive debt.

 

No, what led to Greece's massive debt is that every other person has a government job and nine out of 10 people evade most or all of their taxes, and it's been that way for 30 years.
There are, let's see, probably six cities in the U.S. that could host an Olympics, not without problems, but they could do it. Atlanta and LA have. New York, Chicago, San Francisco-Oakland, and Dallas-Fort Worth. So I'd make it more like 30-40 cities that could, if they wanted to. It is a big commitment.

 

I'd say it's questionable at best whether Atlanta proved that it could actually host an Olympics. It certainly wouldn't get the chance again.

 

DFW will never happen uness they go the Southern Hemishere route and hold the Games in late September or October.

Here are the highs from Aug. 1 to today (according to weather.com) -- 106, 106, 103, 101, 102, 102, 103, 98, 105, 98, 98 and it's 105 now.

Three words: No freaking way.

 

Dear God, this is some kind of awful.

 

The closing ceremonies are always, um, different. I figure if the athletes enjoy it, I have no real objections.

And hey,at least there are no giant inflatable beavers this time around.

 

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life? All right, this redeems it.

 

Having watched the match now, epic comeback is no overstatement.

Dmitriy Muserskiy (not sure of spelling) was absolutely phenomenal. 7-foot-2 with amazing athleticism. The power is one thing, but his footwork is tremendous. 23 years old.

That kid's performance is the most outstanding by an individual in a team sport I saw during the Games.

EDIT: He certainly needs to cut down the service errors but if he does, I'll enjoy watching the opposition try to dig it.

 

As for potential US hosts, I can see at least 10 capable from a logistics standpoint: New York, Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Minneapolis, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles.

That said, I think Toronto would get the Games before any US city, especially if anti-US sentiment around the world remains strong.

I have no idea what to expect in either Sochi or Rio, whether they have the resources and infrastructure to pull it off.

All and all, I think London did a fine job.

 

I'm sure it could host again if it threw enough money at the IOC members that do the evaluations.

I would add that a US host city would have to have a few things. . .

1. An NBA or NHL team whose arena would house basketball (an NFL team that plays in a dome would also work)

2. An NFL or MLB team about to build a new stadium anyway so that the track venue can be repurposed after the games.

3. A major university whose swimming venue is world class.

4. Plenty of room to build an Olympic village

5. Convention space that can house the media center.

6. Some form of public transportation

 

The Games are getting so big, I'm thinking they're too big for one city to handle. I wonder if the IOC would consider pulling one out of soccer's book and awarding them to a country or combination of countries ala 2002 World Cup (Japan/Korea) and Euro 2012?

 

San Diego/Tijuana '24!!