San Francisco is a lovely town. If any city in the US deserves to host the summer olympics, it’s gotta be the city in beautiful NoCal.
Or maybe Rio or Rome or the wonderful city of lights over there in France. Way over there. Away from me.
There may very well be some New Yorkers hoping to snag the 2012 Summer Olympics. These people are either not from here or crazy. Maybe even both. Do you remember how impossible it was to get around in this city about a year ago? We New Yorkers struggled through, put a grim and resolute yet happy face on and helped each other through the bad times.
If the Olympics came to NY the going would be just as evil, only we wouldn’t love each other so much. We’d all wind up on the corner with the cop who won’t let us get into our office building ten steps away because a motorcade is supposed to be driving through and you’ve got about 2 seconds left on your lunch that you didn’t get to eat because they closed down the whole block of stores with the good salad bars to put up a temporary toilet washing station for the Olympic Village which is in fucking Long Island City so why the fuck is the toilet cleaning station here on the block with all the good salad bars and the cop, who is pissed enough as it is because the city used the money that should have gone to giving him a better raise to build a godamned toilet cleaning station so why in the hell are you giving him a hard time about walking a few extra blocks or eight out of your way so just Go USA your ass in the other direction 'cause this street is closed!
Or maybe I’m wrong and it’ll be a beautiful, patriotic experience in love and world unity through sports.
God, why would anyone want the Olympics in their city? It’s expensive, inconvenient and you are still probably not going to get tickets. I can’t imagine the hell that NYC would turn into if they got the games. Events in MSG, Yankee stadium, the Meadowlands and every other venue clogging up subways, and every other already-crowded transit option. Yuck.
I was just thinking about this Sunday when I walked by MSG and they had that big “Olympics 2012” banner on the side of the building.
Atlanta held it in '96. Wasn’t a great show (lots of transporation problems, and the bombing of centenial park wasn’t pleasant*), but we actually made money off of it, and got a new stadium to boot … bwwwaaahhahahahahah. Fuck you IOC and your “most exceptional games” snub, we got the last laugh.
But then Mayor Campbell pissed it all away.
*poor Richard Jewel. Shades of the terrorist hunt nowadays
I rejoiced today when I heard that Houston didn’t get the games. I voted against it on the last referendum. First, to do a Summer Games in Houston, you would have to do it in October. Otherwise, there would be many, many dead atheletes. Second, Houston’s congestion problems are already terrible, there is no effective public transport here (and I take the bus twice a week). Houston’s idea of mass transit is making a 24-lane highway (really) out to the western suburbs. Why not just stick in a train line? Finally, we already have a new baseball stadium and a new football stadium, and a new basketball arena is going up in downtown. Surely we don’t need more money spent on sports, now that our local economy has been through the like of Enron, Dynegy, Compaq, El Paso Energy, Williams Energy, Anderson, etc.
Besides, the Olympics isn’t even fun to watch anymore. Between the total America-centric coverage (no I don’t want to see Team USA basketball and baseball in the olympics, show me something interesting like steeplechase) and the new ridiculous events (like trampoline and maybe by 2012 ballroom dancing) and the corruption, the whole thing has become only a source of mockery.
Have fun San Francisco/NYC. Oh, wait. I may be doing a residency/career in SF or NYC by 2012, and be out of this congested polluted swamp pit of a city. Note to self, avoid all faculty positions at Stanford or Albert Einstein or UCSF or NYU (yeah right…)
You’re welcome to them over there Narrad, but I suspect that Sydney-siders would take up arms if the IOC ever tried to inflict them on this city again.
Jo’burg? Too criminal. But Cape Town would be an excellent venue. Gorgeous surroundings, diverse landscape that will accomodate a lot of sports, and a mild climate. Cape Town is ideal as an Olympic city, come to think of it.
FWIW, I think I would be delighted if the Olympics came to my town. Sure, they DID happen here in 1928. The stadium survives to this day, despite numerous attempts to tear it down to make room for houses. I believe it’s a monument now. In true Dutch tradition, the 1928 Olympics didn’t have an Olympic Village because the Government thought it too expensive. The athletes were invited to sleep in schools instead.
Anyway, I’d love to see the games return. I’m sure that there are inhabitants of Atlanta and Sydney that enjoyed the festivities, right?
I’m still smarting that they didn’t choose Turkey for the 2008 games. I think it would have been great to put it in an Islamic country and an emerging one.
I know we’re much much too poor to host them but I always thought that Honolulu would be able to put on awesome Olympics as long as we made sure that the Hotels and other tourist industry people had absolutely no say whatsoever in the opening and closing ceremonies.
The Sydney games were fantastic, and the transport worked brilliantly during the entire games. I never had to wait longer than ten minutes for a train or bus in a whole month.
The Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush was also a superb venue.
I didn’t meet one Aussie who had anything but pride in the exceptional way the games were run and held there. Maybe some Dopers from that area will appear here and contradict me.
The reason it was a success there and hasn’t been in America IMHO, is the fact the Sydneysiders take a civic pride in their city and were happy to support the event. They welcomed visitors to the party.
As I can read from the US posts, the reason the games are unwanted or unsuccessful in the US is due to the (negative) attitude people have towards the Olympics.
Ok, so you have to work whist the games are on. Lighten up, enjoy the party.
I thought that bidding for the summer Olympics was one of those rights of passage steps for the wannabee international cities … why would NYC want to renominate?
Now there’s an idea … vote #1 Baghad for 2016.
Bowlegs Oklahoma!
They could use the boost.
NYC would be a nightmare. I’d leave town and rent my apartment out for 3 grand a week. Hey wait a sec.
NYC! NYC! NYC! NYC!
I vote for Ottumwa Iowa. They could do a whole “salute to Radar O’Reilly” show and mention about a million times that Richard Nixon was stationed there while in the navy (?) for a while.
NOT SAN FRANCISCO!!!
We once had the A’s and Giant playing the same weekend while we were hosting the freakin X-Games the entire Bay Area freeway system was one humongous parking lot, and it was the X-Games. But the Olympics! :::shudder::: Of course now that I’m considering becoming a New Yorker, it might not be so bad.
