London to Host 2012 Olympics

[JoeBlank]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 21st century! "A show of world spirit, comroderie and peaceful competeition is all well and good, but it best not interrupt my Yes, Dear reruns!"

My sentiments exactly! And my sympathies to those whose lives revolve around television so significantly that they are upset by a few weeks of the world coming together for gaming and competition. I watch more network television during the Olympics than any other time.

As others have mentioned, there may seem to be a bit of a lack of Olympic spirit in this thread, but don't take that the wrong way. I'm a big fan of the Olympics, but I'm also aware that hosting the Olympics is a difficult commitment of time and valuable resources for a city.

 

[Turanil]

Olympic Spirits? Are you kidding? It's but a matter of money and what not. The true Olympic Spirit is the one who goes everyday and runs his mile or two before going to work. That's Olympic spirit. But for watching TV while drinking soda and eating popcorn... And being lied by politicians that the Olympic Games are the best thing that could happen to your city when all it brings are more taxes and life-costs increases? Blah!

 

[The Shaman]

And being lied by politicians that the Olympic Games are the best thing that could happen to your city when all it brings are more taxes and life-costs increases? Blah!

The '84 Olympics in Los Angeles turned a US$200,000,000.00 profit. It can be done.

I attended the 2002 Winter Games in SLC, and it was an absolute blast, especially meeting people from literally all over the world. Fortunately Utahns actually like having people visit their state - they were amazing hosts.

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

You all complain about the olympics coming to your city - or not coming to your city. Well, I for one would like to point out that it must be nice to at least be in the running, to at least have your entry acknowledged!

"When will it be our turn," I ask!

When will we get to host?

When will the olympic commitee bring the games to the Vatican City?!

 

[johnsemlak]

I think nowadays the Olympics does bring in a lot of money to whichever city hosts it. The question, however, is who gets that money. And of course there are practical inconveniences for those living in a city during the Olympics. Still, that would be an experience of a lifetime for many people.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 21st century! "A show of world spirit, comroderie and peaceful competeition is all well and good, but it best not interrupt my Yes, Dear reruns!"

I don't like sports. I'm perfectly content to ignore sports, but the media hype about things like the olympics impossible to ignore. I'm also still feeling annoyed from all the nonsense I had to put up with being in San Antonio during the basketball finals.

 

[MaxKaladin]

My sentiments exactly! And my sympathies to those whose lives revolve around television so significantly that they are upset by a few weeks of the world coming together for gaming and competition. I watch more network television during the Olympics than any other time.

Actually, I watch very little television and almost none of it on network TV. Even during a heavy watching period, I watch perhaps 6-7 hours a week and three hours of that is when SciFi shows Battlestar Galactica and the two Stargate shows. The problem is that even networks that aren't showing the olympics don't want to show anything new because they don't want to compete with the olympics for ratings so everything is reruns -- well, that and insane amounts of media hype about the olympics.

Frankly, I always thought the Worlds Fairs were much more interesting than the olympics but those seem to have died out.

Besides, the olympics seem to be more about money than some noble spirit of competition or whatever it's supposed to be.

 

[wingsandsword]

Wow, this thread is just full of Olympic Spirit

No, that would mean this thread has dozens of Official Sponsors, the cost of Community Supporter accounts would have just doubled, we'd be hearing about this thread non-stop on the news, and lots of "human interest" pieces about the posters would be in the media.

The Olympics has been less about peace and fellowship over the last few decades, and has been more about politics and money. I support peace, unity and fellowship, make no mistake, but the Olympics just seem to not embody is as much as they used to.

If they want a real olympics, get rid of most of the events. Get it down to track & field, foot races, gymnastics, swimming and other traditional events, get rid of the multimillion dollar training facilities that really blur the line between professional and amateur, and really enforce the Amateur part (how in the world were we allowed to field an olympic team of NBA players? Winning is nice, but that was taking the idea of amateur competition and tossing it out the window). While you're at it, ditch the "mascots", they are lame and I still shudder at "Izzy". A whole lot less product placement and conspicuous advertisement also would make it seem more honest and less like a glorified Coke and Visa commerial.

Of course, I haven't cared greatly for the IOC since they sued the makers of Legend of the Five Rings, saying that their logo featuring 5 interlocking rings in a pentagonal pattern was an infringement of their trademark since the IOC apparently has an international trademark on any logo that in any way features 5 interlocking rings, hence the new card backs several years ago.

 

[loki44]

I don't like sports. I'm perfectly content to ignore sports, but the media hype about things like the olympics impossible to ignore. I'm also still feeling annoyed from all the nonsense I had to put up with being in San Antonio during the basketball finals.

You don't like sports! What the freak is wrong with you?! What's there not to like? It's a freakin' game.....what's there not to like about that? What "nonsense" did you have to "put up with"? Please be specific.

 

[loki44]

Frankly, I always thought the Worlds Fairs were much more interesting than the olympics but those seem to have died out.Besides, the olympics seem to be more about money than some noble spirit of competition or whatever it's supposed to be.

World's Fairs died out decades ago because they were rendered obsolete by the very technological advances that made them attractive in the first place. Where have you been? As a very small child I attended the World's Fair in Seattle, when the Space Needle was constructed, and had a very fine view of what a World's Fair should be. That was a very long time ago. The World's Fair was based upon pure and crass commercialism, which is why it ultimately failed. Unlike the World's Fair, the Olympics have persisted because they ARE based upon the true spirit of competition (we can discuss the "Dream Team" in another thread).