Boston boots itself out of the Olympics
Against a backdrop of increasing opposition at home and an expanding narrative of the waste and fraud surrounding the entire Olympic enterprise, the city of Boston this week bowed out the bidding for the 2024 Summer Games.
The local politics and organization behind Boston's bid appeared to be a thorough mess even aside from the International Olympic committee's arrogant demands that included Boston picking up the tab for cost overruns, among other things.
There is some precedent here; Denver had won the IOC's bid for the 1976 Winter Games when Colorado voters rejected public financing in a referendum. Two U.S. cities, Los Angeles in 1984 and Atlanta in 1996, were Olympic summer hosts after that. Salt Lake City was the host of the Winter Olympics in 2002 after allegations of bribery that resulted in the expulsions of several IOC members but acquittals for bid committee leaders.
Since then, the wisdom of spending billions, much of it from taxpayer sources, for the privilege of a three-week boost of pride has been debated around the world. It's been argued that among the catalysts for Greece's economic crisis was heavy spending for the 2004 Summer Games.
At Scientific American, Steve Mirsky (a Sports Biblio follower on Twitter -- thanks Steve!) talks with sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, who says cities could win economically by losing the Olympics.
On the Boston-based public radio program "Only A Game," Brazilian journalist Juliana Barbossa discussed the contentiousness in Rio de Janeiro ahead of next year's Olympics. She's the author of the new book, "Dancing With the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janiero on the Brink," that details how her city is grappling with its many challenges.
Brazil was host of the World Cup a year ago amid citizen protests and unrest. But what will be the reaction in Rio a year from now? Barbassa:
"I think that in spite of all this ambivalence, when it comes right down to the party, Brazilians will show up with their colors flying. Because that’s what they do. I think it will be beautiful. I think the Games themselves will be beautiful. The real question is: at what cost?"
This also comes as questions increase over the cost of staging the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, and in particular an estimated $2 billion to construct the main stadium, a massive hike in the price tag estimate.
Also in Boston, Grantland's Charlie Pierce says good riddance to the Games, believing "that all Olympics should be held in otherwise authoritarian countries."
How prophetic. At the end of the week, the IOC awarded Beijing -- which never gets snow -- the 2022 Winter Games, over Almaty, Kazakhstan, the only other city to bid and no more democratic than the Chinese capital.
As someone living in Atlanta, a city derided for the crude commercialism on display during the 1996 Summer Games, and a checkered legacy it left behind, I have mixed feelings about whether it's worth having the Olympics at all. I would imagine some in Beijing, which was the 2008 Summer Games host, may be wondering that as they embark upon many more years of Olympic fatigue.
The Atlanta Olympics were memorable for my family members who put up relatives of Olympians, volunteered at venues and attended events as spectators. Despite the logistical issues, I enjoyed the spectacle as much as a journalist can.
But even after covering the Sydney Games in 2000 -- and they did a spectacular job Down Under -- it's hard to deny that for far too long, they have been too big, their leadership is too corrupt and makes impossible demands on potential hosts: Choose us, or your citizens.
In Boston, that choice was almost made too late.
Best Reads Of The Week
The Chicago Tribune on Major League Baseball's refusal to clear Buck Weaver, one of the eight members of the "Black Sox" banished for life for throwing the 1919 World Series. His aging niece has been working in vain for years, and this figures to have been her last chance for a hearing.
Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post takes Roger Goodell and the NFL to task for subverting due process in the seemingly unending "Deflate Gate" imbroglio. I hate this story but I love this column and I especially love her lead, which includes Machine Gun Kelly and the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.
Medical historian and intersex expert Alice Dreger, writing in the Los Angeles Times, applauds the Court of Arbitration for Sport's ruling allowing Indian sprinter Dutee Chand to compete as a woman. She had been sidelined for testing for high levels of testosterone. I disagree that this is "policing" gender and that there shouldn't be hard lines drawn to protect the integrity of sports competition for women. "Just being in the world as a woman" could potentially open up other problems in this age of ever-expanding notions of transgenderism that go far beyond biology.
Nice work from Lauren Chval in Red Eye Chicago on budding WNBA star Elene Delle Donne, whom I think the league should market the hell out of.
Sports Illustrated soccer writers Grant Wahl and Brian Straus look back how Major League Soccer was born. Now in its 20th year, MLS has 20 teams, and will have 22 by 2018.
Off The Sporting Green
Conor Freiersdorf of The Atlantic just dropped his list of 100, more or less pieces of his favorite journalism from 2014. There are a couple of dabs of sports-related items. This is a splendid, serendipitous collection of reading ideal for what's left of summer.
Enjoy.
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