BTHarner

Awesome find panamfan. Just in time for the 30th anniversary next month.

Some people think Garcetti could be a future President,

It certainly has. I'm pleased to say that I'm still feeling my Pan Am buzz.

Welcome to GameBids. I think we agree that the Games need to be downsized for their own good. The IOC did somehow manage to reduce athlete quotas for Tokyo 2020 despite unveiling a sport program that will feature a significant increase in the number of events. This reduction is just a drop in the bucket as there really needs to be a drop down to around 8,000 athletes, which is in line with your proposal, I agree that golf should go and perhaps it is time for the IOC and FIFA to part company. I disagree with your position on shooting as it does enjoy widespread participation. I have never been enamored of the permanent host idea. Just deciding what that would be located is fraught with political overtones. Your proposal basically calls for a Disney World of sports facilities. How would they be utilized between Games? Would the facilities used to house the athletes, media, and spectators be put to good non-Olympic use? Your concept of "if you pay, you can play" is also quite interesting given that many nations have to scrape to send their athletes to the Games, let alone contribute to the maintenance of sports facilities that might be halfway around the world. Your last point about the amount of money going to the IOC being reduced also caught my attention. The IOC's revenue basically comes from two sources-tv rights and sponsorships. This money will always be substantial, as long as the Games maintain the lofty esteem in which they are held (fortunately, most people still hold the Games in high esteem, if not the body that runs them). The IOC also owns the Games and everything associated with them and they are entitled to benefit financially from their existence, Though I may differ on some points, this is really an excellent first post. It provided some really good food for thought.

Well, the league announced a few weeks ago that Tampa would be the site of 2018 All-Star Weekend and it released the 2017-18 schedule yesterday. I'm now convinced that there will be no NHL participation.

Finally had the time to watch a few this evening and it is so nice to not have the constant yapping by the commentators. I was able to Shazam a few of the pieces of music that I really enjoyed from Atlanta's parade of nations (I never knew there was a group named Tangerine Dream). Nice to have titles to go along with some of the tunes.

The reported cost of the Rio games..... https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2017/06/14/ap-analysis-rio-de-janeiro-olympics-cost-13-1-billion/102860310/ Since the misinformed public thinks a winter games costs at least $50 billion, they will most certainly be somewhat confused by this number.

Calgary, Seoul, Salt Lake, Athens, Vancouver, London, and Sochi OCs have been added to the Olympic Channel. Sochi's seems to be missing the parade of nations, which seems odd since the version on the Olympic Youtube channel has it included. I must say it does take some time adjusting to the ceremonies from the SD era being shrunk into a box with the blurry edges around it.

With a tennis match like this, who needs to watch the French Open.

You piqued my interest, and yes, it does seem quite inactive. Yet further research shows that the whitewater venues from Barcelona, Sydney, and London are being put to good use. Yet you don't read much about that, Source: http://www.swisscanoe.ch/sites/default/files/docs/icf_study_into_whitewater_venues_2015.pdf

Derek Redmond--No Olympic athlete gets to where they are without the support of family, friends, and (rule-abiding) coaches, The sight of him and his father completing that race together still brings tears to my eyes after a quarter century. Lawrence Lemieux and his act of heroism at Seoul 1988 when he interrupted his own race to save the lives of Joseph Chan and Siew Shaw, who capsized in another event being held concurrently. Nikki Hamblin and Abbey D'Agostino at Rio last year, the true Olympic spirit personified. The friendship that developed between Jesse Owens and Luz Long. Examples such as Bjorn Dahlie (1998) and Dario Cologna (2014), where the winners stayed at the finish line and awaited last place finishers Philip Boit and Roberto Carcelen. respectively. I could go on and on. Baron's right-these are the reasons the Games need to go on. There is so much superficiality involving the Games that we have lost sight of the humanity that lies behind them.

They never claimed 100% support, I believe the number they gave was 88%, which means there are at least a half a million people who do not support the bid. These are just some of the more vocal dissidents. I do question their arguments, but I guess we should be used to all sorts of groups finding a way to tie the Olympics in with greater social issues, some legitimate and some less so. I do despise Dempsey as I believe he has become the ultimate anti-Olympic crusader who just takes the same old rhetoric and spews it to an audience that is incapable of thinking for themselves. Intellectual laziness has become the hallmark of the internet age. I'm not saying the Olympics are pure and spotless, far from it. Some of the issues are very serious and the consequences could jeopardize its very existence at some point. However, some of the points are blown way out of proportion (the cost of the Olympic part of that $51 billion Sochi number, for instance), and have created the impression upon many that you need to spend that much on an Olympic Games. They point to the pictures on Yahoo of Olympic venues rotting away (like the canoe slalom course in Beijing, the photo of which was obviously taken during a time of year in which such a facility would not be functioning), or the baseball stadium in Athens (a temporary facility might have been more appropriate, obviously an example where the the Olympics do bring this upon themselves). People say the money used for an Olympics would be better served being spent on schools, housing, roads, hospitals, etc, but there are countless cities that are deficient in these areas, and none of them have ever contemplated an Olympic bid. My taxes go up every year, and our streets are still ridden with potholes, our hospital has a less then stellar reputation, and our police department is a joke. Just because a city could take the money for an Olympic Games and use it for those things doesn't mean any of those things will actually see the money. Will Boston be a better city on July 19, 2024 because Dempsey and his cronies helped kill the bid? I'll wait until them to answer that, but I'm not optimistic (of course I'm not all the objective, either). I didn't intend to ramble this much, but it really has been building within me for some time. Some days it bothers me that I care too much, but the Olympics left a positive impression on me in my youth and it has stuck with me for nearly 40 years. I used to be the ultimate IOC apologist, that is no longer the case as some of the things they do (or don't do) cause me to bang my head against the wall and I am not enamored of the current leadership. As I aid earlier, they really do bring it on themselves, but that doesn't mean I can't get angry when some of the faults are exaggerated. I apologize again if I veered off topic.

That arrangement would be fine by me. Given the ticket pricing listed in the LA bid book, I'll need the four extra years to save the money for a decent Olympic experience.

Didn't take long for America Movil to rear its ugly head again in regards to a Toronto 2015 OC video.

Live and Let Die and A View to a Kill are my favorite Bond films, so I was saddened to see this today. I didn't even know he was that old, I would have thought Sean Connery would have been older but he is actually a few years younger, My interest in Bond films basically evaporated after Moore gave up the role. RIP.

Awesome!!! This is what I was hoping to see on the Olympic Channel. Hightowerio86, welcome to GamesBids. Love the Seahawk avatar. Durban, I agree with your point regarding the flagbearers, it is a generational thing. I'm all for youthful exuberance, but whipping a flag around like that just doesn't seem proper. That's just my opinion, and I'll admit I can be a bit of a dinosaur at times.

So what they are saying is that if LA had not hosted the Games in 1984, a bunch of white cops wouldn't have beaten Rodney King, a bunch of white jurors wouldn't have acquitted the white cops, and the riots (notice that they don't call it that) would have never happened. Sounds like a bunch of people watched a 25th anniversary retrospective and drew some conclusions that really border on the absurd.

Those mini-profiles would have probably driven me bonkers had this been how I had to watch it in 1984. One thing that has changed over time that I find regrettable is how a lot of flag bearers now whip it around with no sense of decorum. Some people might say it is just an expression of pride in their flag, but to me it shows disrespect. I miss these older style ceremonies.

Everything Nuzman touches turns into a disaster, so it is with great relief that he did not win this election. Ilic represents a new generation of leadership which was sorely needed after 40 years of Don Mario and his interim successor Maglione (who will always be remembered for almost turning the Toronto OC into the world's largest slumber party). One only needs to look at PASO's website (which at last check, made no mention of the results of today's election) to see how out of touch they are with the modern world. Hopefully we will see a more polished, professional organization that makes a better attempt to promote its signature event in major markets where it is often considered an afterthought, if thought of at all.

I smell a rat here. Buenos Aires pulls out a few days before the PASO Presidential election, leaving Santiago as the sole bidder. Neven Ilic, a Chilean, is seeking the position against Mr. Incompetent, Carlos Nuzman. No way Chile gets both the Games and the Presidency in the same year. To me it looks as if Nuzman perhaps paid off the BA people to back out in order to undercut the chances of his main opposition and, in return, will do everything in his power to see that BA gets the 2027 Games. Whatever the case, I would have preferred Santiago anyway.

I'll believe it when I see a schedule for next season with games scheduled between February 9th and 25th, or once they announce a site for All Star weekend, meaning there likely will be no Olympic break.

It's interesting that we have been able to find quite a bit from Moscow, but nothing from the Lake Placid OC. This makes me think that the VCR was invented between February and July of 1980 (the difference in the amount of worldwide coverage between the two events might have something to do with it as well).

Most aquatic venues in recent games have been around 5000 capacity. According to Wikipedia, the venue for Lima 2019 will seat 9000. I think 5000 would be fine for any Games in America, given that the likes of Phelps and Lochte never bothered to compete in a Pan Am Games. Adding to my previous reply, I have often wondered what it would take to bring the Games back and, frankly, I have trouble seeing how it could be a profitable venture. TV networks aren't going to throw money at you just for the privilege of broadcasting the Pan Am Games, and you can't price the tickets too high.Corporate support would be unpredictable and using public funds for sporting entities is anathema anymore. Add in all the political minefields that need to be navigated and it just seems to be an overwhelming task.

San Antonio should have hosted in 2007, but the folks from Rio convinced PASO that SA was too crime-ridden to host the games. Well, if anyone should know.... I like that you are not required to have a 60000 seat stadium for athletics, and most of the venues are of a nice scale relative to the event. There are any number of American cities that possess a more than adequate sporting infrastructure in order to host. The problem is that the Pan Am Games fell off the nations's sporting radar after Indy in 1987. I hope they do come back soon, I'd rather do another Pan Am Games before I ever attend another Olympics. It's easier on the finances and just as enjoyable.

There will be a full-blown riot if any of their short trackers get disqualified..