zekekelso

Good news for Toronto? Montreal's Interim Mayor Michael Applebaum was arrested by Quebec province's anti-corruption squad Monday morning, according to the Montreal Gazette. Investigators said in a press conference that the mayor faces 14 charges of fraud, conspiracy, breach of trust, collusion and corruption in municipal affairs connected to two real estate deals dating back to 2006. Suddenly a little crack smoking doesn't seem so bad.

Things change. The Olympics change. If "amaturism" can be abandoned, nothing is sacred. The WOGs have outgrown their historical home in ski villages. We've grown to accept (embrace even) the new model of holding half the games in a big city, with the other half off in the the mountains an hour or two away. How is it impossible for the games to grow to a point where the city and mountain are four or six hours away. I don't think it will happen by 2022. And I'm not 100% sure it will ever happen. But if I had to bet, I expect to see it in my lifetime... if for no other reason than to allow cities to host that don't want to build a new sledding track.

I don't think anyone (other than a few squash players) *want* to see squash included. Oh, sure, given a choice between squash and badminton, squash might win. But a sport should have something going for it other than "better than badminton." Whether we want to admit it or not, the Olympics are about attracting spectators. (Practically) nobody watches squash.

If a sport needs the Olmypics to exist, is it really a sport that deserves to be in the Olypmics? Baseball and softball are played on fields with a modest number of stands. As such, venues can be easily transformed to other uses, or simply and cheaply dismantled. None of the previous baseball venues become burdonsome white elephants. There are many knocks against baseball in the Olympics. But this isn't one of them.

We've removed many events from Track and Field / Athletics. Are the Olympics worse for not having a standing broadjump? We've ditched many "original" Olympic events. Do you want to add chariott races and running in heavy armor? The quesion I have for anyone who insists wrestling must be included: Have you ever bought a ticket to an Olmypic wrestling match? Ever spend an afternoon watching wrestling? Ever even watched one single match in its entirety?

Hmm, hasn't been a lot of Olympic talk coming out of Toronto this week. Must be preoccupied with some other issue.

Dave - so nobody in Toronto speaks French? You'd like it would at least appear on the list... somewhere above Gajari.

I'm officially jumping on the Toronto 2024 bandwagon. After last night, the city needs something.

But lots of cool towers to climb - Aspire, Dubai Towers Doha, etc.

Oh please. I can't image anyone seriously doubting that Canada and Toronto can host (if they want to). That's a no brainer. The only question is whether anyone wants Toronto to host. They are capable, efficient, but kinda blah.

Interesting. Pro Wrestling as an Olympic sport. Be a lot more entertaining than Greco-Roman, but not sure it fits within the Olympic spirit.

So what? No matter what cities get picked, there will be something we will point to that says this country/region/continent is over/under represented. Why not Canada. People like them.

How Rob Ford is portrayed in American media (actually, he's pretty much ignored in the mainstream media, but here's something form the muckraking online media): http://gawker.com/5978975/the-best-of-torontos-insane-terrible-mayor-rob-ford-an-introduction-for-americans

If you can fly teams over 1,000 miles (as was done for '96), you can fly them 3,000. You keep the groups local, so you just need to fly them once. I don't see that as a logistical problem.

Do you honestly not understand the point (and the differences in geography between the UK and Canada) or are you just being arguementative?

You *want* to spread the football tournament as wide as possible. It allows the whole country to feel like they are part of the games (especially as Federal money is always involved.) It helps with ticket sales and eases logistics on the host city. Greater London could easily have hosted all the football preliminaries. They sent games to Scotland, Wales, the North Country, etc. for a reason.

The Bill's just signed a 10-year deal in Buffalo. No NFL team coming to Toronto.

NBA's looking to eliminate their players anyway.

The "shoestring budget" is still billions of Euros. The point isn't that the economy is the only reason to host the games. Just that it can be a positive.

I think you have it exactly backwards. The Olympics are supposed to help the economy and jobs, not eliminate them.

I'm ready

Does no one remember that Madrid crushed both New York and Chicago?

Spanish *banks* just got a bail out from other banks. Some bankers in Spain made dumb decisions; their companies lost money. Bankers in other countries are going to loan money to their banker friends in Spain. Doesn't change the fact that there is a fast amount of Wealth in Spain.

OK, change my statement to be there are big differences between a rich country (Spain) and a not-rich country (South Africa)

I might be the hypocrite you are thinking of. I don't know if I've said a South African city shouldn't bid (I might have). I have said that the costs of the games are such that I don't know if South African city will bid. For the record, I'd love to see an Olympics in South Africa. But I'd love to see the IOC change their requirements allowing a much cheaper games before that happens. But it is not hypocritical to argue that economic considerations should not keep the Olympics from Madrid, while also arguing that economic consideration should keep the games from somewhere else unless the somewhere else has the same economy as Madrid. There is a world of difference between a rich country with an unemployment problem (Spain) and a poor country (South Africa).