NYC2012 - New York City's 2012 Olympic Bid

NYC2012 - New York City's 2012 Olympic Bid I've never been much of a sports fan, never watched baseball much as a kid, except with my Grandmother, and I have probably attended no more than ten or fifteen professional sporting events in my life. I've become a little more involved with baseball since moving to California - it's a survival tactic living with my grandmother - but I find it hard to get passionate about much else. But the Olympics are a different matter. I LOVE the Olympics. So, I am really excited to see that New York is in the running for the 2012 games. If they were aided by a little post-9/11 sympathy, nobody on this blog would be crying. But even discounting 9/11, and the host of professional NYC haters who have the gall to call themselves my friends, New York City deserves the 2012 games. First of all, New York is no stranger to welcoming the world to its streets, they've been doing it for centuries. Every athlete, no matter where he or she hails from, should find a restaurant that serves food "just like mom used to make." Need Interpreters? cabbies who speak the language? cops used to working with people of different cultures (Abner Louima not withstanding)? NYC got it all. They have a great subway system, a fairly easy to navigate street layout, and, as the above article points out, no shortage of experience with large events. Second of all, while there is a lot of talk about construction of new facilities, I question how much needs to be built. New York has two professional baseball teams, two professional football teams - plenty of existing stadiums. It's been so long since I've been to Madison Square Garden, or Yankee or Shea Stadiums, but I have a hard time believing that the existing infrastructure, with a daub of paint and a few new screws, wouldn't support a good Olympic games. Finally, with the "Freedom Tower," the building that is supposed to go up in place of the Twin Towers, scheduled for completion in 2007 or 2008, what a better way to celebrate the rebirth of a city devastated by 9/11than by widening the already open door and saying "hey world, come on in."