The police were out en masse in front of my neighborhood supermarket this morning passing out these flyers.
The Olympic relay will be running right past my house on July 19!
There are all sorts of cautions about traffic and other things.
I just saw that on the news, with banners unfurled to mark the start of the big countdown to the Tokyo Olympics.
Also, recently in the news, Boston was chosen as the U.S. candidate city for the 2024 Olympics. Their major competitor is Rome. I personally can’t imagine the Olympics being held in Boston. I mean – where would they put it? And can you imagine the congestion and traffic? Even on a good day Boston is almost impossible to drive around. But apparently everybody in Boston is excited about it.
Anyway, the countdown begins. Mark your calendars.
A sobering thought. When the 2020 Olympics come to Tokyo I’ll be 64.
Am I the only person who didn’t see even one second of video or live broadcasting of the Olympics?
(1) I know that theoretically the IOC is a non-profit organization and that funds are supposed to go “to the athletes” (whatever that means) but it sure seems to be pretty commercial to me. They make it hard to find streaming video and clamp down on anybody who would post anything to YouTube and just generally make it hard to watch – at least from my perspective. Same thing with sponsorships – all the athletes have to make sure they are wearing logos from all the right sports manufacturers.
(2) The whole torch relay thing gets to me. Have people forgotten this was originally devised for the 1936 Berlin Olympics? Every time I see that part of an Olympics ceremony I feel like I’m watching a Leni Riefenstahl extravaganza.
(3) The entry procession of country teams is nice, and interesting, but I really don’t see why they need a three hour opening and huge closing “show.” It seems so fake and unnecessary. I’d like to see the Olympics be more open to everybody to easily watch, concentrate more on making the events accessible, more “laid back” and concentrate less on the “spectacular” and commercial aspects.