By Staff
Arthur McLean
By the time you read this, the summer Olympics will be in full swing in Greece.
Here's my good news/bad news on this year's Olympics.
Bad news: Bob Costas is still hosting. Can we get this guy less and actually get more sports? I'd like to know whom at NBC he's either bribed or blackmailed to get so much gratuitous face time every four years. Until NBC took over broadcasting the Olympics, I thought it was about the spectacle and pageantry of sports. But what do I know, I'm just a sucker with a remote control in my hand.
Good news: The security investment for this year's Olympics is the biggest ever, a whopping $1.5 billion to cover every kind of surveillance and gee-whiz sensor laden thingamabob you can imagine. Security alone this year is more than the entire cost of the Sydney Olympics.
Bad news: If some lone wacko wants to strap 20 lbs. of explosive and ball bearings to his chest and go boom in a crowded street, well, I'm not sure how effective all that security will be.
Good news: The American public should be introduced to a lot of those great Greek names you never hear in the states. My sources tell me there's more than Dukakis and Onasis over there.
Bad news: Costas will probably mangle or talk over most of those same great Greek names.
Good news: America looks to have a banner medal haul this Olympics with talent in nearly every arena.
Bad news: We decided to make 100 medals our stated goal to the rest of the world. Note to the rest of the world, we're really not like this, most of the time.
Good news: World records will surely fall as some do in almost every modern Olympics. Athletes are stronger, faster, more agile and better prepared now than ever before.
Bad news: Many of these improvements in the past few years seem to come from the aid of banned, performance enhancing drugs.
Good news: The Olympics is the spectacle of sport with athletes competing from around the globe.
Bad news: There's no such thing as an amateur athlete anymore.
Good news: I just saved a bunch of money…
Arthur McLean is the editor of the Atmore Advance.