Notes from around the Human Experience…
HIGHER…FASTER…LATER: We don’t usually like to start a column off with a disclaimer – we prefer to bore you in other ways, first – but today we must:
We are unabashed fans of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles here at the Daily Dose. We are from LA, attended the 1984 Games and have always taken great pride in Los Angeles’ Olympic heritage, even if the Olympics have at times been more deserving of scorn than pride.
In Case You Missed It: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced this week they reached an agreement with Los Angeles Olympic organizers for LA to host the 2028 Summer Games. LA, along with Paris, had bid for the 2024 Summer Games. With LA out of the 2024 picture, the 2024 Games will be hosted by Paris. +
Oh Hell: The IOC was in a box. They had two cities of demonstrated Olympic quality bidding for the 2024 Games with no guarantee the loser – or anyone else, for that matter – would be interested in putting on another song and dance for the 2028 Summer Games.
Hey, What About Us?: LA organizers were in a box, too, though not as big a box as the IOC. LA organizers knew Paris would be the favorite in September’s vote for the 2024 host and when the IOC started making noises about either LA or Paris hosting the 2028 Games, LA didn’t didn’t dismiss the matter out of hand. After the failures of New York City and Chicago to land past Olympics, plus the fiasco of Boston, coming away with the 2028 Games would be a satisfactory prize.
Show Us The Money: So they cut a very favorable deal – worth at least $1.8 billion – with the IOC, no easy task when dealing with a group that is as greedy as they are corrupt.
Crystal Ball Me: This could mark a turning point in how future Olympics are awarded. Cities are seeing the unused facilities and financial havoc inflicted on host cities the past generation or so and are more and more reluctant to bid.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: As The Daily Dose has proposed before, why not hold them all over the world, the same events in the same place every four years?
The Opening Ceremonies, and several other events, can be held in Athens the first week. Marquee events can be held in Europe and North America and perhaps the biggest events can alternate continents. Events people only really care about every four years can be held where they have a long history: team handball in central Europe, field hockey in India and wrestling and modern pentathlon in Greece.
Let’s Make This The Biggest Logistical Nightmare Ever: The Olympics can last for an entire month and when it’s all over everyone can meet in Los Angeles for the marathon, the basketball and baseball gold medal games and the Closing Ceremonies.
Memo To The IOC: The Daily Dose has solved your problem. You’re welcome.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE! The Mayflower, carrying 102 British in search of religious freedom, gets underway from Southampton on this date in 1620. Their companion ship, the Speedwell, kept springing leaks and needing repairs, and they lost month before ultimately deciding to sail without the Speedwell.
After a voyage that is generally regarded as miserable, the Pilgrims, who were trying to get to Virginia, anchored off Cape Cod, Massachusetts on November, 11.
The Post Game Show Is Brought To You By…Hey, Wait, The Post Game Show Hadn’t Been Invented Yet: The first radio broadcast of a major league baseball game airs on this date in 1921, as Harold Arlin announces the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Forbes Field on KDKA, Pittsburgh.
KDKA had become the first commercially licensed station the previous November, and Arlin, an engineer with Westinghouse at the time, was hired as the world’s first radio announcer. The first broadcast was Arlin reading returns from the 1920 presidential election, where Warren Harding defeated James Cox.
Oh Yeah: The day after the first baseball broadcast, Arlin became the first tennis announcer, announcing the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup – then known as the International Lawn Tennis Challenge – being held in Pittsburgh.
Hut, Hut Hike: In October Arlin would become the first football announcer, announcing the Pitt/Wet Virginia game from Forbes Field.
It Has A Good Beat And You Can Dance To It: American Bandstand debuts nationally on ABC on this date in 1957. Already hosted by Dick Clark, it had debuted in Philadelphia in 1952, would move to Hollywood in 1964 and would run until 1989.
Take That: President Ronald Reagan fires over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers who refused to return to work on this date in 1981. The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) had, in violation of Federal law, gone on strike on August 3.
FunFact: The loss of over 11,000 trained air traffic controllers was profound. Initially, using supervisors, the few controllers who did return to work, military controllers and others, about 50 percent of flights were able to take off and it would take almost ten years before staffing levels returned to normal.
Quote Book: Buy the ticket, take the ride. – Hunter S Thompson
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The April, 2007 Virginia Tech Massacre, with 32 deaths, is now the deadliest shooting on a college campus in American history.
Today’s Stumper: What act appeared the most times on American Bandstand? – Answer next time!
