NYC Olympics Would Be Starting Now

NYC sought to host this year's Olympics. If that effort had succeeded, the 2012 Olympics would be commencing in our city now.

NYC 2012 Olympic Bid

Soon after his first election, Mayor Bloomberg and his advisors began pushing the concept of the 2012 Olympics being held in NYC. Baseball was to be played at Yankee Stadium, and basketball was to be played at Madison Square Garden. The city was to be transformed by $3.2 billion of investment that included the building of a new football stadium in Manhattan and a beautiful Olympic Village across from the UN in Queens.

In the end, while NYC was chosen as the top US proposal for the 2012 Olympics, London was chosen to host the games this year.

Victory Through Defeat?

While New Yorkers were disappointed to lose to London, many believe that losing the bid was a blessing in disguise. There are even some key opportunities growing directly out of that defeat.

As stated in the Guardian:

Seven years later, when our economy has wobbled but our mayor is somehow still standing, it's clear even to those in thrall to the gods of sport and real estate that losing the Games was a great mercy. The sensible parts of the NYC 2012 bid have been implemented anyway, such as the extension of the 7 subway line, ferry service along the East River, and the re-zoning of a neglected industrial site along the Hudson. The elevated park known as the High Line was slated for demolition before the 2012 bid; it's since become Manhattan's most successful urban redevelopment in decades.

At the same time, New York has dodged the white elephants that, as Athenians and Beijingers know, start crumbling days after the closing ceremony. Manhattan was spared a giant $2bn stadium on the west side, though Brooklyn was not so lucky, and the big facility for badminton and judo lives on only in dreams. New Yorkers are free to buy Pepsi instead of Coke anywhere they please – though soon, if the mayor has his way, only in 16-ounce cups.

Now, as the American press looks pitifully on London for its insufficient transportation system or absurd brand-exclusivity police, I can only look and say: don't laugh, it could have been us. It's not easy to watch London, a city I love tremendously, brought low by the Olympic gentry, the carnivorous corporations, and the timid governments that obey their commands. (If even the Chinese Communist party couldn't stand up to them, what chance did Britain have?) But the one good thing that could result from these desperate Games would be to wake everyone up to the economic, social and urban devastation that these spectacles cause.

And yet, people are starting to talk about New York 2024. You'd think we'd learn.

Knicks and Nets Head to the Olympics

With the Olympics around the corner and the US men's basketball team now selected, New York City basketball fans can rejoice is seeing their local superstars on the US Olympic basketball team for 2012.

Carmelo Anthony

Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony was selected for the US Team. As part of making the trip to London, Carmelo will be united with his former coach, Mike D'Antoni, with whom he is rumored to have had a falling out. Anthony claims that he was not the reason D'Antoni quit as Knicks head coach and that he and D'Antoni are friends.

But there is some irony in that after everything that happened with the Knicks, with Anthony receiving most of the blame for D'Antoni's departure in March, that the two will be together every day here, in Washington, in Manchester, England, in Barcelona, and finally in London with the Olympic team.

Both sides can laugh now, and apparently they did when they met at the team dinner Thursday night. It was the first time Anthony and D'Antoni, an Olympic team assistant coach, spoke since the two parted ways after the morning shootaround March 14.

"We talked, we laughed and joked," Anthony said. "I told you all back then I never had any bad blood with coach Mike. We've always been on the same page. It's good to see him." Anthony can shed defenders much easier than the perception that he was responsible for D'Antoni's decision to step down.

The two had philosophical differences. D'Antoni runs an offense predicated on pick-and-rolls and ball and player movement. Anthony is more of a post-up, isolation player.

Anthony has played in the Olympics twice, winning a bronze in 2004 and a gold in 2008.

Tyson Chandler

The only true center on the US team will be Tyson Chandler of the Knicks. No other big men are part of the team. Therefore, Chandler will play a huge role on the team, and is likely to receive enormous playing time. Chandler has had international experience, but he has never played in the Olympics before.

Deron Williams

The Brooklyn Nets have not played their first game yet as a team from Brooklyn, but they have a representative on the US Olympic team that will begin Olympic action on July 27. Guard Deron Williams will be participating in his second Olympic games after winning a gold medal in 2008.

Preparation

With these three New York City stars representing the US in London later this month, the US men's basketball team begins its preparation. Exhibition games against the Dominican Republic, Spain, Argentina, and Great Britain are scheduled for this month, beginning with the Dominican Republic game this week in Las Vegas. The first Olympic game of 2012 will be against France on July 29.

Any result other than a gold medal will be a huge disappointment.