Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

Toronto Olympics 2008? Sure! The city seems a-buzz with the fact that the Olympic delegates are here "inspecting" the city as a possible contender for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Or rather, the fact that all of the advertising campaigns have now reached something like a crescendo, now that the candidates are here. Was amused to see that all of the ad posters in Union Station were all promoting the 2008 Olympic bid, replacing the amusing ads previous run by Monster.ca. Similarly, some of the GO trains I have been riding to and from Oakville on a semi-daily basis are plastered all over with various athletes and the TO 2008 logo splashed over them. So, do I want the Olympics to come here. Yeah, sure. ;-) I'll admit to not being wildly enthusiastic about it -- safe to say that the various government agencies will inevitably make a hash out of some aspect of it at various stages along the way, and much bickering will ensue, though undoubtedly the final product will be up to snuff. But I know that the Olympics are a great excuse to do a much-needed upgrade of the waterfront area, which will likely have a positive impact the area where I live as well. Arguably we need an Olympic stadium like anybody needs an extra hole in their head -- given the fact that Skydome is rarely used to capacity as it is. Another big advantage for me is that undoubtedly if we get it, my relatives will have a great excuse to come and visit -- another big plus as far as I am concerned. Vanessa will also be old enough to appreciate it, as will tyke #2. Another advantage is that if we do get it, we won't have to go through another round of the inevitable collective boosterism seen immediately prior to previous bids and the inevitable gnashing of teeth seen in the daily newspapers and the media the previous times we haven't won. I'd hate to think we'd be starting this crap all over again for the 2012 Olympic games, already seen getting into gear in some other cities. Oh yeah, I wrote an article on various Olympics-related Web sites, published prior to the last summer games.