Take my tickets -- please
It's a bad joke out of some faux-brick comedy joint in the Catskills, but does anybody want to go to the Olympics?
When the U.S. women's soccer team played on Tuesday, you could literally count the spectators on one side of the stadium if you had TiVo's live-pause capability. Or even if you didn't.
It's easy to understand why foreigners have declined the opportunity to head to Athens. Between the threat of more terrorism and the logistical concerns associated with 9/11, getting there is an act of faith and patience that few will undertake. But what about the Greeks, who made a passionate plea for these Games for years, claiming their invention of the Olympics gave the IOC a moral imperative to put 2004 in Athens? What's their excuse?
Terrorism can't explain away everything here. The other part of the problem is that the death of Communism has stripped sports of the political element that marked it for so long. The blurred line between amateur and professional participation has played a role as well.
What else is at work here? And what do you think of the apparent attendance problems, which have made organizers give away tickets?