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In July, my
wife and I spent four cloudless days in Vancouver. I can’t
vouch for the city on the many days of grayness and rain that
reportedly afflict it, but we experienced a super-city,
surrounded by beautiful islands and peninsulas, with Riviera
weather, magnificent city-scapes, and alpine slopes to boot.
The Olympic
selection committee shares my opinion of Vancouver, which will
host the 2010 Winter Olympics. The same goes for real estate
developers. All around, high-rise apartments pop up almost
overnight, like mushrooms. Within the last five years, the
downtown has gained 75 million square feet of new apartment and
hotel space. I totally made up that figure because I can’t
remember what our tour guide told us, but it does stress the
point that I’m making--namely, that money is pouring into
Vancouver.
The city
resembles San Francisco in many ways—stunning port cities with
diverse populations, long suspension bridges and large urban
parks—and it’s not far-fetched to imagine Vancouver making the
list of “great cities.” It made a grand attempt to breach this
list during the 1986 World’s Fair, but World’s Fairs tend to be
a little busy, with a few too many fun facts cluttering up the
mind. When Vancouver receded from the American consciousness by
the 1990s, all that remained was a box full of collectible pins
and a notion that Vancouver was quite pleasant, much like
Portland, but farther north.
Olympic
games generally are more memorable than World’s Fairs (unless
you are a sociologist), so the 2010 Olympics will put Vancouver
back on the map for at least a decade. The Games’ impact will
be even greater if the organizers set up the ski jump so that
the TV viewers can see downtown from the take-off ramp, a la
Barcelona and the diving venue.
I might as
well forward an excellent idea for the 2010 Olympics: ice
basketball. Dr. Naismith designed basketball as a winter sport,
so it doesn’t really belong in the Summer Olympics anyway. The
Canadian team would be great to watch, because we’d get a chance
to see Mike Smrek—a great skater—return to the national team and
finally compete in his element. I’d shell out top pay-per-view
dollar to see Iverson, Duncan and a bunch of Finns strap on
their skates and face off on the ice. Imagine watching Reggie
Miller—no doubt also a great skater—hoist up a three and then
brace for the cross-check. Also, a separate slam dunk contest
for the figure skaters would be a sure-fire hit. Anyone who saw
the Prince sketch last season on Chappelle’s Show certainly
agrees with me. Speaking of figure skating, Bennie Wallace and
his rough grace would be a welcome addition to ice dancing,
which has suffered after a spate of Russian retirements in 2002.
While I’m
spouting nonsense about the Olympics, I might as well add a
point about the Athens Olympics. When visiting Greeks ruins,
one becomes impressed with the ingenuity of Ancient Greek sewage
(if one is so inclined to consider historically significant
sewage). On the other hand, when one visits Athens, one cannot
help but notice the boldly displayed signs in the restrooms that
implore you: “Please Do Not Flush Paper Down Toilets.” This
does not refer solely to feminine hygiene products, newspapers
or paper towels. You see, the Greek plumbing system was not
designed to handle the most convenient modern convenience. That
is a special interest story that NBC should avoid.
Copyright Jeff Lewis, 2004. |
