The Games 2012: This . . . Is London

Cropped transparent version of Image:Olympic flag.svg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The British are used to celebrations by now.  First there was the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, followed by the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.  You might have heard about those.

Now London is hosting the Summer Olympics for the first time since 1948, with all the pomposity and circumstance and track and field they can handle.

Security has been Topic A in the run-up to the Games.  It's been that way since June 2005, when three subway trains and a bus exploded during rush hour, killing 56 people.  That was one day after London was awarded the 2012 Summer Games.

So the British go overboard in protecting the people from terrorists, using missiles on rooftops and a huge military presence compensating for the security company they hired that came up short.  You'd think this was London during World War II, and the enemy was Nazi Germany and not al-Qaeda..

Where's Edward R. Murrow when you really need him?  Unfortunately for American TV viewers, we're stuck with Bob Costas.  NBC is showing at least 5000 hours of Olympics coverage across several of the networks parent company Comcast owns.  As usual, they'll save the best events for its prime time coverage, hours after everybody's heard the results.  After the hearts-and-flowers profiles, commercials for official Olympic sponsors and plugs for NBC's stellar fall line-up, maybe then you'll see some actual competition.

As for the athletes, well, whoever makes the biggest splash in the next couple of weeks will get their share of glory.  Then there is the unwanted glory.  Take Usian Bolt, reputed to be the fastest human in the world.  So why is actor Mickey Rourke claiming he beat Bolt in a middle-of-the-night race?  And then there's the Greek female track star who was booted from the Games because of a racist tweet she made.

The biggest controversy the United States team has had, besides Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney slamming London's preparation for the Games, has to do with the wardrobe for the Opening Ceremonies.  It seems that those Ralph Lauren-branded clothes were actually made in China, and members of both political parties--in a rare show of bipartisanship-- hollered that it was just plain unpatriotic.  Since so many of our products are now made in China, it's not as big a deal as it used to be.

Here's what we think will happen during the Olympics:

• Somebody other than the U.S. will win the gold medal in men's basketball.  After a compressed NBA schedule caused by last year's lockout, the current squad has too many injuries to key players, and too much competitive balance among the rest of the field to make them a favorite.
• The U.S. women's soccer and basketball teams will cruise to gold medals.  Unless they don't.
• Michael Phelps will put down his Subway sandwiches long enough to win a few medals in swimming.  Just not as many as there were in 2008.
• At least one athlete will lose his/her medal because that person didn't do a good job of hiding the illegal substance they used to win that event.

One more thing:  The 40th anniversary of the night in Munich when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were massacred by Arab terrorists is coming up.  Like they did in 1972, the International Olympic Committee has decided to bury its head in the sand by not acknowledging the tragedy at these Games.  They'd better hope nothing goes wrong here, or it really will be like London during wartime.  Didn't Winston Churchill say something once about blood, sweat and tears?