No 2020 Vision

I can't believe I missed this story when it broke over the past weekend. It wasn't in my local Sunday paper, nor was it mentioned on the television news broadcast I always watch. If Bob Costas reported it, I must have missed it. But here's the latest in the continuing story of the United States Olympic Committee against the International Olympic Committee. . . . No American city will bid for the 2020 Olympics.

The USOC explained that, what with Chicago having spent $80 million for an unsuccessful bid for the 2016 Games that IOC animosity toward its American counterpart doomed from the start, it would be fruitless for any American city to bid for 2020. USOC Chairman Larry Probst said the IOC made it clear; as long as the USOC is unable to get its act together (leadership keeps changing at the top) or compromise with the IOC on revenue sharing, the United States is not going to get the Olympics again.

The USOC doesn't even want to discuss 2024.

It might be tempting to write off the USOC's move as sour grapes - taking all of its marbles out of the game and walking away. But Probst - who may be replaced as USOC chairman by the time you read this - is trying to make amends. He has been in Vancouver during the Winter Olympics and has spent more time talking with Olympic officials from other nations and 32 IOC members. He's been asking how the USOC can do better and respond to IOC concerns. It's going to be an ongoing process, as the disputes between the American and international committees will take more than a couple of cocktail parties in Vancouver to resolve.

In the meantime, American winter athletes have been taking more responsibility for their own appearances at and preparations before the Games, with the USOC growing more dysfunctional by the day and corporate sponsorship drying up due to the recession. (Stephen Colbert is only one man, supporting one sport. He can't do it alone.) It's why Americans have been winning more medals in Vancouver than anyone else - they've taught themselves the maturity and responsibility the USOC can't teach them. The children have become the parent, and vice versa. Probst has spent more time negotiating with Olympic officials in Vancouver than attending the actual events. Maybe he feels he shouldn't take the credit for the success of his country's athletes.

I'm glad we Americans won't get the Olympics for awhile. Let the USOC fix itself first, if that's even possible. Besides, if American cities had been able to bid for 2020, one of them would have likely been Tulsa.

Tulsa?

(My sympathies to Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso for their giant slalom mishaps, especially to Vonn for her injury.)