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Russians’ Olympic prep shockingly poor

Security isn’t the only concern facing the 2014 Winter Olympic Games that are about to commence in Sochi, Russia.

It appears the site is lacking in hotel space, streets and roads aren’t complete, the Olympic village where the athletes will stay need finishing.

Yet the Winter Games will go on, with opening ceremonies set to begin Friday night — after the skating and snowboarding events have begun.

Let’s flash back a decade to the start of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

I had the honor of visiting Athens three times prior to the start of those Olympics. The Greek press ministry invited journalists of Greek descent to visit the country of their ancestors. Being one such journalist, I got the invitation, so I went — in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

I recall vividly all the concerns leading up to the Athens Olympics. The venues wouldn’t be done. Security was huge concern there as well, given the Greeks’ infamously lax history of fighting terrorists, which is to say they did little to combat the scourge. Athens had a pitiful international airport, but by 2001 they had opened a gleaming new terminal outside of the city. They, too, had road and highway infrastructure concerns. They built a subway system, a new highway from the airport into the city, scrubbed the buildings of graffiti and spit-shined the ancient city.

Thus, they managed to complete preparation for the Olympics — on time. Yes, it was barely on time, but it was on time. One key was the Greeks’ decision to re-enlist powerhouse businesswoman Gianna Angelopoulous-Daskalaki, who put together Greece’s bid to play host to the Olympics. She stepped in to take command of the Olympic preparation. Believe me when I tell you that she is simply a force of nature. She got ‘er done.

The Greeks took some shortcuts to make sure the venues were suitable, such as not putting a roof over the swimming and diving facilities. It didn’t matter, given that the weather during that period was gorgeous.

To be sure, Greece paid a huge price to stage these Olympics. They went into enormous debt, which contributed to the collapse of the country’s economy just a few years after the Olympic flame was extinguished.

I bring all this up because the Russians, which were awarded the Winter Olympics in 2007, had promised to avoid all the troubles that bedeviled the Greeks. They vowed to spend whatever it took to ensure complete safety and a completed venue in time for the athletes’ arrival.

Well, now we’re hearing about the threat of bombs planted in tubes of toothpaste and the aforementioned incomplete road and highway construction and the lack of lodging for the thousands of tourists pouring into the Black Sea resort city.

That big old Russian machine needs some repair, it seems, especially in light of little ol’ Greece being able to stage an even bigger event than the one that’s about to get under way.

I remain hopeful that the Russian “Ring of Steel” will head off any terrorist attacks during these Olympics. The rest of it remains dicey. Let’s wish them all the best.

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Why the secrecy over new business coming to town?

Amarillo City Hall is becoming a secretive place, or so it seems.

The city has just annexed some land in the area west of Westgate Mall, reportedly to clear the way for a “big-box store” whose identity isn’t known.

Rumors began flying all over Facebook and other social media as to the identity of the mystery business.

City Hall, though, ain’t talkin’. I’m not yet sure why the hush-hush is on over at 10th and Buchanan.

Does the retailer not want its ID made known? Have they sworn the city management to some vow of secrecy until the retailer is darn good and ready to show its face.

From where I sit, it’s all just a bit silly.

The city has annexed the property to run some sewer lines to the location where the retailer reportedly is interested in building. That’s all on the up-and-up. There needs to be municipal water supplied as well. I get that, too.

A little birdie, someone in the know, has indicated to me he knows the name of the business. But for now, the official word hasn’t yet come from anyone in authority.

I hope it’s a good one — and I hope the secret will have been worth keeping.

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Clues to Bronco Super Bowl collapse revealed

I have discovered the reason for the shocking collapse this past Sunday by the Denver Broncos at the Super Bowl.

Get set for this stunner.

It’s the Sports Illustrated jinx. The jinx did in the Broncos, just as certainly as it has torpedoed other teams and individual athletes over many decades of the vaunted sports magazine’s publication.

You know about the SI jinx, yes? It’s known as the kiss of proverbial death for any team or individual athlete who graces the cover prior to a big sporting event. You’re on the cover and you’re bound to lose. The jinx is infamous in sports and media circles.

The Broncos were featured on SI’s cover not once prior to The Big Game, but twice, for criminy sakes!

The Jan. 27 edition featured full-page photo of future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. This was SI’s Super Bowl preview edition. I cannot recall how the magazine called the game. Doesn’t matter. The Seahawks came to play, while the Denver Broncos, well, didn’t.

Then we had the previous week’s SI cover. Who do you suppose graced that page? None other than Denver wide receiver Wes Welker, the Texas Tech University standout who played several seasons for the New England Patriots before joining Manning and the Broncos this year.

It was as if SI wanted to ensure that they doomed the Broncos by putting them on the cover on consecutive weeks prior to the Super Bowl.

What’s most amazing of all is that I haven’t heard much — if any — mention of this phenomenon biting the Broncos in the backside.

I think I’ve scored a scoop.

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Christie’s woes looking more like Watergate

It’s fun to discuss public affairs with people who, like me, are old enough to remember history as it unfolded.

A friend of mine and I were talking yesterday about the Chris Christie mess in New Jersey, involving whether the New Jersey governor knew about the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge that caused all that traffic havoc on the world’s busiest motor vehicle span.

Christie insists he didn’t know anything in advance. He categorically denies ordering the lanes closed in retaliation against the Democratic mayor’s failure to endorse the Republican governor’s re-election bid in 2013.

My friend and I were recalling Watergate and how this controversy is beginning to resemble the track that the Watergate scandal took in 1972 and into 1973.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/chris-christie-scott-walker-republican-governors-2016-presidential-election-103133.html?hp=t1_3

For those who are too young to remember, here’s a quick primer:

On June 17, 1972, some burglars broke into the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. The cops arrested them. The Washington Post covered the event as a crime story. They buried the initial report of the burglary deep inside the paper.

Two young reporters working the Metro desk, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, were assigned to cover the cop story. But they began to smell a rat. Sources were telling them the burglary was more than what it appeared to be. Big hitters were involved. Bernstein and Woodward believed their snitches and sought more time to work the story. Their editors blew them off, telling them they didn’t think much of their tips. The reporters persisted. Finally, they talked their editors into letting them work their sources more aggressively.

President Richard Nixon was revealed to have ordered the cover-up of the investigation. We learned about enemies lists and we learned about how the president abused his power to cover his own backside. Nixon resigned rather than face certain impeachment.

Is the Chris Christie tracking inevitably toward a similar course? I don’t know. Republican officials think it’s a trumped-up controversy. They claim it’s phony and doesn’t merit the kind of coverage it’s getting in the media. But this kind of thing has a way of developing a life of its own. Officials are coming out of the shadows and saying the governor knew more than he says he did. One trail has led to alleged misuse of Hurricane Sandy relief money by the governor’s office.

I’ll refrain henceforth from attaching the “gate” suffix to this controversy. There’s only real “gate” scandal, but this one just might — perhaps, maybe — end as badly for the person at its center as the Watergate scandal did for the 37th president of the United States.

Stay tuned.

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CVS deserves a huge salute

It’s time to offer a word of praise and a tip of the cap to a corporate giant.

CVS Pharmacy, take a bow.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/so-long-cigs-cvs-pulls-tobacco-products-its-stores-n22156

The drug-store chain announced it will phase out sale of all tobacco products by Oct. 1. Its mission is to promote good health and CVS officials say the sale of cigarettes and snuff/chew next to medicinal products undermines that mission.

Do you think?

The end of selling these products is going to cost the company about $2 billion annually in sales, according to a statement issued by CVS. That doesn’t seem to matter as much to the corporate brass as it’s staying true to its belief in promoting good health.

President Obama — a former smoker — was quick to praise CVS. “As one of the largest retailers and pharmacies in America, CVS Caremark sets a powerful example, and today’s decision will help advance my administration’s efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as bring down health care costs — ultimately saving lives and protecting untold numbers of families from pain and heartbreak for years to come,” he said in a statement.

I know about quitting smoking. I was a smoker for half my life before quitting cold turkey 34 years ago this week. I was smoking two-plus packs a day when I decided — after incessant nagging from my wife — to throw them away. I’ve never looked back.

I’m not sure I could afford the habit today, given the huge increase in the cost of these products.

This is a big deal in the retail business. Walgreens said it is “evaluating” whether to eliminate tobacco sales. Will other pharmacy chains follow suit?

I hope they do. It sends a powerful message across the country about the hazards of this hideous habit, as if the Surgeon General’s warning on cigarettes packs that smoking can kill you isn’t enough.

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UIL biennial shuffle will never end

The Texas University Interscholastic League has finished its biennial shuffling of high schools’ extracurricular activities league.

I guess the big news in Amarillo is that Amarillo High and Tascosa High have been put back into the same district. This time it’s a newly configured Class 6A district. They’ll be cutting the travel time that caused apoplexy among THS parents and boosters the past two years. Good deal, I reckon.

Since I didn’t have kids enrolled in either school, I didn’t exactly have a dog in that fight. Some folks were upset that their kids had to travel so far to play some sports or take part in cheerleading or marching band activities. That’s all done — for the next years at least.

Some of the smaller high schools in the Panhandle weren’t so fortunate. They’re having to travel greater distances, but since they’re out there in the country anyway, those AHS and THS parents and boosters won’t get so exercised over their plight. We’ll leave it to those local parents to raise a ruckus with the UIL.

I’m one of those who wishes the UIL would leave these alignments alone for longer periods of time. The two-year flirtation with separating two rival schools — AHS and THS — and placing them in separate enrollment classes and districts didn’t set well with football purists in Amarillo.

I get that. What I don’t get is why the UIL has to mess with this alignment so frequently. Don’t the folks at the UIL headquarters have any feeling for the headaches these constant changes cause among local school district athletic directors, superintendents, principals, coaches, students — and oh yes, those testy parents?

What’s the answer? I’d start with lengthening the realignment schedule to once every four years. Build in a little bit of stability to extracurricular programs. Save some hassles, headaches and heartburn along the way.

And leave the kids alone.

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Obama says O’Reilly ‘unfair’? Shocking!

Imagine my surprise when I saw the story in which President Obama said Bill O’Reilly was unfair in his interview just prior to the Super Bowl.

Just kidding. No surprise there.

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/02/03/22560607-obama-says-fox-newss-oreilly-absolutely-unfair-in-extended-interview?lite

O’Reilly is the noted Fox News Channel blowhard who fancies himself a serious broadcast journalist. He is no such thing. He is a commentator, a guy with lots of opinions on lots of issues — and someone who is totally unafraid to express them, even while he is interviewing a Very Important Person, such as the president of the United States of America.

My takeaway from the pre-Super Bowl interview is that O’Reilly is love with the sound of his own voice and doesn’t care to hear what others have to say. He has demonstrated that countless times in the many years he has been on TV.

Obama noted also that Fox has been “unfair” in its coverage of his administration, which of course should come as no surprise either.

Yes, I know the pendulum swings widely in that regard. Liberal-leaning MSNBC has been none too kind to Republican officeholders and would-be officeholders. The folks at that network are shills for the left, just as O’Reilly and his Fox brethren are shills for the right.

And that brings me back to my favorite TV “news” slogan, which is how Fox proclaims itself to be the “fair and balanced” network.

A news network that keeps saying such things about itself usually is neither.

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Abbott-Davis race gets ugly early

Oh my.

Is this what we can expect for the next, oh, 10 months in the campaign for Texas governor?

The two major parties already have their presumptive nominees: Republicans will nominate Attorney General Greg Abbott while Democrats will nominate state Sen. Wendy Davis. This will occur in March during the party primaries. Then we’ll get to watch these two bright individuals hammer at each other over things that likely will have little to do with public policy.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/02/03/democratic-spies-overhear-abbott-davis-controversy/

The latest is this: An audio recording has surfaced that suggest Abbott urged his supporters to keep stirring the pot over a controversy involving Davis’s rather fuzzy personal history. You know the story by now, right? Davis said she was a single mother, divorcing her first husband when she was 19. Turns out her divorce wasn’t finalized until she was 21. Then came other details about who got custody of her children and some other things. These details were revealed in a Dallas Morning News article written by veteran political reporter Wayne Slater.

The recording says this, according to the Texas Tribune: “We’re going to heat up this campaign, and it’s going to turn red hot as we keep Texas red.” That reportedly is Abbott speaking in January at a fundraising event in Wimberley.

The problem with the recording is that Abbott had clammed up when the controversy broke, maintaining a statesmanlike silence in public.

So, the question is this: Which Abbott are we going to see as the campaign unfolds further? The circumspect AG or a GOP gutfighter?

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No shortage of geese

I witnessed something today over the course of several hours that I don’t think I’d seen before. It involved lots of wildlife.

One of my part-time jobs allows me to circle a parking lot at the Toyota dealership where I work. I spend about half my day outdoors offering help to customers who might need it.

Well, beginning shortly after noon today, I heard the sound of Canada geese overhead. I looked up and saw this large flight of geese moving westward over the ranchland just west of the dealership. It contained a couple hundred geese.

Then came another formation of geese. Right behind the first one, this second flight also moved off to the west.

Then a third flight came. And a fourth. And on and on it went, for most of the afternoon.

Geese, thousands of them, heading west.

I have a rough idea where some of them originated. I am guessing they took off from McDonald Lake, a playa that sits at the corner of 45th Avenue and Coulter Street in Amarillo — not far from our home. But surely the lake couldn’t have been starting point for all the birds I saw today.

My goodness, there had to have been 10,000 birds migrating for most of the afternoon. What the heck, I have no clue how many birds I saw today. Ten grand sounds about right.

I have no clue where they were going, or why they all took flight when they did.

I’ve drawn one quite obvious conclusion based on what I saw today. The world has no shortage of Canada geese.

I’ll be back at work tomorrow and will be looking for signs of more these creatures. Here’s hoping they take flight. They make quite a sight on a cold, cloudy day.

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Loudmouth O’Reilly makes news

One of the many things I dislike about contemporary broadcast “journalism” is when the so-called journalist becomes the newsmaker.

Such was the case prior to the Super Bowl on Sunday when Fox News loudmouth Bill O’Reilly interviewed Barack Obama — and tried to steal the thunder from the president of the United States.

As he has done before when the men have met, O’Reilly interrupted the president repeatedly. He cut him off. He wouldn’t allow him to answer questions, many of which were excellent and pointed.

I don’t mind one bit journalists digging hard for answers to questions that linger out here in Viewer Land. I do mind, though, when journalists seek — by virtue of their outsized personality and ego — to become part of the story.

That ain’t their job.

Their job is to ask questions, to collect answers and to allow consumers of the news and analysis to decide for ourselves what we believe to be correct or incorrect. This consumer, me, cares not one bit what the interviewer thinks about anything. Just ask the questions and get the heck out of the way.

Once again, O’Reilly demonstrated that news and entertainment have melded into some new form that — in my view — is hard to watch.

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