By Anthony Bosco
I don’t speak for anyone but myself, but all these people who also call the borough of my birth home and who are clamoring for the Olympics to come to Queens — and the rest of New York City — in 2012 must be kidding. Please, stop. I don’t want the Olympics anywhere near Queens, period.
Why, may you ask, would a sports writer not want the chance to cover the Olympics in his hometown? My reasons are plentiful and, as God is my witness, I will bolt from my hometown if this comes to pass.
New York City already is the capital of the world, home of the United Nations and roughly 8 million people. Thousands immigrate to this city every year. It is already overcrowded and as dense as any in the Western Hemisphere. The last thing we need is every other athlete in the world camping out on our doorsteps for a month.
I know there would be positive aspects to the Olympics coming to New York, especially the sports facilities, such as the new stadiums, pools, fields, etc. But that is the only positive point I can think of that would have a lasting effect.
For one, the city does not need the publicity or a boost in tourism. Though tourism is down after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, people from around the world still are flocking to our city in droves.
And we are plumb full with ethnic diversity. There are hundreds of different people living among one another in peace everyday.
I can’t fathom what these people are thinking who want to bring the Olympics to New York.
I’m not one of these knee-jerk reactionaries who feels we have to prove to the rest of the world that we as a city have completely recovered from last year’s terrorist attacks. I don’t say that because it is not true. But we have moved on, we are living, we are still here. That’s enough for me. We don’t have to prove anything to anyone. We are New Yorkers, after all.
And what it means to be a New Yorker is that we are tough, resilient, smart, tolerant and, in my opinion, the best people on Earth. I don’t need or want millions of people mucking up my city for the over-glorification of amateur sports.
The Olympics can be a great and wonderful event, but not here. Let them have it in some city that needs the infrastructure, needs the tourism and can deal with it better.
I can’t remember a single day of my life when there hasn’t been some kind of construction taking part on the Long Island Expressway. Think about that for a second and then think of the absurdity of building a brand new Olympic Village, cutting up Flushing Meadows Corona Park for a couple of rowing events and the thousands of visitors cluttering up our already packed roadways.
Ugh! The New York Jets and the New York Giants both play in New Jersey. The Jets don’t even have their own stadium, the only one of 32 NFL teams not to have a place to call their own, but we will build brand new sites for a two-week amateur tournament. Get bent.
Not to mention that this city just suffered the worst attack on this nation in its more than 220-year history. Sorry, call me a wimp, but I don’t want thousands of foreign visitors full of anti-American sentiment spending quality time in my hometown no matter what the reason. New York City is a target, we all know that, but we certainly don’t need to make it a bigger target.
The Olympics is center stage for the entire world. Remember the bomb in Atlanta? Remember Munich in 1972? I don’t want a repeat performance in New York City. Thanks, but no thanks.
OK, I’ll play devil’s advocate to grant those of you out there who disagree that the world may be an entirely different place in 10 years, that the threat of terrorism might not be as prevalent a decade from now. Still, I don’t care. It existed 30 years ago and still does today. Things might even be worse.
While we see the Olympics as a sporting event pitting the world’s best athletes against one another, others see it as an opportunity to make a political statement. Again, thanks, but no thanks.
But terrorism is just part of it. The security will be monumental, transforming a trip from Douglaston to Long Island City from more than just a hassle to a genuine nuisance, as if it isn’t already.
Think of all this and then add to the fact that you may have to make the commute from your home in Queens to your job in Manhattan using public transportation, jockeying on the No. 7 train for a seat along with some hurdler from North Africa or China’s top platform diver.
The Olympics in New York City would be one big headache. I already have a headache, have one for about a year now and don’t care to perpetuate it any further.
Maybe my opinion will change, maybe I will mellow or maybe someone will convince me that the Olympics will be good for the city, the borough and all the people who live here. But they will have to make a very convincing case to change my mind.
Queens is considered one of the most, if not the most, diverse places in the world and that’s one of the reasons I love living here. But that is enough for me. Let Tulsa hold the Olympics. The place could probably use a good paint job anyway.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
