Mitt Romney has me counting the days until the Olympics (164 as of Tuesday.) Since he's not always eager to talk about his largely-moderate record as Massachusetts governor, we've gotten to hear a lot about Mitt's role planning the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games. There was that lingering animosity between Romney and Rick Perry, supposedly because Romney didn't give the Boy Scouts enough of a role. Of course, most of it's been about the boring stuff, like how he turned around a potentially disastrous event and made it profitable. But, when he starts talking about it, I mainly just imagine people competing in sports I've usually forgotten exist. (I'm looking at you, luge.) Romney's got me not only hyped up for the summer games but nostalgic for winter-particularly 2002 Salt Lake City.
So imagine my joy when I learned today that Salt Lake City has started an exploratory committee to consider hosting the games for a second time! Now, just to be clear, it's hardly a sure thing. Denver and Lake Tahoe already have their own committees, and ultimately the U.S. Olympic Committee will decide if the country should make a formalized bid at all, and if so, which city should be put forth.
It's also a bit of a ways away. If you're hoping to see a Winter Olympics before 2022, you'd better book your flight to Sochi, Russia (2014) or Pyeongchang, South Korea (2018).
"We've proved to the world we can do it, and do it better than anybody else. The question is: should we do it in 2022?" Utah governor Gary Herbert told the Denver Post. A better question might be, will we need a Republican candidate in 2032?
In the meantime, I suggest you get pumped for the summer games by listening to that master of sport, Jerry Seinfeld.
