I was living in Los Angeles then (well, Pasadena) and I bought my first ever television set (with my own money) to watch the Olympics. I recall what a panic they had put everybody in about how horrible the traffic was going to be, and in the event the traffic was better during those two weeks than usual. I lived almost in the shadow of the Rose Bowl, where they had a lot of the soccer, and there were a lot of fun people around.
But as a sporting even those Olympics were something of a bust. The boycott made a mockery of the accomplishments of Retton, and undermined the validity of a lot of the track and field, and other events. The US jingoism was suffocating, even for an ABC covered Olympics. While LA did not have the traffic and smog problems that were feared, its absence of a "there", and the spreading out of the athletes all around the greater Southern California area, meant there was very little sense of place or community. The games were pretty much swallowed up in the great maw of LA life. Aside from 1980, those were my least favorite Olympics of all time (just barely ahead of Atlanta - at least our mascot was a little better). On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 9:21 PM, Kevin M.<[email protected]> wrote: > > On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 8:56 PM, Brian Henke<[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Rafer Johnson lit the torch, and the LA Olympics were underway. >> Despite the Soviet Union and other Communist nations boycotting the >> Games, it drew huge ratings for ABC, in what turned out to be their >> last Summer Games to date. >> >> Remember the Call to Glory ads? The wall to wall TV coverage that >> NBC would later adapt for all their Games broadcast to come? The >> Beatrice (whatever happened to them) ads? All My Children, One Life to >> Live and General Hospital on for only 40 minutes? > > Remember LA's entire homeless population being herded like cattle onto > buses and shuffled south to a makeshift tent city in San Clemente for > the duration of the games? Ah, memories. > > I have a very blurry picture of the Olympic torch being carried past > the Gemco a block from my home in Pomona, CA. And I recall my family's > TV was near death, having massive color problems. As a result all the > gymnasts looked blue and all the swimmers looked green. I say again, > ah, memories. > -- > Kevin M. (RPCV) > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
