TOareaFan
Superstar
I think I will embrace the Pan-Am games. Sure it's not the Olympics but it's the build up for our athletes to the Olympics.
How many in this city jump on the bandwagon every 4 years to "support the athletes". These athletes don't just "show up". There is competitions like the Pan-Am and the Commonwealth games to prepare them for it.
It's like complaining that the national soccer team doesn't go to the World cup but never pay attention or support the national team when they are trying to qualify.
Plus athletes are normally attractive so that's another plus
I am looking forward to the games.....I have never lived in a city that had one of these multi-sport events before and I am intrigued by the opportunity to attend sports that I do not get the opportunity to on a regular basis. Sports like rugby sevens, swimming races, velodrome cycling and track and field.
The sad part is I have yet to run into anyone that shares my view. Whenever the topic comes up my interest is generally met with "who cares" and/or "second rate games" type comments. Over the weekend I watched a couple of hours of Commonwealth games coverage from Glasgow.....saw some track and field (all preliminary events, ie. no medal finals) and Hampden Park was sold out (holds 55k for soccer but I think it is around 50k for track)......saw some rugby sevens from Ibrox Park the group games were scheduled as 4 "sesssions" (each session was a separate ticket) over 2 days and the attendance total for those sessions was 171,000 (Ibrox holds just under 50k...so that is near capacity on average)......saw some swimming (mix of medal events and prelims) and there did not look to be any empty seats in their 5k venue (2k permanent seats with 3k temporary seats).
I honestly don't know where the commonwealth games and pan am games rank against each other in terms of tier of events...my guess is they are roughly equal....it is amazing contrasting the attitude I am sensing in Toronto relative to what is happening in Glasgow right now. I don't, obviously, know at what point excitement builds for these events but I have a fear that we are building towards games that don't contrast well with how they are accepted/supported in other places.