First, it was Munich.
Then, it was Atlanta.
Now, it's Salt Lake City's turn on the luge ride from hell.
Remember when hosting the Olympics was supposed to be a good thing?
When the drama of the Olympics was confined to the playing field? When the cities and towns where the Olympics were being played served only as picturesque backdrops?
Philadelphia has never hosted the Olympics. And if we play our cards right, we may never have to.
If we're lucky, maybe the International Olympic Committee will just ignore us.
Because any event that can make the Mormons look corrupt can leave a town like Philadelphia with a bigger public relations bruise than a Tonya Harding love tap.
For some time now, hosting the Olympics has been. . .shall we say. . .a mixed blessing.
Atlanta is still trying to live down its painful memories of the bombings and trying to pay off its Olympic-sized debts.
Now, Salt Lake City is trying to live down accusations that town boosters bribed Olympic officials to win the 2002 Winter Games.
Several members of Salt Lake City's organizing committee for the Olympics and one senior official on the U.S. Olympic committee have resigned. Close to a dozen members of the International Olympic Committee are under investigation.
And in the wake of the scandal, other misdeeds in other cities are coming to light.
There are now reports that Japanese officials spent some under-the-table money to win last year's winter games in Nagano. Investigations there have been hampered because senior officials in the bidding committee say accounting records have been destroyed.
Nagano residents, who are suing to find out how their tax dollars were used, are now asking the FBI for help.
With this much bad publicity and ill will, isn't it time we start asking ourselves if the Olympics are worth it?
Denver citizens, to their credit, had the smarts to see the Olympics for the cash hole that it has become and voted down a proposal to host the 1976 Winter Games. And Denver's reputation is intact.
If cities like Innsbruck, Ostersund and Lillehammer want to host the games, let them. But to our fellow U.S. cities, we give this advice:
If someone approaches you about hosting the Games, put on your training shoes.
And run in the opposite direction.
Capano defense strategy flawed . . .
So what?He was guilty
The first-degree murder trial of Thomas Capano, with its testimony of kinky sex and family betrayal, made Peyton Place look like a cloister.
But another of the dramas played out in the fascinating trial was the question of the role of money and influence in the justice system. Could the former Delaware prosecutor and political fixer skate free of justice in the murder of his former lover Anne Marie Fahey?
His chances were excellent: He had expensive legal representation, and he had successfully disposed of the body, the murder weapon, and most of the physical evidence.
The only thing Thomas Capano didn't have going for him was innocence.
Yet until Sunday's guilty verdict, Capano actually believed he would be freed.
Indeed, lots of legal analysts attributed the conviction to mistakes in legal strategy: Capano's insistence on taking the stand and the insufficiently believable lie he concocted to blame Fahey's death on another one of his mistresses.
But here's an idea: Maybe it wouldn't have mattered if Capano had made up better lies or let his lawyers run the case. Maybe the jury found him guilty because Capano is, in fact, guilty as charged.
Letter perfect If you couldn't find a Jamaican teen-ager to help you locate those four misspelled words in yesterday's editorial, here they are:
"Embarrassing" (2 r's, 2 s's); "effectively" (the third "e" was missing); "scheduling" (the "c" wasn't there); and "misspelled" (2 s's).
