The irony of this story, of course, is that the World's Most Overrated Athlete plays a sport that his home country has refused to participate in past Olympics, due to the divided nature of the British soccer federations. In this country, we've had a lot of nimbyish opposition to the Big Apple's bid for 2012, but I'm curious if there's been similar opposition to the Paris and London bids. For what it's worth, those who have opposed Olympics for various localities since 1984 do not have a very good track record when it comes to their predictions. I have yet to meet an Angeleno who does not have warm memories of the '84 Games; it has always served as an example that we can collectively accomplish great things when we put our minds to it. And they never lose as much money, congest as much traffic, or cause as much havoc as even the proponents of the Games anticipate.