Don't laugh so hard at Ed's Olympian dream

SHELTON E-mail: Click here Archive

By GARY SHELTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 8, 2000

Poor Ed. Poor, poor Ed.

Ed sees things, you see. For one thing, he sees pixies flying. Honest to goodness, he does. He sees them spinning and twisting their tiny little selves around, then landing and grinning. He sees musclemen and sword fighters. He sees rings and medals, dreams and happy endings.

Poor Ed. Poor, poor Ed.

People feel sorry for Ed. He tells them about his visions, and they nod and smile, the way you do when someone has said something so preposterous it is impossible to reason with him. Ed knows about the jokes. He knows people do not believe him. Eventually, he says, they will.

Poor Ed. Poor, poor Ed.

He wants to bring the Olympics to Tampa Bay.

Ha-ha-ha-ha.

Go ahead. Laugh. By now, Ed Turanchik is used to the reaction. The Olympics? In Tampa Bay? (Insert giggle here). And how are you going to have a swimming competition when hell has frozen over? And what's the main demonstration sport going to be? Pig flying? The way people have reacted, Turanchik might as well be talking about time travel.

It seems a ridiculous notion because the world doesn't think of us as an international, trend-setting sort of city. Heck, we don't think of ourselves as an international, trend-setting sort of city. We're more the kind of place where, well, you know all those people who live in the international, trend-setting sort of cities out there? We're the place their moms live.

So, even given that the Olympics in question wouldn't take place until 2012, it's easy to scoff. Let's see. June of '12? Nope, can't do that, Ed. Seems the Ice Palace is going to be busy with the Lightning playing for the Stanley Cup. Again. The Olympics and Tampa Bay? What? Was Boise being used? The Olympics? Here? What part of the year? The 12th of Never?

Yep, it's a real knee-slapper. Except for this. It isn't quite as funny today as it was yesterday. And it might be even less humorous tomorrow. Every day, it seems, the admitted ton of skepticism out there wanes an ounce or two. It's still a long way before anyone calls Tampa Bay the favorite, but it's starting to sound worth a dream.

"The first time I said something to (Tampa Mayor) Dick Greco about bidding for the Games," Turanchik said, "he asked me what I was smoking. The average reaction in the street was a chuckle and a guffaw. But now the reaction has changed from guffaws to "Oh, my God. We can win this thing.' "

A confession here: Nobody has had more fun making fun of the idea than I have. It was a sport unto itself to joke about Turanchik jousting at Juan Antonio Samaranch's windmills (a gift, no doubt, from the Dutch as they pursued the 1988 Games). It's easy to wonder if we have the sufficient corporations, the sufficient reputation.

But in Houston for an Olympic summit two weeks ago, you kept hearing about how the Olympics had grown to the point where a hyphenated area (Washington-Baltimore, Dallas-Fort Worth, Tampa Bay-Orlando) might be the United States' bid city. No one seemed to be laughing when that was said. No one rolled their eyes. Trust me, I checked.

Here's the deal. By 2012, we will have had three more summer Olympics -- in Australia, in Greece, possibly in China. So if you ran the Olympics, where would you go? Answer: back to this hemisphere, which always makes the United States the front-runner. Which puts Tampa Bay in the Elite Eight, maybe the Final Four.

Then, there is our state. Florida is like Rick's. Everyone comes here. So, as long as the world is hanging around at Disney World anyway, why not have an Olympics?

Ask Turanchik a 12-second question and he'll talk for 45 minutes on how everyone in the world knows where Florida is, how Florida 2012 has raised much more money than anyone else, how he has absolute proof he had nothing to do with the debacle in Atlanta. He'll talk about how much money the state will make and how we'll actually be able to drive between here and Orlando in less than nine hours and how much fun we'll all have. He'll talk about venues and hotels and opinion polls. He'll talk with the passion of a believer inviting you to join him, inviting you to see the colors of his imagination.

Poor Ed. Poor, poor Ed.

He seems to believe all this, you know. In an age of skepticism, he believes you eventually will believe it, too. He sees athletes running and jumping, swimming and cycling. He sees divers at the North Shore pool, gymnasts at Tropicana Field and hurdlers at a new Olympic stadium. He sees Russians, Chinese, Samoans and East Timorians. He sees fun.

"I see all of our friends, mine and yours, in the Olympic Stadium, smiling and saying "We did it!' " Turanchik says. "I see a high-speed train between here and Orlando. I see a diving venue on the water in St. Pete."

What he doesn't seem to see are the skirmishes that always arise, the protests, problems and political infighting that follow. He doesn't seem to see construction woes, terrorist threats and regional fractions that are inevitable. He doesn't seem to see the odds that remain in his way or the doubters lining it. You think about those things and you wonder why anyone in the world would want the Olympics.

Then you try to see what he sees. You try to picture the world in our back yard. You try to imagine the Opening Ceremony, with the parade of nations entering a stadium. You try to imagine the meld of culture that is the Olympics, standing in line outside Kojak's. You try to think of all the stories of all the athletes, of all the anthems and all the competitions.

Poor me. Poor, poor me.

I'm starting to see them, too.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

Headlines

Americans Lose in 1st Round of Davis Cup

---