How Safe Is South Africa?

We discussed the safety in South Africa and how far they have come from apartheid in class which raised a few of my own thoughts. During the summer of 2007, the BGSU rugby team toured South Africa while playing a few games. Although I was not in BG at the time, I was able to hear quite a bit about the trip as I joined the team in the fall. Our club was on tour playing some amazing rugby teams for two to three weeks and I never heard a word about them not feeling safe. They went out and got beat by 100+ points which is very unusual for our team but they did the norm in having a social with the opponents following the game. They did typical rugby things; drank beer, roasted a pig, and b.s.'ed with the other team...all in all having a great time. Off the pitch (field) they toured the country and saw some amazing things. Although this is not an example about soccer which we are discussing in class, this is an example of an American rugby team traveling halfway around the world and mingling with South Africans and not hearing anything about crime. Crime exists everywhere including Bowling Green, OH. We had a student explain how he was robbed at Burger King at gunpoint and I had a robber break into my house on East Merry at 4:00 A.M. over the summer. Things like this can easily happen anywhere and just hearing about it happen outside of our country shouldn't discourage us from traveling to such venues.

These pictures are from the BGSU Rugby team tour in South Africa that is also posted on the team's facebook page (BGSU Mens Rugby).

No-go for Colorado

November 7, 1972...a historical Olympic day. A vote, 514,228 to 350,964 (59.4%) in favor of TURNING DOWN the Olympic Games. The state of Colorado was the first and still is the only state to turn down the right to host the Olympic Games after already winning the bed by the IOC. What was the reasoning? Was their fate to come from this?

A vast majority of Coloradans were not in favor of hosting the 1976 Winter Olympics for a few reasons; one, the tax dollars to come with the Olympics and two, the environment. It was very well known that in hosting an event like the Olympics, chances are, the host country is going to eat a lot of money. One way of making the money deficit less harsh is by raising taxes, which obviously scared a lot of residence. However, without making money an issue, the Coloradans were still upset due to the fact that the games would be hosted across a 166-mile distance (Denver to Steamboat Springs). This would take away from the great scenery in the state of Colorado which already brings in a large number of tourists thanks to the snow-capped Rockies. However, did the residence of Colorado have fate in mind?

Although the topic of Colorado turning down the Winter Olympics is very fascinating to me, I believe we can make some good out of it...maybe it isn't that bad. When thinking of the 1980 Olympics, I'm sure you're thinking about what I'm thinking about, the Miracle On Ice. The U.S. hockey team that went up against the odds and shocked the world by defeating the Soviet Union 4-3 and went on to win the Gold. I bring up the Miracle On Ice to get you thinking of one thing. Obviously this took place in Lake Placid, New York. Would Lake Placid have been an option if it wasn't for the upset Coloradans? Could the underdog college hockey players that filled the roster for Team USA have beaten the Soviet's on the road in another country? Did this really happen for a reason?