Olympics in NYC?

Last night was the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. 

It was a great big honkin' spectacle, lots of fireworks and pulsating music and glowing objects plus masses of people. These events are always an excuse for the host nation to celebrate itself, and Great Britain certainly did. Opening ceremonies have become the greatest shows on earth, although nothing will probably ever top the 2008 Beijing opening ceremony. That was something.  

Then there's the actual games. They've begun in earnest today -- and so far Michael Phelps ain't quite all that. But we shall see how it goes.

For those of you old enough to remember -- and care -- you might recall that NYC came close to hosting the Olympics this year. In 2005, as he was completing his first term, Mayor Bloomberg had made a huge push for our fair city to land the games. For the first time ever (I think), New York had become a finalist city, competing with (if I remember right) Paris, Madrid, Moscow and London. Obviously we didn't get it and, considering the financial crises that hit in 2008, it's probably a good thing too. 

But what if we had? What might have been?

If you follow this link here, you can see the NYC final bid video that shows what an Olympics in this town would have been like. Personally, I was unimpressed but you can decide for yourself if our city lost out on something -- or if we dodge a metaphorical bullet.