A McDonalds of Olympic Proportions
Behold, the biggest of the macs. The artist's rendering above depicts the 32,000-square-feet temporary McDonald's that will be open for business during the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Although the restaurant will only be open for 29 days, it will become the biggest McDonald's in the world, with seating for 1,500 people. In total, four temporary McDonald's will be built in and around the Olympic Park , including one inside the Athletes' Village.
The logistics team at McDonald's expects this behemoth of a restaurant to serve around 1.75 million people during the month that it will exist, feeding the visitors who've come to London for the Olympics and the Paralympics. McDonald's has been an official sponsor of the Olympics since 1976, but thi…
South Sudan Will Send Athletes to London 2012
The world's newest nation, the Republic of South Sudan, intends on sending its best athletes to the Summer Olympic Games in London next summer. The infantile country declared it's independence on July 9th and became a member of the United Nations on July 14th, after a bitter war against the Sudanese in the North. Surprisingly, the process of creating a National Olympic Committee and getting it officially recognized by the IOC is not as swift. IOC officials have made it clear that South Sudan will probably not be able to get a NOC approved before the games. But in that event, South Sudanese athletes will be invited to participate "under other colors"[1], a notion that remains a mystery. One cannot imagine that they would participate for Sud…
US Women and the Epic Soccer Failure
Despite a tragic loss to Japan in Sunday's World Cup final, one of the biggest choke jobs in the history of sports, the U.S. women's soccer team is receiving almost zero criticism from their fans and the media. In fact, quite the opposite effect is happening, as the team has been praised as heroes upon their return. Yes, they made an impressive, miraculous run to the final, but at this point, shouldn't the whole, "it's OK, they did their best" spiel be reserved for boys and girls? This was a team of highly-skilled women, ranked number one in the world and undefeated against Japan in 23 games. They should have won. They took the lead twice, but didn't make any tactical changes or substitutions. They kept attacking, aggressively, allowing Jap…
Team Deutschland Raises the Bar
The German Olympic Sports Confederation commenced their preparations for the London 2012 Olympics in spectacular fashion yesterday, sailing the massive MS Deutschland snugly into the London Docklands, making it the largest boat to ever visit. The luxury cruise ship is making a test-run for next summer, when it will provide nearby accomodations to the Docklands Museum, which will become the official headquarters of Team Germany. Although German athletes will stay in the Athletes' Village, the VIPs, dignitaries, officials, and wealthy supporters of the team will stay on the boat made famous in the television show Das Traumschiff, Germany's version of Love Boat.
The art-deco style ship holds 581 passengers with an equal number of staff members. …
Rain on the Poms' Parade
Reports of a controversially named sporting mission have recently surfaced. Australia has always had a rivalry with Great Britain, the hosts of the 2012 Olympics, so the Aussie Olympic team has made it their motto/goal for the next year to "rain on the Poms' parade." It's usually a given that the United States, Russia, and China will win the most medals, so Australia and Great Britain will be fighting for fourth place in a battle that has just seen the smack-talk commence an entire year early.
The term Pom (short for Pommy), which has muddled origins, is an alternative name for British people used primarily in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Some still consider it an offensive word, but technically, it's no longer derogatory. The …