There was a moment in the fall, back when baseball was suspended and planes were emp- ty, when the prospect of the 2002 Winter Olympics was confounding at every turn. We were waging war; who could think of fun and Ganes? Some Salt Lake City residents, sensing a bull's-eye painted, on their town, wished it would all be canceled; students petitioned that their school be closed for security reasons, the athletes, like the rest of us, were disturbed, distracted; a couple had lost relatives in the attacks. NBC was worried that its $545 million investment for broadcast rights might be wasted, and started polling to see if anyone planned to watch.
展开▼
