In other sports news, signs that Singapore is where the IOC is going to make its decision on where to host the 2012 Games are slowly creeping up around town. After a meeting last week, I passed by 2 bus-stop billboards extolling the virtues of Madrid as a potential host city. On the same day (I think) the Straits Times, the local paper, had a long pullout section on Moscow, filled with more ads about Russia than they normally sell in a couple of years. And I picked up a couple of free “London 2012” postcards, featuring a marathon runner running by Tower Bridge. The postcard had the full number of pubs in London featured at the back. Apparently a criterion of a good Olympics host city is the ability to get quality ale.
Anyway, New York’s effort doesn’t seem very noticeable from over here, to be honest, despite all the hoo-ha about the failed stadium plans. Not much promotion that I’ve noticed, and I’m not sure which sports stars or celebs are due in town. Hopefully that’ll change soon. The Brits are bringing in David Beckham (despite the fact that he supposedly first met an alleged lover here in Singapore)… oh wait - a quick search reveals that they just announced that Muhammad Ali is coming. AWESOME.
Also in the paper a few days back: baseball was cited as one of the sports in danger of losing its Olympic status. I hope not, but I can see where rugby has a stronger claim in terms of world viewership, what with the Rugby World Cup being the third-most watched sporting event in the world after the World Cup and the Olympics. I guess that’s another reason to be a Baseball World Cup supporter… the game needs to beef up its global reach.