POSTED: Tuesday August 11th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Sports Corp Spotlight

August 11, 2009, #28

A column by Mike Moran with his own opinions and musings devoted to all things in Sports in our town and around the area, and the “buzz” for everything from the Olympic athlete to the Weekend Warrior.

The New Agreement Between The City of Colorado Springs and the United States Olympic Committee that will keep the organization here for the next 30 years was approved this afternoon by the City Council………..this rancorous issue has monopolized the news in our town for weeks after the first deal fell apart……..now there are deadlines to meet and obligations to fulfill, but aside from the emotional rants on websites, in the op-ed pages of the Gazette, the smack-downs by columnists and the totally inaccurate depiction of the USOC has “blackmailing” the city, let me refresh some memories for the late-to-the-game pundits and NIMBYs……….I joined the USOC as it moved here after decades in New York, in 1978……..we did not get any kind of “sweetheart deal” at all……..we got a $1 million private grant from the El Pomar Foundation and the late Thayer Tutt, and the option to lease the old, dilapidated and out-of-use 34-acre facility at Boulder and Union which was the former ENT Air Force Base, for one dollar a year…….later, we received a deed to most of the land other than a Defense Department parcel on the corner……..our staff operated in inadequate facilities, buildings with outmoded heating and air systems, no formal lobby in Olympic House, cramped quarters, bad plumbing, ancient housing for athletes, and asbestos and rodent problems…..as time went by, we made our own improvements, built new buildings at our cost (the 1997 addition of new dorms, a visitor center and athlete dining hall and gyms was the first major piece) at our cost of about $24 million………earlier, we spent $12.9 million on the first Sports Center and the 7-11 Cycling Velodrome (with help from the Southland Corporation) in Memorial Park that hosted the World Cycling Championships………we added a great Sports Medicine facility with the cost being borne by HealthSouth, not anybody else’s dough……..we did not ask anyone for help………we brought three U.S. Olympic Festivals (the old National Sports Festival) to the city in 1978, 1979 and 1983 with tremendous economic impact…………we brought more than 20 of our National Governing Bodies with us to the city to set up their national headquarters here and there, and they have brought in scores of major events and meetings that enrich our community…..we grew a staff that once numbered almost 600 men and women who lived here, paid their taxes, sent their kids to our schools, volunteered within our community, acted as ambassadors for the city around the world, and were model citizens who loved it here………my own, personal efforts within the national and international media, as well as my staff’s, gave our city constant attention and love…….pictures of our city and our leaders graced the pages of USA Today, Sports Illustrated, and we gained exposure and coverage on the major networks and especially during the Olympic Games around the world………..the most famous team in the history of American sport, the 1980 U.S. Olympic Ice Hockey Team that staged the “Miracle On Ice” at Lake Placid was born and selected here………Evelyn Ashford and Calvin Smith set world records in the 100-meter dash here in 1983, thirty minutes apart, and the tragic vote to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow took place here…….thousands of stories originated across our nation and around the world every four years with the simple phrase “Colorado Springs” within the body of work………..we brought scores of our major meetings to the city, programs like FLAME (finding leaders among minorities everywhere), the first USOC Media Summit, and many more………..and best of all, more than 350,000 American athletes have begun the chase of their Olympic and Paralympic Dreams here in this city and some 150,000 visitors come to the Olympic Complex each year……….………and we never asked for anything to be built or done for us…..now, it’s a different time, and what has been offered is not “blackmail” or is it holding anyone “hostage.”…………the USOC, its Colorado Springs leaders like Col. F. Don Miller, Bill Tutt, Bill Hybl, Baaron Pittenger, Bob Mathias, Jerry Lace, Harvey Schiller, Scott Blackmun, Dr. Evie Dennis, John Krimsky, Jim Scherr, our National Governing Bodies, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and thousands of athletes have created a worldwide, envied reputation and image for this city and its vibrant population……….that, folks, is called ‘giving back”………….let’s get past the bile and bitterness and make this a proud and positive endeavor on behalf of the best and brightest of our nation’s youth and their noble quests……….time to be proud of our city and what we have, not what others can do…………the late, great Olympic hero Jesse Owens told me in the spring of 1980, as he toured the Olympic Training Center, “Maybe some day we can all stand atop the victory stand and share the realization of our dreams”……it’s that time here now….………..What a special sports summer we are having in our town! While there was justifiable concern in these parts about the impact of gas prices, the tough economy, spending and sponsorships, and all on the 87th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and the 2009 State Games of America this summer,  both will go on the city’s scorecard as unqualified home runs………10,312 athletes from 48 states (missing only Ohio and Hawaii) made their way to the city to take part in the State Games of America, July 30-August 2……….6,809 of them came from 133 cities, towns and villages across Colorado, and a big chunk of them brought family and friends and enjoyed a mini-vacation here and got to know Colorado Springs for the first time, and I will bet many will return………..another sellout crowd of 9,500 watched a great Opening Ceremony on July 30 at the Colorado Springs World Arena…………over the record-setting three-year run (2005-2007-2009) of the Games in Colorado Springs, 31,577 athletes competed in the event, which brought more than $33 million in economic impact to our community………it goes to San Diego in 2011, but rest assured the event will be back here again, and soon………..the 87th edition of the Race to the Clouds was a huge success……..some 5,200 fans, officials, media and crews were on the hill to see the race on July 19, and more than 35,000 fans were downtown on July 17 for the fast-growing and popular Fan Fest…….early figures indicate a record revenue mark for ticket sales, too……….the entry of the Ford Fiestas brought along a slew of media from across the nation and Europe……..astoundingly, the PPIHC website www.ppihc.com, received a staggering 1,589,647 page view hits in July alone, and to date there have been more than 350,000 “hits” alone at the incredibly popular global site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8nptFx1jug which features an amazing in-car video of one of the Fiestas and the entire ride up the Hill…..…..….another great one from Rhys Millen’s Time Attack 2WD championship run on the Peak is available now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLvEVfjrFfQ ………and Crank Up The Volume on both……….Ford Racing officials have said they plan to be back next year to make another run at Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima and the elusive ten-minute mark on the Hill………….no date has been announced yet for next summer, but stay tuned……..in the meantime, you can see the entire race again on September 6 (Sunday) at 1:00 and 8:00 p.m. on Altitude Sports and Entertainment via your cable system………the special show will air a total of twelve times on Altitude between September 6-30………..and the Sky Sox continue their drive to a Pacific Coast League playoff berth by maintaining their hold on the top spot in their division………the team battles consistent weather problems in each home stand, injuries, some key player callups (Franklin Morales, Matt Daley, Josh Fogg, Juan Rincon) by the parent Rockies (in the midst of their own pennant chase), yet are averaging 4,277 fans (230,996 total) over the 54 home dates they have managed to play amidst snow, rain, wind and hail………plan to see the August 26-30 series against challenger Salt Lake City, which trails the Sox by four games in the division…..that could mean all the marbles for our boys, who have not made the PCL’s post-season since 1997 or won the league title since 1995……….A Final Note: The death this morning of Eunice Kennedy Shriver brings both sadness and meaningful reflection to many in our city….this unique, passionate woman created the first Special Olympics in 1968 in Chicago and her dogged determination on behalf of athletes with disabilities led to a sea change in the thinking of both the USOC and IOC………Special Olympics gained IOC formal endorsement in 1988 and the USOC has created U.S. Paralympics with funding and support, as well as special programs here in Colorado Springs for wounded service men and women to compete in sports……..and cities now bid for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games……….there were times during my tenure at the USOC over 25 years when Olympic athlete reps shamefully fought funding for athletes with disabilities and openly criticized any attempt to fund their programs and the same dreams that Olympians chased………watching the three dozen wounded Army and Navy vets competing in the State Games of America in archery, triathlon, judo and track and field, and watching blind Paralympian Asya Miller win gold medals in the shot put and javelin last week against sighted athletes was another reminder about how much we owe Mrs. Shriver.

# # #

Keywords · USOC · Colorado Springs · Mike Moran · Eunice Shriver · Special Olympics

Name: Mike Moran
Organization: Colorado Springs Sports Corporation
Email:
Phone: 719-634-7333, ext. 1011
URL: http://www.thesportscorp.org

Please refer all questions to the company listed above issuing the press release. SFC will not be able to assist you with any inquiries and disclaims any content in these press releases.