Media Watch -- D.C. 2024; USA Hockey; IOC and Sochi Olympics

(ATR) The media and public react to Washington D.C.’s potential bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics…Team USA unveils its hockey jerseys and gears up for the Sochi Olympics…Sources divide over what to expect next from the IOC in response to Russia’s gay propaganda ban.

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An aerial view of New York photographed on November 30, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
An aerial view of New York photographed on November 30, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

A 2024 Olympic Bid from Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. is officially considering a bid for the 2024 Olympics. On Tuesday, a non-profit group called DC 2024 announced the formation of the exploratory committee for the bid.

Following the announcement, social media ignited with mixed reactions from residents in the area. The Washington Business Journal features several Twitter posts that generated discussions about a potential D.C. Olympics.

The United States Olympic Committee will make its final decision about which U.S. city "to put up for bid internationally" in September 2015. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kansas City, Seattle, Minneapolis, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Atlanta could all end up vying against Washington D.C. for a 2024 bid.

Mixed responses throughout the media to D.C.’s Olympics exploratory committee brought forth the usual "haters." Dan Malouff writes an op-ed for the Washington Post to endorse Washington D.C.’s potential 2024 Olympics bid. Malouff compares the Olympics to music and art.

"They’re luxuries that are good for the soul," he writes and adds, "They’re luxuries that make our civilization more than the sum of its parts. They’re things worth doing if we value love."

A Washington City Paper article lists five reasons "not to love D.C.’s Olympic bid."

But not everyone is "immune to Olympic fever." The Washington City Paper also spoke with three council members who, "at least for now," support D.C.’s 2024 bid.

"Lifelong Washingtonian Chris Chase pulls out the crystal ball" for USA Today Sports to predict whether D.C. should stage the 2024 Summer Olympics.

D.C.’s bid for the 2024 Olympics inspires Washingtonians to propose a lineup of new "area-appropriate events." From the "Metro Pentathlon" to the "Supreme Court Relay," this Washington Post feature provides a light-hearted take on D.C.’s bid announcement.

USA Hockey

Five elite hockey players are gearing up to lead Team USA at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Dustin Brown, David Backes, and Ryan Callahan spoke with NHL.com. The Team USA leaders hope their experience at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics will strengthen their performance during competition next February.

The team’s General Manager David Poile is "very pleased" to welcome back five strong players from the 2010 Winter Games.

"Just being on a second Olympic team, those words coming out of my mouth give me chills," Backes said. He added, "Whether you've got a letter on your jersey or you're up in the stands with pom-poms in your hands, it is all for the red, white and blue."

Travis Hughes calls out Nike for "gimmicks" that ruined the USA Olympic team’s hockey jerseys. The SB Nation article features reactions from players and fans over the jerseys which were unveiled on Tuesday.

Social media erupted after the unveiling of Team USA’s hockey jerseys on Tuesday. The LA Times showcases the many critics still stewing over whether the jersey design is "botched or beautiful."

The IOC and The 2014 Winter Olympics

A Globe and Mail editorial asks whether the IOC will "play by its own rules" during the Sochi Olympics. Contributing writer Nikki Dryden suggests the IOC should disallow Russia from breaking the Olympic Charter’s ban on "discrimination of any kind." If the IOC does not take action, the committee will "violate not only its own rules but international human rights law."

United States figure skater Jeremy Abbot will not criticize decorations in someone else’shome, or say "bad things about a country that’s hosting the world."

Marc Naimark and Charley Sullivan write for Outward, and describe Abbot’s recent quote as a "lousy analogy." Naimark and Sullivan define Olympic committees not as hosts or heads of households, but as "suppliers who have sought the right, in a competitive bidding process, to use the intellectual property" of the IOC for their mutual benefit.

Both writers suggest a different analogy: "Olympians are clients with contractual relationships that are being violated… Like any self-respecting client, when you don’t get what you paid for, you complain or take your business elsewhere."

An article on The New Yorker explores the "range of familiar Olympic problems" embodied in Sochi. Author Ian Crouch offers a solution to the issues faced by many Olympic host cities:

"The gleaming twin cities of Olympia, one North and one South—non-governmental, self-contained mini-metropolises engineered and constructed specifically to host the Olympic Games."

Crouch outlines a plan for "Olympia," while also acknowledging that no one can create a "nation-state out of thin air."

The Olympics in Sochi, or any city with a history of human rights violations, may push the entire country "toward universal freedoms." Politics aside, Crouch feels a neutral territory for the Olympic Games would lead organizers to focus on sports and "host them in a way that is good for the athletes and fans."

Compiled byNicole Bennett.

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