The world according to Jim: • We are still in the afterglow of Paris ’24 (or the harsh glare, considering the fiasco surrounding what should be Jordan Chiles’ bronze medal), and we have begun the countdown toward L.A. ’28.
So we lead off today’s bucket o’ notes with a question to you, the reader: If you had organizing committee boss Casey Wasserman’s attention and there were one thing you could suggest regarding L.A.’s Olympics, what would it be? .
.. • Credit for this idea goes to Janet Cerswell of Alta Loma, who wrote: “How about a column where readers can suggest what kind of opening ceremony they would like to see? I loved the Paris opening, spectacular! So what can Southern California do to equal or top it? (Not that it’s a competition).
” She added: “I would like to see our beautiful National Parks featured. Not sure how exactly, but maybe a ‘from sea to shining sea’ theme?” ..
. • If my memory is correct, they did something along those lines in the ’84 opening ceremony in the Coliseum, only they screwed up and had the land rush going west to east. Anyway, the closing ceremony sticks more in my mind, with L.
A. organizing committee chairman Peter Ueberroth getting a standing ovation, a UFO dropping a giant specimen (7-foot-8 former Biola basketball player George Bell) into the Coliseum, and Lionel Richie singing “All Night Long.” Four decades later, I still associate that tune with those Olympics.
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• But let’s expand this quest.