Torch blues

Since AT&T Park is only 3 blocks from my office, a few coworkers and I set out to see the Olympic torch pass by. There were lots of bystanders like ourselves, as well as many protestors. From Team Tibet to Chinese advocates - there were even Darfur protestors there - the political movement was out in force, but also in peace (at least were I was standing). Except for a few stragglers, everyone stayed behind the barricades and waited for the runners.

I guess that wasn't quite the case on the Embarcadero, where the streets were flooded with people. This (supposedly) caused the Mayor, police chief and other security officials to suddenly re-route the runners...without telling anyone standing along the sidelines for a long time.

No big loss here personally. I just walked back to work. I needed to get there anyway since I'd been gone for a while. Honestly, I wasn't that upset about the protestors either. Always the PR girl, they had a LOT of free airtime, and on all sides of the issue (not sure where Darfur fits in this time, but the Tibet/China thing, definitely).

I was kind of sad for the runners though. Most of these people did something remarkable to have the opportunity to run with the torch in the first place - not to mention, S.F. was the only stop in the U.S. for the 2008 games. Not only did they have to run up the ugliest street in the City (Van Ness), they also had very few people to cheer them on.

Am I really upset? Not terribly. Do I think the City made the right decision? Quite possibly. No one was hurt in the City, and that is pretty remarkable considering how many people were here, protesting or not. Please don't misunderstand that I'm not sympathetic to the political situation or human rights issues at stake. I'm just taking off the PR hat for one second, and trying to put myself in the place of the athletes who have trained their entire lives to compete in the Olympics...it just must be such a letdown.

Photo slideshow here.