I received an email about 10 days ago with lots of exclamation points \u2013 attempting to generate enthusiasm, I assume.<\/p>\n
It was exactly two years before the 2028 Summer Olympics begin! It\u2019s going to be in L.A.! Lots of the stuff is going to be in Long Beach!<\/p>\n
You (me) can be a part of it!<\/p>\n
Sorry for the exclamatory sarcasm. Truth is, I\u2019m pretty stoked about being in Long Beach when the Olympics start. I didn\u2019t make it to town until 1992, so I missed all the 1984 excitement \u2013 but plenty of my friends had tales to tell from that time.<\/p>\n
There is a bit of a caveat, of course. I still have to be around two years from now. That\u2019s 730 days. And God makes no promises about tomorrow, much less next year.<\/p>\n
But you have to plan, right?<\/p>\n
Truth be told, I\u2019m hoping that I\u2019m still writing this column two years from now, and that somehow it will be enough to get me a press credential. I had a blast at the Olympic Swimming Trials in 2004, but I was a fulltime newspaper guy back then.<\/p>\n
And even if I do get a credential, it won\u2019t include the lovely Maria \u2013 and that would be a problem.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s an alternative. The email announcing we are only two years away from Opening Ceremonies actually was a pitch to get people to sign up to volunteer to work the Games.<\/p>\n
According to that email, it\u2019s going to take 60,000 volunteers to make the Olympics and Paralympics happen. And to get that many free laborers, the organizers are starting now.<\/p>\n
This is a lot more complicated than adding your name to a list. There\u2019s an application process \u2013 and that process is not for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n
There are a number of prequalifications. You have to be older than 18 (got that one covered), and proficient in English (I think I can pass the test). You have to be willing to commit to 10 or more 8-hour shifts (that might be an issue \u2013 especially if you have to stand for that amount of time).<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no guarantee that you will work the event you want to see, and it doesn\u2019t look like you can choose your location, either. Does that mean going to Oklahoma City for softball or canoe slalom?<\/p>\n
Oh, you don\u2019t really get to watch the competition, either. Volunteers are working, usually behind the scenes, and they don\u2019t get free tickets, either.<\/p>\n
The application takes a good 30 minutes to complete, and there\u2019s no guarantee that you\u2019ll be accepted. Apparently even with 60,000 slots to fill, the organizing committee can be picky.<\/p>\n
I can understand the need for a background check to screen out potentially dangerous folk. Not sure I can get past one, though.<\/p>\n
If you get through all those steps and receive a stamp of approval, there\u2019s mandatory training sessions (preferably in person, and likely somewhere in LA). If you\u2019re still interested and make it through the induction \u2013 I mean selection \u2013 process, you could be wearing an official LA28 Volunteer uniform. I couldn\u2019t find anyplace that said whether you have to pay for the uniform, but given the rest of the process, I am betting you do.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, I decided I\u2019ll pass on the whole volunteer thing. I can buy tickets to individual events, right?<\/p>\n
In fact, I\u2019ve already done that \u2013 I managed to win the lottery this spring to be offered the chance to spend my money. Remember, this stuff isn\u2019t happening for another two years. But we\u2019ll take your money now, thank you very much.<\/p>\n
Have I mentioned how much these tickets cost? If you want to see medal competition, you\u2019re talking World Cup level prices. I ended up taking tickets to a couple of quarter finals (beach volleyball and water polo) for a couple hundred bucks each.<\/p>\n
Payment in full required, of course. I didn\u2019t see any refund policy, either. I guess they have to pay the people screening all those volunteers.<\/p>\n
Right after receiving the \u201cbe a volunteer and serve your Olympics\u201d email, I got a notification saying I have another chance to buy tickets some time in August. I guess the long lead time is designed to allow me to start saving my money now.<\/p>\n
So what are you going to be doing on the afternoon of July 15, 2028? If you\u2019re sure you are free, I\u2019ve got a deal for you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I received an email about 10 days ago with lots of exclamation points \u2013 attempting to generate enthusiasm,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[15116,7,8462,8461,131,133,132,137,100,127,3738],"class_list":["post-409418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-2028-olympics","tag-california","tag-grunion-opinion","tag-grunion-pinch-of-salt","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-the-grunion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}