It’s the hottest topic on Reddit Boston and it’s approaching 10,000 views on YouTube. The Boston 2024 Olympic committee’s promotional video is suddenly the talk of Boston–a month and a half after its release.
The two-and-a-half-minute long promo effort, “Anthem 2024,” which attempts to showcase the very best of Boston’s past, present, and future as the city eyes a potential Summer Olympics bid, debuted on YouTube Oct. 17. Why the organizing committee’s video has drawn such attention this morning, Dec. 1, is a mystery.
Related: Here are the details on potential Boston Olympic venues.
As of this writing, it’s been watched 9,941 times on YouTube; and only seven YouTubers have commented on it. Five of those comments have been posted within the last 11 hours.
The YouTube reviews have been less than stellar. “Boston Olympics. Just say no,” commented Informashun now 11 hours ago. Four comments have followed.
“Support Boston2024 if you support Boston being controlled by mafia construction companies like Suffolk,” wrote hatsonfire.
“Come on, Boston, really? This is what you have to show the Olympic Committee?” posted Benjamin Peterson, adding: “At least act like you want it. This is poorly produced. A reel of stitched-together stock footage … demotivating pace … boring voice. I can see the committee members yawning as I watch this.”
“You should’ve gotten Leonard Nimoy to voice it. ‘Who put the bomp in the bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp,'” Peterson later wrote in reply to himself.
The majority of the 48 comments posted on the r/Boston thread that links to the Boston 2024 video are generally negative–some more so than others.
“The video is complete fluff. No substance at all. Like where would the facilities go? We can’t even get a permanent 20,000 seat soccer stadium built around here,” wrote eastGrandForks.
“No. NO. Just fucking NO! I do not what to deal with the traffic that would come with Olympic games,” PatMctookis commented.
“The few positives are far outweighed by the negatives. Let some other city get shit on,” added thatguy2366.
A handful of redditors did post comments in favor of Boston hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics. But like the naysayers, Olympic supporters’ comments were just as one-sided, providing no basis for their opinions.
“Fuck ya! Don’t care how shitty this gets for us residents during the games or how much it costs I still want it to happen! So many good things come out of this. If you hate it that much just rent your place out for an obscene amount of money and watching it on TV from some island getaway!” wrote reifier.
“I’m so hyped! Go Boston 2024! I love this city!” townshend445 posted, later adding: “Edit: Why does everyone have such a negative opinion of this great thing?”
Two commenters answered. “I’m guessing because it makes no sense economically based on past games,” craigatron wrote bluntly. And simciv suggested townshend445 simply “look in the comments above you to understand why [a Boston Olympics isn’t a good idea].”
Interestingly, despite the heavy dose of comments against the potential Boston Games, the most upvoted post in the r/Boston thread is surprisingly level-headed, and more pro, than anti, Boston hosting the Olympics. dpxxdp‘s comment, in which he or she admits to initially scoffing at the idea of a Boston Olympics, concludes: “I am willing to take this proposal seriously if you think you can do it right. But I need to make that decision with the proper information.”
dpxxdp’s comment has been upvoted 43, which, as of this writing, is 16 more than the next most-well received opinion, courtesy of PaWe_08.
“There has been absolutely ZERO opportunities for public input,” suggested PaWe_08, in response to dpxxdp’s comment. “This is all being done behind closed doors. There have been no public meetings in the communities that this would directly effect.”
Bottom line is, a not-so-new promo video for the Boston 2024 Olympics campaign has, out of the blue, sparked a social media debate. Personally, this writer liked what PotentialLies had to say the most on r/Boston: “Hmm… maybe we can interpret ‘Boston’ as ‘Massachusetts’ and stick all this stuff out west past Worcester. I mean, people from Worcester sometimes say that they’re from Boston, right? Let’s just unload this there.”
Harvard University, JFK, and Plymouth Rock are used as examples of Boston’s storied history–and as examples for why The Hub should be the host come 2024. But Harvard is in Cambridge; JFK was from Brookline; and Plymouth Rock is in Plymouth, about an hour drive south of Boston.
Sidebar: The video does–eventually–note that these are “Greater Boston” treasures. Which is a nice gesture.
An additional note: This post was updated because this writer is geographically challenged. Plymouth is south of Boston, not north. This writer deserves being the brunt of any and all jokes/criticisms thrown his way. This writer’s excuse, if you would like to call it that, is this: He hasn’t visited Plymouth Rock since the age of five and, quite honestly, forgot the thing existed. Because it’s a rock–and it seriously needs to check its privilege.
Screengrab via YouTube
