Houston was chosen today as the 6th UN Better World Campaign Model City. I know it's not like the Rockets winning the title again, but with all the bad press our fair city has received lately (Tropical Storm Alison, Andrea Yates, Enron, etc.), this is some very welcome good news, IMHO. I hope it helps people around the world realize how great our city is....despite the heat! http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory2/1486805
New York won't win the bid because of the lack of public support. Houston Chronicle wrote an article last week (cannot find the URL) about how two organizations are dead set against the Olympics coming to New York. Houston is the only U.S. city that had a referendum in an election either supporting or opposing the 2012 Summer Olympics. If my memory serves correctly, the vote was at least 75% supporting the Olympics. The IOC won't want to have the Summer Olympics anywhere where think they may have problems with public support (in Athens, Greece, it's possible that the city may not have enough hotel rooms constructed in time for their Games). Houston already has the major stadiums (Astrodome -- indoor track and field, baby!!; future home of Houston Rockets; Compaq Center; Minute Maid Park [can't stand that name]) in place, with Reliant Stadium ready to go in about three weeks. Houston has the largest and very probably best medical center in the world, international restaurants and shopping galore, 76 International Consulate offices, and a very tight Olympic venue package (in terms of travel time to different venues. Being called a U.N. Model City will definitely help Houston's bid. Also, now that tennis has become an Olympic sport, Houston has helped itself by winning the bid to host the Masters Cup. Lack of public transit (Earth calling METRO!!) is the one negative I can see for the Houston bid. San Francisco's Olympic venue package is not as tight as Houston's. Apparently, D.C. has improved its bid by tightening its Olympic venue package, so I'd have to say it'll be either D.C. or Houston as the winning American city. We'll see.
You may be a little premature on this but...I saw an interview with Susan Bandy of the 2012 committee on channel 2 last week..she says they are going to try to get Yao to be some sort of wordly ambassador for Houston. os