BEIJING HANDS OFF OLYMPICS TO BRITS
Boris Johnson is the mayor of London and looks like the kind of guy you would want to party with.
The Beijing Olympics came to an end Sunday night with a closing ceremony that gave us more drums and flying people and giant displays of fireworks from the locals.
It also launched London’s four-year countdown to hosting the Games, made official when Johnson received the Olympic flag from IOC President Jacques Rogge and Beijing Mayor Liu Qi.
While the other two officials appeared stately in perfectly pressed and buttoned suits, Boris chose the open-jacket, ruffled white dress shirt look.
It was the kind of casual theme London also displayed in its eight-minute transfer ceremony, where British singer Leona Lewis badly lip-synched through a number and guitarist Jimmy Page played (and sweated profusely) atop a red London double-decker bus.
Also up there was soccer star David Beckham, who kicked a ball into the crowd.
I have no idea what kind of job Great Britain will do staging the Olympics in 2012, but one thing is for sure: It is going to have a lot of fun doing it.
Pints all around.
