Will Vancouver-Whistler win the Olympic sweepstakes?

"I think Vancouver's going to be awarded the 2010 Games for many reasons," said Brian Williams, the CBC's Olympic host. "First of all, it's a good bid and I think their presentation will be strong."

Williams said political issues also favour Vancouver over the other two competing cities, Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea, when the International Olympic Committee votes next Wednesday.

The IOC, which consists of about 127 members, is dominated by more than 50 representatives from European countries. European members recognize the need to place either the 2010 or the 2012 Games in North America, but may not want the 2012 Summer Olympics in the U.S. bid city of New York.

"I think that Europe is focused on getting the Games for 2012," Williams said. "Track is still a huge sport in Europe, much bigger than in North America. They want the Summer Games in Paris or London in 2012. That's why I don't think they'll go to a European city in 2010 for the Winter Games.

"There's also the sense that the IOC feels it owes Canada [after Toronto's Summer bid losing twice]. And finally, there is a strong anti-American feeling in Europe over the Iraq war, at least in some quarters. That's another factor [against New York getting the 2012 Games]."

Special coverage

CBC Newsworld will go live to Brian Williams in Prague for the bid presentations on Wednesday, starting at 4 a.m. EDT. CBC's main network will begin its telecast at 11 a.m. In addition to Williams, Ian Hanomansing of CBC News will be in Prague for the vote. Peter Mansbridge, the chief news anchor, will be the host of a show from GM Place in Vancouver. Olympic hockey player Cassie Campbell will provide commentary.

CTV News and TSN will team up for a shared production that will be seen on CTV's main network, CTV NewsNet and TSN, starting at 10 a.m. EDT. Canada AM will also report on the bid presentations at 6:30 a.m. EDT. National anchor Lloyd Robertson plus anchor Pamela Martin will be based at Vancouver's Canada Place. James Duthie of TSN and CTV's Mike Killen will report from Prague. Rod Black will be the host of an Olympic panel consisting of John Bitove Jr., the chief executive officer of Toronto's 2008 bid; Frank King, the president of the 1988 Calgary Olympics; and Vancouver businessman Jimmy Pattison, the chair of Expo 86.

Rogers Sportsnet will base its coverage at GM Place and will begin at 10 a.m. EDT. The hosts will be Jody Vance, Jim Van Horne and Vancouver-based Don Taylor. Analysis will be provided by former Olympians Ken Read and Nancy Greene Raine. Chris Simpson and Craig MacEwen will report from Prague.

Global Television's coverage starts at 11 a.m. EDT. Tony Parsons and Deborra Hope will be the Vancouver-based hosts. Ted Chernecki reports from Prague.

Writer dumped

A Toronto sportswriter has been voted off the executive committee of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association for using a pejorative reference to the director of public relations for the New Jersey Devils.

Toronto Sun columnist Al Strachan lost his spot on the executive when Tom Gulitti, a Devils beat writer for the Bergen Record of New Jersey, raised the issue of anti-Semitism at a recent PHWA meeting.

In a column blasting the Devils for denying the media access to players, Strachan referred to PR man Jeff Altstadter, who is Jewish, as Obergruppenfuhrer Altstadter. Obergruppenfuhrer was the rank of an SS general in Nazi Germany.

"The term was given to people who ran the death camps," Gulitti said in an interview this week. "I thought it had an anti-Semitic tone to it and I didn't think it was appropriate for somebody on the executive board to use it."

Whether Strachan's choice of words was anti-Semitic is debatable, but it was insensitive, although sensitivity has never been a Strachan strength.

As for the Devils' relations with the media during the playoffs, they were awful. On several occasions, the club breached National Hockey League bylaws pertaining to media access. Strachan quoted Altstadter as saying he didn't "give a [expletive]" about media concerns.

Lock on doc

The CBC is refusing to prerelease a tape of its fly on the wall documentary on the Vancouver-Whistler bid, which airs Tuesday at 7 p.m. local times. Bid organizers were worried that information reported in advance of the documentary's air date could be used against Vancouver by rivals in Salzburg or Pyeongchang during presentations on Wednesday morning. Producer Michael Drapack said there is nothing damaging in the documentary.

Sportsnet drew its largest Toronto Blue Jays audience of the season last Friday, up against TSN's debut of Friday Night Football. The Jays-Montreal Expos game pulled in 456,000 viewers. The audience for the first game of the TSN Canadian Football League doubleheader drew 221,000, followed by 315,000 for the second game.

In Vancouver, the Team 1040 radio station lost its afternoon drive co-host, when the unhappy Bob Marjanovich jumped to rival Mojo's afternoon slot. Marjanovich is now going head to head against David Pratt, his former Team partner. The Team has replaced Marjanovich with Sportsnet's Don Taylor.

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