30 minutes later, you're hungry for another stadium

We read that the Chinese are sitting around watching the paint peel off their Olympic stadium. Sounds like the new plan is some sort of Beijing shopping and dining experience built around it. In a country of 67 quinzillion people, maybe they should just knock it down and build more apartments. Maybe one of the U.S. motorsports companies could go over and turn it into a tight little NASCAR track. Goodbye, Bird's Nest; hello, Bristol.

You know, just as everybody seemed to love the Beijing Olympics (and looked past the fact that the hosts are a little touchy about criticism and, you know, like to deal with their dissidents with a less-than-Olympic spirit), Atlanta takes a lot of heat for the 1996 Olympics -- too hot, too crowded, too much commercialism, lousy stadium. But we give the Atlanta organizers credit for having a plan for that stadium once 200 countries' worth of athletes packed up and left Dixie in the rearview, a plan other than watching it rust, that is. They tore down about half of it, rebuilt it and, bingo, they had a new place for the baseball team. Sure, Turner Field isn't the best ballpark out there, but it's a lot better than that crappy dump the Braves were playing in before.

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Practicality is underrated.