Pan-American Games Land With a Thud in an Indifferent Toronto

The reports our neighbors to the north are not all that enthused about the Pan-Am games.
The Pan-Am games are sort of a tryout in an effort to host the Olympics. The reaction of Torontonians is telling.

Mayor John Tory is so exasperated that he has taken to lecturing them about their attitude.

“I think the only sport that we’re not playing in the Pan-Am Games is sort of moaning and groaning,” Mr. Tory told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday. “And Toronto, on a regular basis, would be qualifying for a gold medal in that.”

Some residents are annoyed by how much the city has spent to get ready — the total budget is 2.5 billion Canadian dollars, or about $2 billion — and others by the risk of snarled streets. But many seem to be reacting to the arrival of the event in their city this week the way they would to a new tattoo discovered the morning after a wild night. The Pan-Am Games have landed in Toronto, it seems, with a thud.