Just A Minute: Take a Bow Birmingham, You've Earned it

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — When the National Anthem started to be played late Wednesday night, no one on team USA quite knew what to do. Half turned one way, the rest were looking in the opposite direction trying to find the American Flag.

They all had gold medals, though, which was why they were smiling.

Ok, so maybe the Wold Games haven't quite gone exactly as planned. After all, there was a yearlong delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have been disastrous to organizers who were trying to pull off something this area has never seen before.

"Birmingham has never put on a show like this," Nick Sellers, CEO of The World Games 2022 said.

Even so, they still didn't quite know what to expect over the 10 days of competition in the middle of an Alabama summer, on top of the enormous logistical challenges that go with housing, food and medical requirements that go with staging a major international competition.

Could Mother Nature play spoiler?

Would the elaborate "Ride the Line" shuttle system work?

Would people show up?

If they did, no one was certain how well Birmingham might handle more than 13,000 foreign visitors from about 40 countries, street closures that impacted some businesses, and a lineup of sports that included a lot of events that weren't considered mainstream.

The Games won't conclude until Lionel Ritchie headlines the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, but we can already call this a huge success.

Has it been it perfect? No. Nor was it expected to be.

But on the heels of hosting the reboot season of the USFL, Birmingham has shown that it can handle big-name events, and successfully brought in millions into the local economy.

There's 3,650 athletes competing from 108 countries competing in 34 sports, at 21 event locations and 15 venues.

And people will be talking about this for years:

About the drones putting on an impressive light show during the Opening Ceremony.

What a light show! #twg2022 #AllOfTheLights #AllOfTheLights pic.twitter.com/7SdtFKp8Gw
— City of Birmingham (@cityofbhamal) July 8, 2022

About the athletes from Ukraine being introduced and welcomed with open arms while its country was trying to hold off a Russian invasion.

About seeing everything from bowling to wheelchair rugby, including archery, billiards, handball, water skiing, tug of war, plus a bunch of sports most people in these parts have never seen like korfball, orienteering and wushu.

I’m at the #worldgames in Birmingham with my kiddos. The event of canopy piloting is INSANE! pic.twitter.com/63CKtZqC3n
— Lars Anderson (@LarsAnderson71) July 9, 2022

About sumo was the toughest ticket Birmingham's had in a long, long time.

And about how Crimson Tide products Haylie McCleney and Montana Fouts helped Team USA avenge gold-medal losses to Japan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2008 Bejing Games.

"After the first day there was a buzz," Sellers added during an interview on the Jay Barker Show. "Out city is coming of age, and I think the ready to show it could do something big."

Take a bow Birmingham. You've earned it.