Deciding the host city for an Olympics used to be a far simpler affair. The would gather, discuss some locations, reject Detroit (seven times!) and , often unanimously.
Sometimes these decisions were motivated by generosity (in recognition of Belgium's WWI treatment), sometimes it was a case of being the next cab off the rank (Amsterdam lost to Paris in 1924 so got it in 1928) and every now and then they would give the Games to Los Angeles because nobody else wanted them (1932 and 1984).
You would occasionally get a nail-biter () and sometimes there would be a slight hint of national prestige involved (LA v Moscow in 1976 and 1980), but generally these votes did not bring nations to a halt, signify historic shifts in global influence or upset anybody, apart from perhaps Detroiters.
That has all changed now, though.
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When Sulley Muntari slotted a penalty past Manchester United's stand-in goalkeeper Rio Ferdinand in a , he was taking Portsmouth supporters to heights they had not experienced for half a century.
OK, there had been cup runs in the '90s but Harry Redknapp's talented side was also chasing a top-six finish in the league. These were for Pompey fans.
They could be forgiven, then, for missing the muffled ringing of alarm bells. Because that team, which two months later , was living way beyond its means.
The fans didn't know it at the time (how could they?) but those months in the spring of 2008 were as good it gets. The question now is will they be as good as it's going to get for a very long time?
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has been called the best running back to emerge from the US college system. A remarkable athlete with a prodigious work ethic, Walker was an international-class sprinter, a taekwondo black belt and an Olympic bobsledder. Oh, and he was also an American football star in the professional leagues for 15 years.
But when he is remembered today it is usually for his part in the biggest, most audacious, most unequal trade in history, a deal so stupendous it is known simply as .
Because when the fallen-on-hard-times offloaded their best player to the Super Bowl-chasing they struck a deal so cunning, so elaborate, the star-struck Vikings had no idea they were consigning their hopes to the dustbin and laying the foundations for a new dynasty in Dallas.
Mega-deals like this are one of my favourite things about US sports - teams pitting their wits against each other on a level playing-field. It is one of owner Robert Kraft's favourite things too, and he would like to see something similar in the English . In fact, if the Premier League was a bit more like the NFL he would have bought already.
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Well, I was two-thirds right when I wrote on this blog that I thought rugby sevens, squash and women's boxing would gain Olympic status at Thursday's meeting in Berlin.
Poor old squash, its dreams of joining the party in 2016 have been squished - it was the second of to be voted out - and having fallen at this hurdle a couple of times now it's difficult to see what more it can do to get past the bouncers.
What will really concern the sport is that it fought a great fight but was still seriously out-clubbed by . The slacks-and-visors brigade might not be everybody's idea of Olympic endeavour but it does bring big names, pretty pictures and marketing millions. And the prospect of seeing a 40-year-old with a gold medal around his neck was too much for the to resist.
The 15 members of the Olympic family's elite guard will have to wait a bit for that HD moment - and their recommendation of golf and rugby sevens must still be ratifed by the full membership in October - but there is no seven-year itch for the world's top female pugilists as they are .
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Have you ever read anything that has actually made your head hurt? Not stuff that blurs your eyes a bit or causes your mind to wander, I mean reading material that inflicts real pain a few inches behind your nose.
I have, just now, and it has taken two paracetamol and a Coke to shift, which is ironic as the culprit was .
I suppose I got off lightly, after last month's decision in compensation and legal costs, a sum that will start growing by 5% every year from 12 September.
The Romanian, who now plays for , has described this as "profoundly unjust", have called it "a very significant decision for football" and one sports lawyer I consulted dismissed it as "monkey's logic".
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Hi, I'm Matt Slater and I try to shed light on what's happening behind the scenes in sport - so everything from football finance to Olympic squabbles. You can also follow me on . 