While watching the 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, I noticed
that every American athlete was wearing a uniform that said "Roots."
Does this mean that every athlete will be researching his or her ancestry while
staying in the genealogy Mecca of Salt Lake City?
Not quite. Roots is the name of a well-known Canadian manufacturer
of sportswear. Roots is supplying the U.S. team with parade, podium, and athletic
lifestyle wear and has created a retail collection based on the athletes' outfits.
Roots also supplied the Canadian Olympic team outfits for the Nagano 1998 and
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Roots is again outfitting the Canadian Olympic team
as well as supplying the British Olympic Team with their parade uniform for
the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
Of course, hundreds of thousands of people have descended upon
Salt Lake City for the Olympics. Hotel rooms have been sold out for months.
The Family History Library even scheduled extended hours during the Olympics
to accommodate those who wanted to use the excellent facilities there. The Library
is open until 11:00 PM during the Olympics.
One problem: nobody seems to be going to the Family History Library
this week. Several people have reported that the place looks like a ghost town.
Apparently the visitors to Salt Lake City this month have something other than
genealogy on their minds.
Dick Eastman Online
