King Kaufman's Sports Daily

The Olympic torch ducks out of sight in San Francisco, leaving the streets to thousands of politicians.

Read more: Sports, Olympics, China, Tibet, San Francisco, King Kaufman, Sports Daily

April 10, 2008 | The Olympic teams gathered along San Francisco's waterfront Wednesday to greet the torch relay. There was Free Tibet clad in white. Save Darfur wore green and Free Burma maroon. Pro-China dressed in red.

They sang and chanted and argued politics as they waited for what the International Olympic Committee says is an apolitical symbol of an apolitical event. They were waiting in vain. The spectacle became a specter. Organizers changed the route, hustling the torch onto a bus and sneaking it over to Van Ness Avenue. It was the Rosie Ruiz of torches.

What if they held a parade and everyone came but the parade?

It didn't matter. In San Francisco, same as anywhere else, nobody needs a torch to argue about a torch.

"China lies, people die," chanted Team Tibet in front of the Ferry Building. "Dalai Liar!" answered a Chinese squad.

"One, two, three, four, save the people of Darfur," came the cry from the green crowd down the way. Business people and other spectators chewed on $9 hamburgers in the spotless sunshine outside Taylor's Automatic Refresher, watching the festivities. An ice-cream vendor jingled his cart around. "Five, six, seven, eight, China please, it's not too late!"

"To me it's a travesty that China was awarded the honor of hosting the Olympics," said Janette Sperber, a biofeedback therapist from Oakland holding a sign that read, "Berlin 1936 Wrong, Beijing 2008 Wrong."

"I don't believe China deserves it at this time, and the same was true in 1936 when Germany was awarded the Olympics."

But what country, I asked, has a pristine record on human rights, and who should decide which nations "deserve" to host the Games?

"There are very few countries that are perfect in every way, and the larger and more developed ones that have the capacity to host the Olympics usually have some degree of problems," she said. "It's all a matter of degree, and in my eyes, and the eyes of all of us who are here today, China is just way too far over the line."

Not all. Chinese nationals waved flags, chanted and marched up and down the Embarcadero right alongside the anti-China protesters. There were rumors that large numbers of them were bused in from other cities by the Chinese consulate. The groups jeered and yelled at each other when they crossed. Sometimes the confrontations were angry. Sometimes the slogans and taunts were delivered with smiles.

"We are just supporting the Olympics," said a man who identified himself only as a student named Michael. He carried a trio of small flags: the United States, China and the Olympics. "We earned this opportunity to have the world look at China and see a positive image of China."

I asked him if China "deserved" the Olympics.

"Yes," he said, "China already has a lot of improvements."

A man with a long white beard marched down the middle of the crowded street with a picket sign reading, "I can't afford an actual sign."

Next page: The torch goes underground