Moded...Feel the Burn! (But Don't See It)

The Olympic torch was rerouted away from thousands of demonstrators and spectators who crowded the San Fransisco waterfront to witness the flame's symbolic journey to the Beijing Games. Psych!

The planned closing ceremony at the bay was canceled as another was planned at San Francisco International Airport. The last-minute changes were made amid security concerns following chaotic protests over the torch in Paris and London.

Mayor Gavin Newsom said the well choreographed fake-out was prompted by the size and behavior of the crowds amassing outside AT&T Park, site of the relay's opening ceremony. There was "a disproportionate concentration of people in and around the start of the relay", leading officials to cut the original six-mile route nearly in half a half hour before the start.

Then, at the opening ceremony, the first torchbearer took the flame from a lantern brought to the stage and held it aloft before running into a warehouse. A motorcycle escort departed, but the torchbearer was nowhere in sight.

Officials drove the Olympic torch about a mile inland and handed it off to two runners away from protesters and media, and they began jogging toward the Golden Gate Bridge, in the opposite direction of the crowds awaiting its passing. Further confusion followed, with the torch convoy apparently stopped near the bridge before heading southward to the airport, where a closing ceremony on the tarmac was planned.

As the flame traveled toward the airport, news slowly dribbled through the crowds of more than 10,000 spectators and protesters gathered at the waterfront that the torch would not be headed there. Suckers.

Local officials say they support the diversity of viewpoints, but looked to avoid the issues of the last few stops. Vans were deployed to haul away arrested protesters, and the FAA restricted flights over the city to media helicopters, medical emergency carriers and law enforcement aircraft. Law enforcement agencies erected metal barricades and readied running shoes, bicycles and motorcycles for officers preparing to shadow the runners.

I'll tell ya, nothing embodies the spirit of competition and goodwill than protesting the symbol of non-partisan games!