Didn't think it would happen.

Didn't think enough folks from Colorado Springs could come together and build a package that would keep the United States Olympic Committee here on the Front Range.

Figured more citizens would come forward and voice complaints about the amount of public money being used to keep the USOC where it has been since it left New York in 1978.

Colorado Springs is a conservative city.

Pulling together $53 million, including almost $27 million from the city, to keep the USOC and expand the Olympic Training Center is very non-conservative thing to do.

"I was skeptical, to be honest with you," former Olympian Jason Gleasman said. "I think I was skeptical with a lot of other people. I'm sure there were some big cities out there throwing a lot of dollars around.

"I think it speaks volumes for Colorado Springs as a whole to compete with the big boys and to win. It speaks volumes to who we are as a community and the support that we give the athletes."

It's not about beating the big boys as much as it's about being able to play on the same field and having the mentality that you, as a city, will play on the same field.

I used to live in Fresno, Calif.

Fresno, a city in the Central San Jeaquin Valley, boasts more than a half-million people. An overwhelming majority of them are the stereotypical honest-hard-working-type folk. That blue collar attitude and ethic was easy to love about Fresno.

But the thing I disliked the most about Fresno is what I love about Colorado Springs right now.

Fresno settled.

Colorado Springs isn't settling.

The status quo was good enough for Fresno.

Couldn't get an Arena Football League team, so Fresno got an AF2 team. Couldn't get a Nordstrom so Fresno got a Nordstrom Rack. Ask what's great about Fresno, and location will be one of the top responses - 2 ½ hours from the Yosemite Valley floor, 3 ½ hours from Los Angeles, 2 ½ hours from the Bay Area, 2 ½ hours from central coast beaches and towns.

The question I always asked was: Haven't you ever wanted to be there? Haven't you ever wanted to be in the place where the action is happening, the place that people are talking about?

This is one of those places.

America's Mountain draws throngs of people here daily. The Air Force Academy does, too. The USOC, the OTC and the national governing bodies were a few of the primary reasons I came here.

Critics of the deal quickly point to the money being spent. They say it's reckless spending. One resident equated the deal to giving her children money to stay home. She's not alone in her thinking.

Others question the enormity of the money lost if the USOC left. After all, the training center would stay and presumably its activities would, too.

Let's look at a few things here.

If the USOC left, its roughly 330 jobs and spending power would leave with it. Then it's not just the USOC leaving. The executives who come to Colorado Springs to do business with the USOC would not come here.

Then there are a handful of NGBs, five to 10 of them would leave, too. Just like the USOC, those NGBs would take jobs with them.

"It's not about numbers," USOC board chairman Peter Ueberroth said.

Wrong.

It's always about numbers. People see the dollar sign and decide if it's worth it or not.

Was a $53 million package overspending in order keep the USOC in Colorado Springs? Was it an incredibly sweet deal for the USOC?

The answer to both is a big yes.

But the pertinent question is: Was it too much?

Given what the Olympic movement means, what it stands for and the return the city gets, answer is, hardly.

I just didn't think it would happen.