Eliot Spitzer quotes Theodore Roosevelt as he signs off as host of "In The Arena" on CNN. The show will air with guest hosts until "Anderson Cooper 360°" launches at 8pm ET on August 8. FULL POST

The Number of the Day is 63.

That’s the number of votes South Korea received on Wednesday out of 95 cast.

Therefore, the International Olympic Committee announced that the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in the city of Pyeongchang.  It was South Korea’s third try—they failed in 2010 and 2014–and this time around, they beat bids from Munich, Germany, and Annecy, France.

South Korea has never hosted Winter Games and Pyeongchang's slogan for the games is "New Horizons".

Talking about horizons, what's amazing about this decision, to me at least, is that I didn’t even realize there was mountainous terrain in South Korea sufficient to have world-class ski resorts and host the winter Olympics.

Time for me to take another look at the topographic maps of the world. FULL POST

Today’s Number of the Day is 4.

A seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated for less than 11 hours in a trial that lasted more than six weeks. They found Casey Anthony guilty on four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer. That’s all.

The jury acquitted her Tuesday of first-degree murder, the most serious charge against the 25-year-old Orlando woman in the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. The jury also found Casey not guilty of aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter.

We may never find out who killed Caylee, how she disappeared, who hid her body.

But we do know that Casey Anthony will not be put to death for what happened to her daughter.

And we are reminded that it is virtually impossible to know how a jury will rule, even in the most-publicized and sensational of cases.

Virtually every TV pundit and talking head thought she was guilty.

 They were wrong. FULL POST

Today's Number of the Day is One.

Novak Djokovic, the 24-year-old Serb phenom, is now the #1 men's tennis player in the world, having finished off Rafael Nadal of Spain at Wimbledon on Sunday, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

It was an amazing year for Djokovic, whose 2011 record is 48 – 1, including 8 titles. His only loss was against Roger Federer at the French Open semi-finals. And Sunday's match was the fifth time Djokovic had beaten Nadal this year.

After two hours, 28 minutes with Nadal in the Centre Court, Djokovic pulled up a blade of Wimbledon grass, swallowed it, and threw his used tennis racquets into the stands.

"This is the best day of my tennis career," Djokovic said. "This is what I'm born for."

"I can imagine how Novak feels today," said Nadal. "Today, one player played better than me."

After the match, Djokovic told the great John McEnroe on NBC, "Can't wait to come to New York."

That will be in September at the U.S. Open. We can hardly wait. FULL POST

In Eliot's latest Slate.com essay, our In The Arena anchor–fresh from a week in the Serengeti–poses this question:

China's a Lion. Is the United States a Gazelle?

CLICK HERE to read the entire essay.

In conversations with an array of folks in Kenya and Tanzania, a major concern was China's increasing role in funding, buying, developing, building, and usurping. Who was funding the infrastructure project in downtown Nairobi? China. Who was entering long-term contracts to buy natural resources throughout Kenya and Tanzania? China. Who was funding the luxury resort on the coast of Zanzibar? China. The Chinese were ubiquitous—or, at least, their money was.

And yet I was also told over and over that there was no emotional, philosophical, or cultural connection to the Chinese. Maybe this was simply the polite veneer of my hosts, but I heard it often enough that I think it's an important point—one that is critical to understand if the United States is to maintain its place in the world.

The Number of the Day is $300 million.

That’s how much the National Basketball Association claims it is losing every year because, according to the 22 team owners, the players just make too much money. This is chapter two in the billionaires vs. millionaires battle being fought in the sports world. Chapter one, of course, is the NFL lockout that continues as we speak.

So the NBA on Thursday, after months of threats, locked-out its professional athletes. Teams can’t contact players, and players can’t take part in anything to do with their teams. What will happen to the 2011-12 season remains, of course, to be seen.

Just to keep this in perspective, according to the website hoopshype.com, Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers earns $25,244,000.  Miami’s LeBron James makes $16,022,500.  The New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony takes home $18,520,000. And the Dolans, who own the Knicks, are worth as a family, about - well, a few years ago, they held at least $1.5 billion of Cablevision stock.

So this is not a fight among low-wage earners. Rather, it just shows how fights over money sure don't bring out the best in people.   

I just hope, for sake of all those folks who scrounge enough to buy tickets to the games - NBA or NFL – that the owners and the players manage to work this out - without boosting ticket prices to the outrageous levels we now see at Yankee Stadium.  A day at the ballpark or the arena should still be something within the reach of folks who work at real jobs. 

Not just on Wall Street. FULL POST

Eliot appears on "Your Money" this weekend, Saturday at 1 p.m. ET and Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

In this excerpt from this week's show, he appears with Mort Zuckerman,  editor-in-chief of  U.S. News & World Report. They tell co-anchor Ali Velshi that entitlement cuts must be delayed to increase the quality of jobs.

The interview  also features Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group.

Today’s Number of the Day is 38%.

That’s the percentage that Arizona State University—the nation’s largest public university—raised its tuition between the 2007-08 school year and this year. From $4,971 to $6,844.

As states are increasingly financially stressed, raising tuition at public universities is becoming more and more common. While still a bargain compared to pricate universities, public higher ed is no longer the cost-free avenue to education it once was. 

By law, colleges and universities that raise their tuitions the most will have some explaining to do—why the costs have gone up so high and what they are going to do about it? Some 530 colleges will now have to submit special reports.

This will provide an intersting window into one of the great mysteries that many payers of tuition - especialy parents - have wanted an answer to: where does all the money go?

And Thursday, for the first time, the Department of Education released a list of the country’s top tuition offenders—and they’ll all be listed on a new website. CLICK HERE to go to collegecost.ed.gov.

One of the most expensive places to send your kids—Bates College in Maine at $51,300 a year. On the school’s website President Elaine Tuttle Hansen makes this promise: “You will be changed by Bates forever.”  

Change can mean many things - being deeply in debt to being one of many well-educated-but still-unemployed college grads searching for that good entry-level job.  It is tough out there these days for recent college grads, especially those with big debts to pay off. FULL POST