Garth Brooks released the theme song for the Boston 2024 Olympics 34 years ago.

“Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers (yeah)

Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs

And just because He may not answer, doesn’t mean He don’t care (yeah)

‘Cause some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered-

Some of God’s greatest gifts are all too often unanswered-

Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”

The song “Unanswered Prayers” was among the hits from an album entitled “No Fences” in 1990.

“No Fences” is also the unofficial motto of the Maura Healey administration.

Nine years ago, the effort to bring the games to Boston was mercifully chloroformed by Mayor Marty Walsh. In a rare moment of wisdom and clarity, Walsh chose not to put the city’s beaten and bloody taxpayers on the hook for the all-but-certain probability that the organizers would run out of money.

Thanks, Marty. This was the greatest unanswered prayer in Boston’s 394-year history.

A cadre of politicians and local elites, led by Boston Celtics part-owner Steve Pagliuca and championed by the Boston Globe, drove the Boston 2024 Olympic Games effort. Pags was last seen trying to scrape together the $5 billion needed to wrest the Celtics from the Grousbeck family.

The Globe was still licking its wounds last week.

Organizers could never get a majority of Bostonians to back the Games coming to town in 2024. The effort was a top-down disaster. Instead of trying to build up support for the Games, the concept was dropped on the people of Massachusetts and forcibly fed down their collective public opinion gullets.

The Boston 2024 crowd also bungled almost daily in the press even though they had won over the owners of the city’s biggest newspaper.

Think Red Sox “full throttle” x 2,024.

In the end, the USOC was all but ready to move from Boston before Walsh euthanized the boondoggle.

But we’re not quite ready to let the dream die.

We can only imagine some of the stories that would have been filling our screens during the Boston 2024 games:

Cape Cod Sharks Take Gold, Trim USA Surfing Roster To 3½

Pan-Gender Volleyball Team Bus ‘Storrowed’ On Way To Common

German Athletes Stuck At Logan For 2 Days Amid Tunnel, Traffic Furor

12-Hour Red Line Delay Puts Drag On Controversial Opening Ceremonies

Sling Blade: Olympics Triathletes Awash In Windmill Debris Off Nantucket

But the athletic competition stays stellar no matter the locale.

The exploits of Team USA swimmers Caeleb Dressel and Katie Ledecky would have electrified crowds inside the Edward M. Kennedy Memorial Natatorium.

Having Olympic baseball at Fenway, especially after three last place finishes in four years, would have been a marketing cudgel for the Red Sox. No doubt some sort of season ticket plan purchase would have been necessary in order for folks to buy tickets for the gold medal game between Team USA and the Dominican Republic. The winning team would be the one with Raffy Devers.

The drama surrounding the Team USA men’s basketball team would have been a 10.0 on the Richter scale.

Steve Kerr’s decision to bench Jayson Tatum in Game 1 of the men’s Olympic basketball tournament would have been met with a rational response by the locals who made it to TD Garden after the latest fire on the Green Line.

Or not.

The loudest local jeers of the games would have been justifiably saved for the Team USA men’s basketball coach.

The intersection of the Celtics and these Olympics have been a metaphorical match for the Boston 2024 effort.

Jaylen Brown was MVP of the NBA Finals. Nonetheless, he was snubbed by USA Basketball, also known as “Nike.” After hearing Grant Hill squirm when asked about Brown’s absence, it’s painfully clear Brown’s unwillingness to bend his knee to the Swoosh kept him off the team.

Even those who don’t see eye-to-eye with Brown in terms of his world view recognize that it was absurd to keep him off the team from a basketball perspective.

Hill lacked the courage and class to personally inform Brown of his decision. He instead called Brown’s agent.

Following the snub of Brown, Tatum found himself benched for Game 1 of the Olympics on Sunday. At least Kerr told Tatum ahead of time.

Kerr’s excuse was that he can only use 10 players during any given game. That’s rubbish. Every member of the 1992 Dream Team averaged at least seven minutes per game.

The. 1992. Dream. Team.

Tatum is expected to play for Team USA when it faces South Sudan on Wednesday in Paris.

Derrick White and Jrue Holiday should share in Olympic gold with Tatum.

A day before Tatum pouted for 40 minutes on the bench against Serbia in Paris, Brown was spotted on social media with his girlfriend Kysre Gondrezick celebrating her 27th birthday in Brazil.

Advantage, Brown.

Speaking of “Unanswered Prayers,” these Olympic snubs might benefit Tatum and Brown in the long run. Brown has earned the respect of those who believe standing on principle matters. And he has exposed the brazen nature of Nike’s clout. Given what we’ve seen from Tatum since his arrival in Boston at age 19 some three decades ago, he’ll never forget his Game 1 humiliation.

Some believe the Olympic situation might torch the unity felt by the Celtics this past season. It’s just as likely to forge an even stronger team.

We long wondered how Tom Brady would motivate himself after each championship. He always found a way.

Brown and Tatum have something new to prove to this upcoming season.

Just another unanswered prayer from these Paris Olympics.

Bill Speros can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com. He posts on X as @BillSperos and @RealOBF.