While you might feel bad about not being downtown, it dawned on me that the place to be this week really is Copenhagen. That's one hell of a party they already have there. Oh well.
Chicago is out, Daley and his cronies must be very disappointed they will have no opportunity to scam the huge $$$ they were expecting. Obama has wasted his time and learned that the rest of this World does not give a **** about him. They love him only because they know he will make this Country weaker.
I cannot wait to hear who gets blamed for Chicago's failed bid. My guess it somehow gets steered toward George Bush, the Rebublicans, Rod Blago, etc, etc.
Good thing he went to Copenhagen instead of dealing with the economic collapse, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear arms, record unemployment, the healthcare debacle, cap n' trade, etc etc etc etc etc. Is it ok to post this here? Image Unavailable, Please Login
As soon as they announced Chicago was out they played this over the loud speakers at the Daley Plaza http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLT2sM4pOCo&feature=related
Really suprised they got knocked out in the first round, but Rio would have been hard to beat because of the South America factor(watch Madrid win,wich would be total politics!!). Maybe they will go for it again in 2020?? Time for the USOC to sign that new television contract!!! TT
I think most of you are a bit harsh on BHO. I would have liked the Olympics in Chicago. What hit me are statements like what Michelle Obama said: "It's a 'sacrifice' to travel to Europe to pitch for the Olympics. But I'm doing it for the kids." Other parts of the speech are just as embarrassing. I guess, BHO and Michelle just learned that pulling the race and sympathy cards only works within the US. The rest of the world is not impressed.
Here I am and I'm pretty shocked and devastated. An opportunity of a lifetime is lost. That said I blame the IOC. They simply got it wrong. Their decision makes no sense for several reasons: - the IOC will get less TV revenues because the games are not hosted in the US (NBC is the biggest source of income, fact) - the spectators and the athletes will be less safe in Rio than they would have been in Chicago (about 5 times the murder rate compared to Chicago) - the exclusivity of Brazil and Rio is wasted because everybody will still be suffering from overcoverage of the World Cup in 2014 The fact however that we even lost against Madrid and Tokyo who weren't even in the rotation of the hemisphere, makes me believe that other reasons than plain logic were in the play. Probably sentiments of anti Americanisms or the saturation because the US had already hosted 4 Olympic games. I'm stunned and disappointed. And very, very sad because this was a once in a lifetime chance. Gone.
Epic failure for Daley. Failure (though not at great) Obama and Oprah (although no one really cares about her). Kind of funny that the dirty IOC beat Daley at his own game.
There is some irony in that. I read an article over a year ago that claimed that Chicago's downfall will be that we are not greasing the IOC members enough. Could be true. While I think that the IOC is corrupt, that doesn't make the goal of hosting the Games any less valuable. The Games aren't tainted. So I won't be blaming the grapes for being sour. The fact that so far I haven't heard a word of criticism on our bid per se but a lot of noise about everything else, underlines my belief that this outcome wasn't about hosting the Olympics.
I don't think "corruption" is a correct word to use here,unless you believe that IOC received or was promised something in return for their decision. The arrogance displayed by BHO might be a factor here ,when looking at absolutely humiliating dead last position of Chicago. Not just my opinion ,the latest from Msnbc: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33144810/ns/politics-white_house
I have to agree! So far "BHO" has accomplished nothing since his induction into the elite position of POTUS! Does anyone else agree that we'll be looking at another 'Dubya' minus 1000 at the end of BHO's internship?
Do not underestimate American voters stupidity,remember that Reagan won just barely after disastrous carter reign (I insist on using c instead of C when mentioning that idiot's name). Sorry but we are getting off subject here , this discussion should be moved to "Politics"
I agree, corruption is probably the wrong term. Schmoozing and networking is probably more what happened. That's how Rio got the vote. Anti American sentiments is what knocked us out in the first round. The fact that Madrid hung in there so long was down to the former chairman of the IOC on his Spanish deathbed being granted a last wish. Just goes to show that rational arguments aren't really the drivers for the decision. Pitty. I also realized that by the next time we could be hosting the Games I'm almost 70 and therefore unlikely to be interested in mingling with thousands of spectators. So as I said: This was the chance of a lifetime and it is gone now. Here some shots from Friday, early morning: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Sorry tifosi12, I went a little off base. I know you were hoping for Chicago to be the winner and I feel for ya. Though I had an opposing position, I really do feel for those that wanted the games here.
Thanks. It is water under the bridge now. In hindsight I'm just totally stunned about the complete blindside the IOC pulled on us (us being everybody who was sure we'd get the Games). While we all knew beating Rio wouldn't be easy, NOBODY expected Chicago to drop out in round 1 with some ridiculously low votes. THAT to me is the real story and mistery in all of this. I still would love to attend one Olympic Games in my lifetime, but London is insanely expensive and Rio a very unsafe place (anybody thinking they'll clean up their act is dreaming). So I'm looking forward to 2020 to the Olympic Games in North Korea...
