Bent Corner

Blogging from Williamsport, Maryland so you don't have to.

Tag: IOC

2016 Summer Olympics wont be in Chicago

chicago 2016The International Olympic Committee voted today on what city would host the 2016 Summer Olympics and they eliminated Chicago from contention very quickly.  In fact, the Windy City was eliminated in the very first round of voting.   The IOC went on to award Rio de Janeiro with the privilege of hosting the 2016 Summer Games.

Though I’ve never been to Rio de Janeiro, I have been to Chicago.  It’s because of this fact that I never really quite understood why Chicago was ever in the running to be a host city.

Who wants to go to Chicago?

It’s not a fun place to go.  The traffic is terrible.  Crime is high.  The people there never seemed very interested in making strangers feel all that welcome.  Back when I did a lot of traveling, Chicago ranked right up there with Detroit when it came to places I did not want to visit.  Perhaps the voting members of the IOC agree with me.

I guess now President Obama can concentrate on his job and stop fooling around with which city will host the Olympics in 2016.

Obama is going to Denmark?

President Obama is planning on schlepping over to Europe to meet with the International Olympic Committee to plead with them to choose Chicago as the home for the 2016 Olympics. When the idea was first proposed that he should go and meet with the IOC, it was ruled out because he needed to work on health care reform.

What’s changed?

Either he knows that health care reform doesn’t stand a chance of getting passed or he somehow has it all locked up and in the bag. Of these two possibilities, only one seems likely, and it ain’t’ the one about it being in the bag.

This is dumb for many reasons. Obama recently had a lengthy vacation at Martha’s Vineyard. Now is the time for him to work, not screw around with the Olympics.