Place your 2016 Olympics bets here

June 5th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

So, this Chicago Olympics thing — you know, the thing that has me playing pretend transportation pundit — is still on. Chicago was selected as one of the four finalists by the International Olympic Committee, but not without a semi-brutal assessment of the city’s failings. Don’t hold anything back, IOC:

The sometimes blunt grading said Chicago’s construction costs “appear low” and characterized as “optimistic” the Chicago 2016 committee’s projected operating revenues that are being counted on to cover expenses. While praising Chicago’s hotel accommodations, security and environmental efforts, the International Olympic Committee also questioned the Chicago bid’s guarantees and wondered about the state of public transportation.

Whatever, IOC. We don’t need your ringing endorsement, because we’ve got the bookies on our side. What now?

If the oddsmakers of the world are to be believed, the Olympic flame will be rising above Chicago for the Summer Games in 2016. Even before the announcement Wednesday of the four finalists, Chicago was the favorite, and oddsmakers currently rate it at 4-5 — meaning it has a bit better than 50/50 chance of winning the Games. Rio de Janeiro is the 2-1 second choice, while Madrid and Tokyo are the outsiders for now, at odds ranging from 7-1 to 12-1, depending on the bookmaker.

I’m not sure if the IOC knows how we do things over here in the States, but when a bookie says something’s so, it’s so. You want to lay one against 4-5, IOC? Try us. We’ll have high-speed rail and more internationally friendly, only-slightly diseased hookers in this city before you can say “Don’t break my arms! I’m good for it!”

Chumps.

Experts peg Chicago as front-runner for 2016 Olympics, right on

June 3rd, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

If you’re the kind of person that believes in Internet ranking systems — and of course you do, because it’s the Web and everything is always correct! — you may be exalting in joy over the news that Chicago looks to be the favorite for the 2016 Olympics, as the IOC is parsing down more hopefuls today.

Analysts at aroundtherings.com, which closely covers the business of the Olympic games, put Chicago tied with Rio de Janeiro. The rankings are based on interviews and technical assessments of the bids.

Chicago has the Web site’s edge over Rio in existing infrastructure and its venue plan to keep most of the contests in the central city. Rio’s strengths: its organizing team and “ability to connect with IOC members,” editor Ed Hula said.

Another Web publication, gamesbids.com, shows Chicago narrowly ahead of Tokyo, based on a computer program that matches proposals with winners of previous Olympic host contests.

Yes, gamesbid.com uses a computer program. It’s probably like PECOTA, but for nominal Olympic rankings. I except Fire Joe Morgan to have a dissertation on its merits by the end of the business day Thursday.

For as much  gripe as there’s been about the city being an absolute commuter and logistical mess during the Olympics, it’s still the Olympics. (I can just blog from home all day, right?) And I’ve decided that whatever baggage that comes along with it I’ll be OK with. (Except a terrorist attack. That might not be so great.)

So yes, minus a bombing,  I’m 100 percent for the Olympics. Do work, Cha-city.

If the Olympics mean high-speed rail in Chicago, count me in

May 29th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

I’m still torn on Chicago’s 2016 Olympics bid. On one hand, it would bring a once-in-a-lifetime experience to my front door. On the other, it would be an absolute clusterfuck of a circus of a freakshow. Part of the reason I live in Chicago is because it’s all the fun of a big city without the cramped chaos of New York. I don’t need that stress in my life.

So, like I say: torn. Something is going to have to give. Potential long-term improvements to Chicago’s public transportation could be one such tipping point — this city needs modern high speed rail. Badly. And the International Olympics Committee likely agrees:

Politics, friendships and emotions become factors when the IOC members choose the winner Oct. 2, 2009, but weaknesses exposed by the working group’s report will be persistent negatives if a city cannot find ways to defuse them. According to Doug Arnot, Chicago 2016 venues and games operations director, transportation is a potential weakness, particularly for a bid working with a largely antiquated public transportation system. Among the other strong bids, Tokyo and Madrid have more modern subway systems and more extensive rail networks. ”We wouldn’t be surprised to see some remarks (in the report) on transportation,” Arnot said. “They (the IOC) know there is good infrastructure, but it has a bit of history to it. We expect that is going to be a bit of concern on their part.”

Many cities have used the Olympics as a catalyst for improvements in transportation. Salt Lake City found federal money for highway upgrades suddenly become much more available after it was named 2002 Winter Games host.

Do Chicagoans care enough about the Olympics to toss money at the city for high speed rail? Meh. Maybe not. But they probably care about fewer broken El stops. That’s personally bothersome ish, and nothing gets a political movement going like slightly inconveniencing the upper middle class.

Me? I don’t even care if the new railroads are privately or publicly funded. Just build them. I’ll chip in. Hell, I’ll help lay track down. Just no more 40-minute, four-mile bus rides, k?

USOC president has mad hate for the Chi

April 17th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

Chicago. Great city? Or the greatest city? Neither, according to USOC president Peter Ueberroth, who, for whatever reason, is not impressed with Chi-city’s Olympic prospects just yet:

While Peter Ueberroth refused to say where he thinks Chicago currently ranks in the race for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee chairman bluntly said the city is “certainly not” the front-runner to host the international spectacle.

When he was in town last fall, Ueberroth said Chicago — the United States’ applicant city — stood “third or fourth place” behind Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo, and needed to recruit more help from the private sector.

Ueberroth said Tuesday Chicago residents should be “proud” of the ongoing efforts to bring the Olympics here, but added that the city still has to work on a “handful” of issues, which he would not disclose.

Chicago’s greatest strength is its ethnic diversity, and the city must keep pressing that asset to the International Olympic Committee to stay in the game, he said. “Chicago is a rookie in this [Olympic] arena,” Ueberroth said.

We just got Ueber-pwned.

There are plenty of flaws in Chicago’s Olympic bid, namely that it’s hard for me to imagine how I am going to get to work in the midst of an extra however many hundreds of thousands of people swiping cabs and seats on the El. Also, Soldier Field probably isn’t an ideal Opening Ceremonies venue. Also, protecting tourists from errant Lance Briggs-piloted sports cars is a concern.

Still, SbB’s Tuffy raises a good point: Ueber-jerk over here is probably just fishing for more private investment in the USOC. So Olympics-starved Chicago residents should take this Ueber-hate with an Ueber-grain of Ueber-salt. Ueber-settled, then.

Chicago is uber-pumped for 2016 Olympics

April 15th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

It’s still yet to be seen if Chicago is going to wrangle in the 2016 Summer Olympics — fingers crossed! — but if nothing else, the idea of it is certainly warming up to the city and its surrounding locales. For realz. Check out the results from this poll via Phil Hersh at the Trib:

The poll, taken during the peak of the Olympic torch relay protests April 7-9, showed 84 percent of respondents “supported” or “somewhat supported” having the Summer Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Chicago. The poll respondents were from 16 counties in the Chicago metropolitan area as far away from the city center as Kankakee and northern Indiana.

When the United States Olympic Committee commissioned the same poll a year ago to determine levels of support in the two finalist cities, Chicago and Los Angeles, 76 percent were in favor.

There are obviously many positives here: top-notch athletic competition at your doorstep, exposure for the city, increased revenue streams, and the freaking Olympics would be here. Pretty neat. But, there are negatives. Crowded places become more crowded. Threat of terrorist attacks. Construction. People. Everywhere.

By the summer of 2016 I’ll be 31 years of age — it hurts just to type that number — so I’ll hopefully be covering the games from my hovercraft on my iPhone XXVI. Will we even know what basketball is by then? Perhaps Slamball will finally get the pub it deserves?

Stay tuned for the future!

Will the scandal never end

February 14th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

If you live in Chicago, you see the signs. They’re everywhere. They look exactly like that image to the right — go anywhere in the Loop, anywhere near downtown, and you can’t help but be reminded that Chicago is working very hard on making transportation a nightmare eight summers from now.

Ah, but is all lost? Will the scandal in my life ever recede? Not if Chicago public officials keep acting like George Clooney in Syriana:

Did Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan violate bid city rules by meeting with an International Olympic Committee member during a recent trip to the Middle East?

Ryan traveled to Qatar with Northwestern University president Henry Bienen to discuss plans for the Northwestern branch campus to open on the outskirts of the Qatari capital, Doha. Ryan and Bienen also went to Kuwait, where they met IOC member Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, former OPEC chairman and a member of the Kuwaiti ruling family.

“There shall be no visits by IOC members to the cities, nor by the cities to IOC members.”

Ryan, Bienen and Robert Fasulo, the U.S. Olympic Committee international relations chief, met Feb. 5 with Sheikh Ahmad.

I know: corruption not only from members of the International Olympic Committee, but from — get this — Chicago politicians. Gasp! Next thing, you’ll be telling me that Debbie Clemens and Jose Canseco’s wife were caught so deep in the performance-enhancement game they were comparing the rotund nature of their breast augmentation surger — oh. No way.

UFC is coming to Chicago

May 17th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

I don’t quite know if I’m ever going to hop on this current wave of popularity the UFC is having. On the one hand, the sport takes what’s cool about boxing and adds in the mixed martial arts or what have you — it’s a pretty solid combo. UFC fighting is basically a glorified and strategic streetbrawl, pitting dudes hellbent on submissions and takedowns against each other. Why wouldn’t I want to see that? On the other hand, I’ve never been a huge fan of martial arts in any form. (Except for this guy, of course.)

So, there are the pros. There are the cons. In any event, if I ever would like to venture out to one of these fights, I can probably do so soon in the great city of Chicago.

Mixed martial arts, whose phenomenal growth in recent years has made it a lucrative business, is on the verge of being legalized in Illinois.

Legislation to legitimize and regulate the sport has been approved overwhelmingly in the Illinois House (the state legislative body as published has been corrected in the headline as well as in this text) and is expected to be voted on by the Senate as early as Wednesday. If so, Ultimate Fighting Championship, one of the sport’s biggest promoters, hopes to bring an event to Illinois by year’s end.

Again, not sure if I’d actually ever go to one of these things. But, you know, if I’m ever in the mood to see two grown men trying to submit each other inside the octagon, I have some options now I suppose.

(HT: MDS at the FanHaus.)

(And just for fun: After the jump, Chuck Lidell’s appearance on “Entourage” from a few weeks back. What’s a Chuck Lidell?)

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