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.