Chicago: Bang-Bang!!

Bang-bang--your 2016 Olympic games hopes are dead--and that's not a bad thing, bruised pride and all.

That's right, I'm glad the Olympics are headed to Rio in 2016. First of all, it'll South America's first foray into hosting the Olympiad--and even though Rio has been seen as the Crime Capital of the Continent, South America needs its shot, and it's got it now. Second, Chicago and the rest of our nation has enough economic problems without another one that would come with the staggering cost (and debt) involved in the years leading up to the games. And third, settling the debt years after the world's best have come and gone. Example? Montreal, site of the 1976 Summer Games--took 30-years to pay off what was called "The Big Owe": $1.5 billion for the stadium, Olympic village, a post-modern apartment building complex, a sports recreation complex, outdoor facilities, parking and the Vélodrome, which has since been refurbished as the Biodome--all pretty much paid for by a special tax on tobacco. But the point is made: more debt for a nation that's drowning in debt.

Furthermore, as for the our country's big-time celebrity presence promoting Chicago at the selection in Copenhagen, Denmark this past week, as in President Obama, Oprah, and athletic legends Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Michael Johnson et.al., I thought it made us look more like Goliath than the Jolly Green Giant. More to the point: I think we would have stood a better chance with the International Olympic Committee if we had taken a more humble approach, simply because this country has its hand(s) in too many pies around the globe.

Or, maybe we can just--as the 1980's movie title says, "Blame It On Rio".