OLYMPIC INDIFFERENCE

If my very life depended on the level of interest I have in the Olympic Games, my epitaph would have already been written, and my wife would have already sold all of my baseball collectibles.

That’s not to say that when the games are actually taking place I don’t root for the United States.

I do.

Without equivocation, I want the United States to pound any and all competitors into a fine, unrecognizable paste. In fact, during any given Olympiad, I may actually take a few moments to sit down in the living room – perhaps when my toe nails need a touch of trimming, or if I’m trying to tame some particularly gnawing abdominal pains – and catch an event or two.

Still, if the games were to suddenly vanish from the face of the Earth – not unlike my wish for the United Nations (or better yet, America’s involvement with it) – there isn’t a device in all of God’s creation that could measure the sleep I would not be losing over it.

Now that the President of the United States – the-Prioritzer-In-Chief – will be personally lobbying to have the 2016 Summer Olympic Games brought to the Hog Butcher of Political Corruption, Chicago, (while time-consuming distractions like the War in Afghanistan, and the rise of a nuclear Iran take a back seat), I was quite surprised to see that nearly half of Chicagoland residents are actually against it.

Don Babwin of the Associated Press writes:

The mayor, the president and Oprah Winfrey may hope to return to Chicago from Copenhagen with the 2016 Olympic Games, but some around town hope the International Olympic Committee deems the Second City the second city.

As in second to Rio de Janeiro. Or Tokyo. Or Madrid.

…

“I know it’s going to cost us money somehow,” said Joseph Patrick, a 51-year-old stay-at-home dad. “The government doesn’t have a job (so) the only place they can get money is from us.”

A new Web site — Chicagoansforrio.com — is the talk of the town and features the game “Match the Olympic host with its estimated budget overrun.” About 170 protesters marched outside City Hall on Tuesday night, many insisting that no matter what organizers say, the games will push people from their homes, lead to more corruption and raise taxes.

Rising taxes in Chicago? Corruption in the city of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow?

Go figure.

As it urns out, a Chicago Tribune poll shows that 45% of Chicagolanders would rather not see the games come there, compared to 47% who would.

In other news, President Obama today met with General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan, for only the second time in seventy days. It was their first meeting since the general requested up to 40,000 more troops in August.

Obama is expected to make a decision before the turn of the next century.

Maybe.

–

Advertisements