Prez didn't have the juice to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago

Disgusted

at the anti-American sentiment the Olympics debate has brought.

Surprised to see it here.

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by: deezero @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:23:18 AM CDT

uh, what's anti-American?

That's a broad assertion -- considering the U.S. has hosted the Olympics countless times, what's wrong with saying it's just not our turn again. As the commenter below noted, South America surely deserves an opportunity in the spotlight.

And to mention why there may be good reasons Chicago doesn't need the Games at this time is not anti-American at all; sounds more like you have a beef because it was crossed off so early because those voting got their arms twisted by non-patriotic Americans? LOL. I think the President's weight on the matter certainly trumps people who question whether it's the right time or place for 2016. And his eloquent plea wasn't even enough to clear the first round.  

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:30:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ok

but Pam, you didn't say anything about it not being our turn in your post.  That's a very vald arguement, but you didn't say anything about that.

You echoed talking points from Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.  That's what I have the beef with.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/...

I think we should stand behind our country in this type of thing, especially when the whole world is watching.

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by: deezero @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:57:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I can't echo talking points

That I don't watch, read or listen. I'm still trying to see what is anti-American about saying resources are tight, and they are best spent on what everyone knows -- Chicago needs help with its pitiful public ed system, and no large urban city in America is unaffected by crime in a recession. That's not a GOP talking point, that's reality.

"Stand behind our country" sounds an awful lot like "my country right or wrong." To disagree with your POV is not tantamount to lack of patriotism -- the latter is a right wing talking point, btw.

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:12:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

No, there are progressives who aren't liking this...

Read Dave Zirin's piece in The Nation on what would have happened if Chicago got the 2016 Olympics. How is police oppression, corporate welfare, and neighborhood disruption/destruction "progressive"?

Act on Principles and make equality happen.  

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by: atdnext @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:14:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Exactly

Just look at what the G-20 summit did to us here in Pittsburgh last week.  Our cities have enough problems without taking on these high-priced photo-ops (and they really don't amount to anything more than that).

Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  
-Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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by: QScribe @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 14:05:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

My vote would go to Rio

After hearing that South America has never hosted an Olympic Games, I think they have to give it to Rio.  Not that they don't have their own issues with crime and poverty there, but it would be fun to see the games in such a beautiful place.  

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by: JosephineTx @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:23:33 AM CDT

I want the games in South America.

Hell, I even want the winter games in San Carlos Bariloche, Argentina.  It would be cool to have skiing events in the Andes.

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by: Blood From Machines @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:32:36 AM CDT

"Chicago was never in it to win it."

I don't know about that.  I'm not in the Chicago TV market, but I'm able to listen to Chicago radio every day.  

I think there's a bigger problem afoot - nationally and internationally.

Many viewed the Chicago 2016 bid as a way that post-Bush America could crawl out from under the hoodie of fascism that the country had involuntrarily worn from 2001-09 - and, whilst cloaked in, waged war and acted obnoxiously abroad and even more obnoxiously domestically - and have a chance to make real all of the images of America that, though we know they were actually a lie to most Americans, weren't so far from reality as to be unable to be made real.

I think that this is the signal that the rest of the world is sick of America and wants this nation to disappear - even with its ability to go from an unelected neo-noble white christianist evangelical warmongering zealot president to an elected president who is a non-white child of an immigrant who made his own way in a nation rigged against non-whites.

Translated: The damage that our self-important fake political nobility did to this nation whilst not giving a shit about what we did to the rest of the world - and how we did it - while an equally-illegitimate economic nobility carried on a decade-long financial orgy is too much to repair.

The rest of the world is watching as we - collectively the diseased bully who goes to church on Sunday to sing of love only to purposely run over puppies, kitties and even humans while driving home to his now-decaying mansion on the hill that was built with slave labor and stolen money - rot while clinging to the only thing we have left: the weapons of religious fear that we use to limit and even destroy the lives of our own people - and the radioactive weapons with which we can, from the imaginary comfort of our rat-infested, mold-covered formerly-Ward Cleaver-signature dens with the push of a single button kill anyone and everyone who dares even to speak the truth of what we have become, much less treat us with the disdain that we've earned over the course of this first decade of the 21st Century.

And to think...

I haven't even gone to see Capitalism: A Love Story yet today.

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:35:37 AM CDT

You nailed it.

I think that this is the signal that the rest of the world is sick of America and wants this nation to disappear - even with its ability to go from an unelected neo-noble white christianist evangelical warmongering zealot president to an elected president who is a non-white child of an immigrant who made his own way in a nation rigged against non-whites.

Honestly, this nation even had problems pre-Bush. Whether it was our weapons shipments to the Israeli government to use against Palestinean civilians, our continual support of far-right militias overthrowing democratically elected governments in Latin America, or just our government's high-horse preaching of "freedom" while repressing women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community, the rest of the world has been horrified by our behavior for quite some time. Even with President Obama's election, this nation still has far more to do to repair our image abroad.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.  

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by: atdnext @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:52:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

our image abroad

  We are seen to let war criminals off scott free.  And President Obama is the one at the helm of letting the war criminals get away with the crimes.

Sure no one in the MSM will bring this up, but that is our image.  Not investigating and prosecuting the crimes of the past administration.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:08:53 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

One thing IMO people are forgetting is Atlanta 1996.

Atlanta 1996 did NOT leave a good impression. The general perception worldwide was that Atlanta 1996 was badly staged, badly organised.

I should point out that the people voting on the host cities aren't usually progressive / leftist types. The IOC has traditionally been conservative, nay, regressive.

or just our government's high-horse preaching of "freedom" while repressing women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community, t

For example, this almost certainly matters not at all to most of the voters, especially the repression of the LGBTQ community.

All the leftist causes that might matter to us, in the end, are peripheral in the voting. Otherwise Beijing 2008 would not have happened.

Nor is even the city chosen usually the most qualified. Otherwise London 2012 would not have happened.

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by: rfloh @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 13:38:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well,

I think the enormous amount of revenue and jobs that would have been generated by Chicago 2016 would have gone a long way in addressing Chicago's "internal issues".

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by: Naperville Mom @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 11:58:02 AM CDT

This is debateable.

There are several issues with this arguement:

Firstly, would staging the Olympics have resulted in much of any long term revenue? Or would the revenue, tourist dollars have been only short term, ie people coming in for the games, and then never coming back to visit again? Chicago isn't exactly a small unknown city in the middle of nowhere. It is a well known city globally, especially nowadays with the Obamas being from there. How much future long term tourism would staging the Olympics bring in? How much would staging the Games raise Chicago's (global) profile?

Secondly, aside from building a host of new facilities, you need to main those facilities even after the games are over. What are you going to do with them? So many new facilities, in such a short period of time, is likely to result in a glut of sports facilities, (much) more than Chicago needs; you are likely going to end up with having to maintain quite a bit of unused facilities.

The people who want to host the games will always claim that they will turn a profit, and lots of money and jobs will be brought in. Historically this hasn't necessarily been true. Montreal was bankrupted. LA turned a profit. Seoul had a profit. Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney all generally broke even. Athens looks to have been a financial disaster. The most recent (winter) Olympics in the US, Salt Lake 2002, went 155 million into debt.  

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by: rfloh @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 14:00:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm kinda glad Rio got it

Not that I wouldn't have minded having the Olympics in Chicago, mind you. But South America has never held the Olympic Games. Congrats to Rio.

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by: kevinchi @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:02:40 PM CDT

This really isn't a bad thing...

After all, Olympic Games always bring on boatloads of debt, police oppression, and the destruction of cherished neighborhoods. Right now we really need to spend our tax dollars on providing health care for people and solving the climate crisis IMHO, not on some wild goose chase for Olympic glory.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.  

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by: atdnext @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:10:37 PM CDT

Wrong plan

Apparently they didn't show the Olympic Committee this:

Sorry if we aren't supposed to embed in comments =)

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by: offspring311 @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:11:00 PM CDT

Or this...

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:22:42 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

?

A police presence wasn't the issue.

hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut.....

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by: offspring311 @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 14:06:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think Rio had the best argument

it is time that Latin America had a turn.

And don't forget that air travel to the US has become very burdensome for everyone, even citizens.

And don't forget that the last time the US hosted the Olympics in Atlanta a christian terrorist blew up some gay bars and then Olympic Park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...

In the meantime, Brazil prohibits discrimination against GLBTs, has domestic partnerships and even has granted asylum to gay US citizens from Chicago.

A binational gay couple was forced to leave Chicago and move to Brazil, just so they could be together. U.S. citizen and former Chicagoan Chris Bohlander won the right to live permanently in Brazil with his partner, Zemir Magalhães. The couple left Chicago three years ago to live together in Goiânia. A brazilian judge allowed Bohlander to obtain a permanent residency visa, which is normally only given to the foreign spouse of a Brazilian, based on their civil union, which was recognized by a Goiás judge in 2008. In Brazil, the couple's victory is seen as a huge deal, especially because the ruling is based on the fundamental rights and protections guaranteed all Brazilians under the country's constitution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

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by: tiponeill @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:11:40 PM CDT

Yep, Rio got the games...

Good luck to Brazil.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.  

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by: atdnext @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 12:32:45 PM CDT

To me this just says America has had the Olympics way more than our fair share in a changing world

Other countries can equal our bids for an Olympics, and haven't gotten their turn. I believe Chicago was a long shot and if Obama and Oprah spent a day on it...so what?

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 14:11:51 PM CDT

Actually, I think the Olympics

should be held in Greece permanently.

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by: kevinchi @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 14:21:08 PM CDT

Given the financial disaster that was Athens 2004

the Greeks probably don't want it there permanently.

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by: rfloh @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 15:02:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think that's eventually what's going to happen...

What people either don't know or tend to forget there was a very well-organized grass roots effort to NOT have the Olympics in Chicago. NoGames Chicago even had people GO to Copenhagen to argue their case to the IOC directly. And I do believe that had a big effect on the vote. So, now there is a blue print available to grass roots activists who DON'T want an Olympic Games in their backyards. IMO, in the future it'll be quite difficult for the IOC to find any city wanting to host the games-for economic and social reasons. The Olympics have never been an economic boon for any city. Ever. The only city that ever benefited from the Olympics was LA, and even that was short-lived.
Remember, Baron De Coubertain did not want the Olympics to go from city to city every four years. He wanted them held permanantly in Greece. The only difference is that the IOC will be FORCED to do that.  

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by: Mindyinlongbeach @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 15:32:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

But the "financial" problems

are caused by all of the infrastructure that is needed to host an Olympic Games.

Athens has that infrastructure now.

And you're right too is that the grassroots were very organized in Chicago against an Olympic Games (personally I wasn't for it or against it).

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by: kevinchi @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 15:47:37 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Me neither...

I was personally rooting for LA, but they got dropped in favor of Chicago, which bit the USOC right in the ass. After the fiasco that was Atlanta, I really think the IOC will never go for another US Olympics in either the Midwest or South. Atlanta really left a bad taste in their mouths, IMO.  

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by: Mindyinlongbeach @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 16:12:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Pierre de Coubertin

was elitist, racist, sexist. He is responsible in part for the regressive attitude of the Olympics for decades towards non-whites, women, and the working class. He set up a system that was meant to keep out the "undesirables". If we go back to what de Coubertin wanted, the Olympics would revert to being for wealthy white males.

In any case, even if de Coubertin were a saint, what he wanted is completely, utterly irrelevant. It isn't Pierre de Coubertin who is alive today. It isn't Pierre de Coubertin who foots the bill. It isn't Pierre de Coubertin who is competing in the games. It isn't Pierre de Coubertin who is filling the stadiums, watching on TV.

Also, I disagree that no one will want to host the games. There will be cities wanting to host the games. There will be cities and countries for whom the games will bring more benefits than costs. For cities that already have much of the infrastructure, not just facilities, but also public transport already there, hosting the games would make sense: which was why for example for 2012 Lyon would have been a far better choice than London.  

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by: rfloh @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 23:28:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Or LA would have been a better choice than Chicago

Because LA already has the venues and a world-class public transit system. AND, they were one of the cities the USOC had to choose. And they chose Chicago. And IMO, that's one of the reasons why I blame the USOC for this more than anyone else. Not just the fact that they and the IOC have had frosty relations for years, but also the fact that they chose a city that did NOT have the infrastructure and would have had to displace millions of low-income people and families to build it. That is why NoGames Chicago was so successful in turning back the Games.
Yes, De Coubertin WAS elitist, racist and sexist. However, what I'm saying is that the IOC will be forced to look at his idea of holding the Olympics permanently in Greece because the Olympics are so expensive to put on, especially if this world recession continues longer than a year or more. None of his other, more stupid ideas are being considered.  

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by: Mindyinlongbeach @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 12:00:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

lol

vanhattan

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by: vanhattan @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 20:37:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

As for the meme that the 'US has had the Olympics too mch.....

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by: MonicaR @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 16:59:51 PM CDT

Why would I give a sh*t which city hosts the Olympics

I'll be viewing the small portions of hunky gymnists and divers on TV, not traveling to the city.

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 17:00:32 PM CDT

Just hoping cowardly U.S. TV doesn't cut away again ...

when the Eastern European men nonchalantly kiss each other on the lips at the end of their routines to say, "Great work, Sergei!"  Can't remember which Olympics it was that U.S. television didn't trouble itself to avert the cameras.  Freakin' rocked my world, and that it wasn't sexual was somehow even more important for our repressed culture to see.  Which network was is that broadcast this simple, beautiful, guy-on-guy affirmation and affection?

Or, maybe we'll be able to watch the broadcast online via some media venue that doesn't have a steel rod jammed up its ass.

Listen to your fairy Godmother, my dear: you will go to the ball.

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by: 555catnap @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 17:50:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The opening in Rio should be SPECTACULAR

All those gorgeous Brazilian men and women...OMFG!
  http://scrapetv.com/News/News%...
   http://www.elisagb.blogger.com...
Rodrigo Santoro
   http://madeinbrazil.typepad.co...

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 19:56:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

As for the meme that the 'US has had the Olympics too much....

Let's see..

Summer Games
St. Louis 1904
Los Angeles 1932, 1984
Atlanta 1996

Winter Games
Lake Placid 1932, 1980
Squaw Valley 1960
Salt Lake City 2002

Houston has been trying to get the Games since 1996.  I would have loved for my hometown to have been in Chicago's position.

I think the result is more an indictment of the Bush years than it was on the President.    That being said, the sentiment to put an Olympics on the South American continent was too much to overcome.    

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by: MonicaR @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 17:13:49 PM CDT

Disproportionate hosting by U.S.? Absolutely ...

Fun with Wikipedia:

• # countries in the world: ~195
• # countries with "advanced economies" according to the IMF (which I'm using as a marker that they could conceivably afford to host the Olympics): 34
• # times the Olympics have been held in the modern era: 50
• # times a U.S. city has hosted: 8
• percent of total hosting done by a U.S. city: 16%
• percent of hosting by any given country if hosting was evenly distributed: 1.5%

So the U.S. has hosted 10 times more frequently than an even distribution would indicate.  Certainly not the only one disproportionately represented ... France (5 Olympics), Great Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany (3 Olympics each).  Of course, this doesn't tell the whole story, which would include a break-down by cities capable of hosting, not countries.  Can't say I'm up for that much work.

Until today's news, no South American country has hosted.  According to the IMF, only one country in South America has an "advanced economy": French Guiana (officially part of France).  Brazil not on their list.

And no country in Africa has yet hosted the Olympics, nor are any on the IMF's list of the blessed.

If the Olympic Committee was to decide to share the event evenly among those who can host, then the U.S. would not see another Olympics on our soil for decades.  

Listen to your fairy Godmother, my dear: you will go to the ball.

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by: 555catnap @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 18:57:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

And the USOC would immediately cut off funding the IOC

Which it has, thanks to the millions of dollars given for Olympic broadcasting rights by NBC. Money talks, the IOC walks. It's that simple.  

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by: Mindyinlongbeach @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 20:34:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

A few thoughts

The next time I hear "Obama is too busy to support GLBTQ issues" because of the war, bc of the economy, bc of the.....fill in the blank", this is the partial respons that they will get from me:

Ok so here is the President, who flies to Copenhagen, Denmark, to deliver a personal special request to the Olympic committiee to grant Chicago the 2016 Olympics.  

For this too busy President who many continue to say cannot multitask, would it not have been much easier to walk down the street to make an impassioned plea to the House and Senate that GLBTQ americans deserve equal civil rights?

This is proof in the pudding folks.  The man can chew gum and walk at the same time....all the way to Copenhagen but cannot walk down the street to ask for what all Americans deserve....equality.  

Shame on Obama, and shame on all his apologists.

vanhattan

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by: vanhattan @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 20:49:33 PM CDT

One additional thought_Vancouver 2010

I live in Vancouver and if anyone who would like to rent a fabulous 2b/2b, den with fireplace/balcony and a to die for view over the city, English Bay and the Mountains during te 2010 Olympics this Feb give me a shout.  Would love to escape the impending Olympic madness. :)

vanhattan

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by: vanhattan @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 21:03:29 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Obama just allotted 5 Billion to AIDS research and development

I'll cut him some slack on his one day trip to Denmark.
I'll be pushing for all our Rights, Hate Crimes inclusive ENDA, repeal DADT, and overturning DOMA. I'll also give to approve 71 in Washington, and stop 1 in Maine.

but not tonight

"race, taste. and History finally overcome....and you ain't there"
by Tony Kushner

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by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 21:15:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You're right on.

This is the first thing I thought of when I heard about his trip.  What a busy, busy man.

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by: TrumpetDC @ Fri Oct 02, 2009 at 22:54:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

By the Way.

As some people conveniently forgot, the 1984 LA Games turned a profit.

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by: MonicaR @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 12:30:20 PM CDT

But they also created the monster who may have been a reason that Chicago lost

A monster who immediately sfter LA '84 went to Major League Baseball and concocted several illegal anti-player barganing schemes that ultimately put MLB on the short end of a buttload of lawsuits by players - and, doubtlessly, played a role in why the players weren't willing to give in in 1994, leading to the strike which killed the World Series that year.

Peter Uberroth also is apparently involved with an Olympics counterpart to the NFL Network - a channel which will show old Olympics stuff round the clock, even possibly up against any ongoing Olympics.  This venture is opposed by almost all who are involved with the Olumpics - all, at least, from outside the US.  Uberroth knows of the international opposition and either in spite of it, or perhaps because of it, is refusing to cease and desist with the idea.

Of course, I stand by my earlier comment that, overall, this was the rest of the world telling the U.S. to eat our nukes (though, possibly, also Uberroth's Olympics Network) and die.

And, no, we can't have fries with them.

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 10:04:30 AM CDT

[ Parent ]