Chicago received a first-round knock out on Friday courtesy of the International Olympic Committee, which voted against Chicago’s bid for hosting the 2016 Olympics.
Rio de Janeiro and Madrid are now left seeking approval to host the 2016 Summer Games. The host city is to be announced around noon Chicago time.
To some observers, it appeared that Chicago’s bid had been fast gathering momentum in the last week. Daley and others began to show their confidence as one piece after another fell into place. From First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey’s early commitments to travel with them to Copenhagen, to President Barack Obama’s late decision to go, to bad news trickling out about the Rio’s bid, indicators looked to be going Chicago’s way.
But members of the International Olympic Committee are known for being unpredictable, even impulsive, when they gather to pick a host city.
And in 2016, it won’t be Chicago.
The 2016 Summer Games were to be Mayor Richard Daley’s legacy. Now the mayor comes home to face recession-driven budget woes and concerns about violence that plague Chicago, without the ability to change the public dialogue to Olympics talk.
Daley and his Olympic bid team will now have to decide whether to regroup and try again for the 2020 Games. Conventional wisdom in Chicago cuts against extending the effort, partly because the bid has been so closely tied to Daley. At 67, the mayor’s political plans may not include remaining in office long enough to see through another run at the Games.
I live in Chicago and most of the talk on sports radio leading up to today was about how the city was the favorite to win the 2016 Olympics. To be knocked out in the first round is no doubt a stunning blow to the city, as well as those who thought Chicago had a choke hold on the games.
At the very least, people figured that Chicago would make it to the second round, especially with President Obama and Oprah (I thought it was illegal to say no to Oprah?) making the trip to Copenhagen. But apparently not.
The Swimming World Championships in Rome have just finished up and Michael Phelps closed it out with a gold medal performance on the American relay team. That left him with a total of five golds and a silver for the competition, not too shabby. But perhaps even more than the continued domination of Phelps, the real story from Rome seems to be the 43 world records set there. Brian Cazeneuve from Sports Illustrated puts in his two cents:
It’s gotta be the suits. What else could explain the absurd number of world records set in Rome? In 2008, a year when the rise of records left people calling for drug inquiries, pool measurements and the return of 1920s swimsuits, there were 102 records set throughout the year. That’s almost one every three days. In Rome, swimmers set new standards 43 times in eight days. FINA, the sport’s international governing body, has said it will adopt new regulations to prohibit some of the materials in the suits of the last two or three years. They will also restrict the length of some of the suits for both men and women. Still, those regulations won’t go into effect until Jan. 1 and even those will be against the objections of many suit manufacturers who want to liquidate their stock of the suits that will soon be illegal. Once that happens, some of these records could stand for some time.
So all these new-fangled swimsuits are going to be made illegal? When I heard the story the first thing that popped into my mind was the sound of those speed skates in Nagano in 1998 and every Olympics since. Called “clap skates” these things broke every record there was to break in speed skating. But they are still legal today.
With the skates in mind as a precedent then, it seems a bit odd to me that the swimsuits should be banned. Further strangeness in this story comes from the fact that all of the records in swimming HAVE ALREADY BEEN BROKEN by them. If the reason for making the suits illegal is to make the times of the swimmers closer to something a normal human should be able to do, than don’t we have to re-swim every event since Beijing? FINA, the governing body of international swimming, needs to get their heads out of the suits and let technology through on this one.
OK, but then what about aluminum bats in Major League baseball? If we should let in the swimsuits, then why shouldn’t we let in the bats? OK, here’s why: The swimsuits have already been used, the records are already broken. With baseball, if they choose to not let those bats in, then fine, that’s up to them. But FINA shouldn’t have gone back on their previous approval. I don’t care too much about what choices a governing body makes in terms of technological advances, so long as they stay consistent. Baseball has, speed skating has, swimming seems to have had a false start.
I’ll never forget that LSU-Kentucky game from 2002. I was sitting in a hotel room and someone was about to turn off the TV so we could head out for the afternoon and that play unfolded. We all stood in that hotel room for 15 more minutes in shock about what happened.
Ah, the modern man – just who and what is he? If he were rich, would he prefer a sports car or SUV? What is his favorite sporting event of the year? Does he fantasize about his girlfriend’s friend? (Yes please!)
AskMen.com put together a cool feature that delves into figuring out who the modern man is by polling over 50,000 of its readers with questions like the ones above.
The 2009 Great Male Survey rolls out over the next four weeks and discusses a series of poll questions ranging from sports, cars and entertainment to dating and lifestyle. To check out The 2009 Great Male Survey, click the link provided.
Here’s one of the sports questions that was asked (along with the results):
Q. Who is the hottest female associated with sports?
32% – Erin Andrews
28% – Maria Sharapova
17% – Danica Patrick
13% – Ana Ivanovic
10% – Natalie Gulbis
Some of the other sports questions include: What is your favorite sporting event of the year? Does gambling factor into your love of the NFL? Does fantasy football factor into your love for the NFL? Who is your top pick for your 2009-2010 NFL fantasy football team?
The results to the questions are pretty interesting and entertaining so be sure to check them out, along with the poll results for the questions in the other topics.
- DEADSPIN wants to know if you’ve seen Bartolo Colon, because the White Sox have no idea where he is.
- SPORTSbyBROOKS fills us in on what 1995 U.S. Figure Skating champion Nicole Bobek has been up to lately and it ain’t pretty. (Hint: It has to do with crystal meth.)
- YARDBARKER wants to know if you can name all 32 NFL teams in 60 seconds or less.
- TONY BLOGS.NET talks about the death of baseball. (Hint: It has something to do with steroids.)
- THE BIG LEAD asks what rappers match up with NBA players.
- FIVE TOOL TOOL lists 10 teams that are possible landing spots for Terrell Owens.
- EPIC CARNIVAL has video of Tonya Harding bitching about Barack Obama referencing her in a campaign speech. (In case you were wondering, she still has hillbilly hair.)
- Via SPORTSBYBROOKS, Tony Mandarich describes how he cheated on his steroid piss tests. To think, the Packers drafted this guy ahead of Barry Sanders. Brilliant!
- I completely agree with DEADSPIN’s assessment of a Wisconsin high school cracking down on “negative cheering.” Life is tough and kids need to be ready for it. (Besides, I am nothing without my “On you, on you, douche bag!” cheer when someone commits a foul.)
Remember the Swedish wrestler who protested his bronze medal by leaving it at the podium in the Beijing Olympics? Well apparently he wants the medal reinstated, but an Olympic court told him to shove off.
The sporting world’s highest court on Monday rejected an appeal by Swedens’ Ara Abrahamian to have his Olympic bronze medal for wrestling reinstated.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said that Abrahamian’s behaviour was “in breach of the Olympic Charter and of the IOC Protocol Guide” when the wrestler discarded his medal in protest during the Beijing Olympics.
Abrahamian was subsequently stripped of his medal.
“Such behaviour was not justified, even though the athlete had the personal conviction that several sporting decisions related to his semi-final at the Olympic Games were not correct,” said the CAS.
Abrahamian dumped his bronze medal on the floor in protest at the judging in the Greco-Roman wrestling event and was subsequently disqualified from the Beijing Olympics last year.
Abrahamian thought he had beaten Andrea Minguzzi, the eventual gold medalist, in the semi-finals, but the match was awarded to the Italian.
The Swede grudgingly climbed the podium after finishing third in the 84kg class but he left the medal at the centre of the competition mat before stalking off with his fist raised.
Nice stand, guy. You throw a tantrum, protest your medal by leaving it behind and then months later you ask for it back? Come on, bro. If you want to make a stand, then make a stand. Don’t backpedal after you realized you overreacted.
- PACMAN JONESIN’ has the story of the sheriff in Richland County, South Carolina that is threatening to bring criminal charges against Michael Phelps for smoking the weed.
- SPORTSBYBROOKS informs us that multi-millionaire Tiger Woods doesn’t tip. Ever. (Is he secretly Australian?)
- FOX SPORTS lists the top 10 Super Bowl commercials.
- DEADSPIN has video of an escape artist nearly dying of drowning during the intermission of a recent Oklahoma City Thunder game. (Not for kids.)
- PLAYBOY.COM has chosen their finalists for the sexiest sportscaster. Vote for your favorite today! I kind of like this Charissa Thompson gal.
- FANIQ says that we shouldn’t underestimate the benefit of the Cardinals having Ben Roethlisberger’s old coach on their sideline.
- FULL COUNT PITCH can’t believe it, but they’re saying that Jeff Kent deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
- Remember that Olympic gymnast hottie Alicia Sacramone? Well, THE BIG LEAD tells us that she now has a boyfriend. And they have the pictures to prove it. Bummer.
- THE THUNDER RUN informs us that the NFL is not going to allow the military color guard to stay and watch the Super Bowl after they’re done with their duties. Unbelievable.
- FAU SPORTS has video of head coach Mike Jarvis getting kicked out of a recent game in front of one of the most famous Florida Atlantic alum, porn star Mary Carey. The play resulted in a 10-point swing and resulted in a loss for FAU.
