The Olympics dumped us because we’re BORING?
Turns out the IOC dumped Chicago because we were boring. I hate to say we're holding a torch, but ...
When it comes to Chicago’s brief love affair with the Olympic Dream, believe me when I say that we in the Windy City are so totally over it.
At first it was, admittedly, a little rough. I mean, we had sunk years of time and effort into this relationship, only to be ditched for someone prettier. WTF?! And yes, the day after we got the boot, we all stayed in watching You’ve Got Mail and drowning our sorrows in Häagen-Dazs , but then we rallied all of our BFFs for support, vowing that we’re, like, so totally ready to move on with our lives and never make the same stupid mistake again.
But according to an insider perspective published today, turns out the whole messy breakup wasn’t them. It was us.
The firsthand perspective from a 2016 insider (published in, of all places, a Lexington, KY business journal) describes exactly how we blew the Big Bid: We were boring. We had the buzz, the excitement, the anticipation, but we fell flat on our faces with an “uninspiring” and “mundane” performance when it was our turn to make our big pitch to the International Olympic Committee. It was like someone took us out to a nice dinner in Copenhagen, and then we rattled on too much about our cat:
Going to both my hotel and the media center, the conversation was all about Chicago, with little about Tokyo and Madrid. For Rio, there was some sentiment that the time for having a South American Games may be arriving, but likely not yet.
…
There was a great deal of anticipation prior to Chicago’s presentation that disappeared almost immediately. The first two presenters (of nine) were uninspiring and focused on how Chicago could run a great Games. It has been widely said that this Chicago bid was the “best-ever” United States bid, but all of the focus was on mundane technical preparations. The third U.S. presenter, a veteran of many such events, did a great job on the sports and athlete area, speaking engagingly in both English and French. He was followed by other perfunctory speeches, and we all began to look at each other with concern. The Obamas followed with enthusiasm and with strong messages, but the overall impression was not strong and the aftermath commentary criticized the president as being “too cerebral and self-satisfied.” His late arrival with a large entourage also was widely criticized.
via A Kentuckian on the inside of how the US lost the 2016 Olympics.
Of all the reasons I thought Chicago would (should?) lose the Olympic bid, being too boring wasn’t one of them. And who knew Obama would hinder more than help? How will we ever learn to trust another bid committee ever again? Ugh, somebody get me another pint of Häagen-Dazs …
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Blagojevich woulda shown ‘em some razzle dazzle…
Obama should’ve challenged someone to basketball one-on-one. He’d show those clucks how to take it to the basket. Yeah, Juan Antonio Samarvacation! You on your death bed? You just afraid to come down and show us what you got!
Lol! It’s nearly 3 am, I just got home from wrapping up our weekly newspaper, and the little shot of joy I got from laughing at that comment may very well enable me to write a paper due tomorrow and wake up for class at 8:30. Thanks, James. And, indirectly, thanks Obama for rocking at basketball in order to make that comment possible.
In response to another comment. See in context »Any effort that relies on the public speaking skills of Richard M. Daley is bound to suffer. I feel sorry for whomever had to translate him.
Oprah and Obama didn’t do it for them? Maybe they were holding out for Michael Jordan.
meow
Over confidence can be a real killer.
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