So, do you think Chicago will get the 2016 Summer Games?

[Hawaii Hiker]

The announcement comes this Friday at 12:30pm (EST)...

I think it will be Chicago or Rio De Janeiro...Hopefully President Obama (being a Harvard Law grad) can deliver a great final closing argument to secure the games, :woohoo:

[Saturday]

1. Fingers crossed that Chicago gets them. nt

[timeforpeace]

24. Gosh I hope so! What better city to show off to the world! They will love us then!

[MineralMan]

2. Well, if Chicago gets the games, that'll

give me one more reason not to go there.

[scubadude]

10. Don't worry, we wont miss you. nt

[MineralMan]

17. OK. I won't miss Chicago, either.

[MNDemNY]

3. The recent beating vid seals the deal for Chi-town.

[ddeclue]

4. Depends on how good the bribes are to the IOC.

take it from a former Atlantan...

:rofl:

[datasuspect]

5. lord shortshanks aka little king richie

needs to unfuck the parking meters first and stop using the populace as an atm for him, his nephews, and his cronies.

actually, they need to unseat that putrid little motherfucker.

[barb162]

7. and

fixing the potholes and schools wouldn't hurt either.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

9. Truer words were never spoken, datasuspect.

Lil Richie makes me and most of my family want to :puke: at the sight of him.

He wants to privatize everything in the city.

Now he's looking for private contractors to plow the snow off the side streets because the Streets and San guys make too much overtime in the winter. I guess he thinks he can force the snowstorms to dump snow between normal working hours.

As for the Olys, I hope we do get them. At least some of the construction workers will get back to work, including my husband.

[barb162]

6. I sure hope it doesn't.

but I think it has a better than 50% chance to get it.

[KharmaTrain]

8. A Close Call...

Rio has the inside track since there hasn't been an Olympics in South America and Rio is truly a world-class city very capable of hosting the games. The downside is that they are in the Southern Hempishere that would force the games later in the year (October or November) that isn't popular with professionals who would have to interupt their paying seasons to participate (and the owners of those teams) as well as the high costs of traveling to Rio.

Chicago is better suited from a media perspective...being a major media city as well as having most of the venues already in place. The city has truly gone all out to get this thing and surely Richie Daley sees this as his ultimate legacy. I'm 40 miles away from where most the action will be but will gladly take bids to rent my kids bedrooms. :rofl:

I tend to think the President wouldn't be doing the final pitch if it weren't close. The irony is that Chicago was chosen as a previous host city. It was 1904...they turned it down and St. Louis took it instead.

[Hawaii Hiker]

11. Imagine how crazy O'Hare Airport will be if Chicago gets the games

:banghead:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

13. As O'Hare goes, so goes half the other airports in the country.

[KharmaTrain]

15. O'Hare Is Being Expanded...

They're finishing the first of several new runways...including a brand new terminal area on the western part. The project is supposed to be finished by 2012 and supposedly push O'Hare past Heartsfield as the "worlds Busiest" once again.

Also several other airports could be used to handle traffic. Midway has become a popular hub for the smaller airlines like Southwest and there's a totally underused airport in Gary that has been upgrading to become the defacto third airport.

The concern was the CTA and its aging infrastructure...especially near the proposed Olympic Village site.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

12. Kharma Train, I'm thinking about renting out my entire

apartment, if we get them. My husband and I will gladly take the money and spend the entire summer of 2016 in Ireland. :woohoo: :woohoo: I'm a lot closer to downtown than you are and the Orange Line is about 20 minutes from where we are by car.

[KharmaTrain]

19. I Know A Lot Of People Who Are Thinking The Same...

I'm not far from several proposed venues...Sears Center, Allstate and looks like they'll be holding events all over the place. I'll admit, if it doesn't cost a king's ransom, I'd like to see some of the events. I have no fear of traveling into the city...grab the Blue Line or Metra and see what's going on. I think of my Mother who went to the 1934 World's Fair and always spoke about it as a highlight in her life. I'd like to share the same kind of feeling with my family.

Mo...I hope you get a good price...I hear Ireland in July is beautiful. That's on my ever too long list of places to visit.

:hi:

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

20. Yeah, the World's Fair was a highlight of my Dad's life

as well. He grew up in a neighborhood very close to it and spent a lot of time at it as well. You do know that the Organizing Committee, if we get them, will be looking for volunteers at all the venues. You could always do that and maybe get to see some of the competitions for free...

[KharmaTrain]

23. I Was Joking With My Son...

We always laugh at how flamboyant the Opening Ceremonies have become. He joked that every dancer for 500 miles around will have a job as well as any gynmast or person crazy enough to want to fly around on wires. :rofl:

I think the games would be a real shot in the arm to the local economy...hopefully jobs for folks in the nearby South & West sides and also money to help redevelop areas that have long been neglected.

Honestly, I don't see the games creating any more of a mess of things around here than the Taste does every year or a Sunday when there's both a football and baseball game going on in the city. A buddy of mine lived through the '96 games in Atlanta and said they really weren't that big of a deal.

[damntexdem]

14. Sure, if they don't go to Rio or Madrid instead.

Hey, Chicago's in the race -- we'll have to see how well they sprint down the track.

[XOKCowboy]

16. I think that the international sentiment is leaning toward Rio....

I was at SportAccord where the 4 cities presented their final proposals. Rio put on a spectacular presentation and were also playing on the fact that South America has never hosted an Olympics.

I think it's definitely between Chicago and Rio. I really don't care either way just reporting what I saw and heard at the nominating convention.

[BlooInBloo]

18. Who knows? All of: Rio, Madrid, Chicago sound fun to me. I don't mind pulling for Chicago...

simply because it's in my country.

[truebrit71]

21. Yes. Rio will have had the World Cup in 2014 so the Olympics will most likely come to Chicago...

..my current home...Tokyo is out because they just had Bejing, Spain is out because 2012 is in London (my other home), and 2016 will be 20 years since the summer games were last in the US...(the largest tv audience/revenue generator for olympics)

It'll be Chicago...

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

22. From your lips to God's ears, please...

I know of many people in the construction industry who would love to see Chicago get the 2016 Olys. I hope and pray that your right, truebrit71...