Friday, October 2, 2009

Chicago Only Got 18 Out of 94 Votes

Amazingly, it seems as if Chicago never really had a chance in the race. The voting numbers have finally come out:
Chicago was eliminated in the first round of the voting and Tokyo went out in the second round. For Chicago, it wasn't that close: The first-round vote totals showed Madrid with 28, Rio 26, Tokyo 22, and Chicago 18. In the second round, it was Rio 46, Madrid 29, and Tokyo 20, and in the last round, it was Rio 66 and Madrid 32.
To sum up:
"We didn't have a natural constituency," said veteran USOC official and IOC member Bob Ctvrtlik. While Latin American countries presumably voted for winner Rio de Janeiro, Asian countries for Tokyo and many European ones for Madrid, only one other North American country besides the U.S. has a vote on the IOC: Canada.

The weird thing is that somehow Tokyo lost two votes in the second round. That means a couple people (at least) that voted for Tokyo in the first round decided to vote for a different city in the second round. Seems strange...could a Rio or Madrid supporter vote for Tokyo in the first round to purposefully knock Chicago out? Regardless it doesn't matter, just some food for thought.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

No More Hitler = Obama Comments.

At Least Hitler got an Olympics.

Anonymous said...

Top 10 Reason Chicago Did Not Get the Olympics:


10. Dead people can't vote at IOC meetings

9. Obama distracted by 25 min meeting with Gen. McChrystal

8. Who cares if Obama couldn't talk the IOC into Chicago? He'll be able to talk Iran out of nukes.

7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements.

6. Obviously no president would have been able to acomplish it.

5. We've been quite clear and said all along that we didn't want the Olympics.

4. This isn't about the number of Olympics "lost", it's about the number of Olympics "saved" or "created".

3. Clearly not enough wise Latina judges on the committee

2. Because the IOC is racist.

1. It's George Bush's fault.

Lance Uppercut said...

We should be demanding an independent audit of the funds shelled-out while bidding/courting the Olympics . . . if a nickel of taxpayers money was spent, Daley should be jailed.

Chicagoans on both sides of this Olympic issue need to stay focused: Vote Daley and his cronies out.

resident said...

Who are you going to replace him with? The mayoral election is less than 2 years away and not one viable candidate is going to challenge Daley.

Lance Uppercut said...

What kind of an argument is that?

City leadership continues to manhandle the locals and rifle through their pockets . . . are they just supposed to grin and ask for a seconds and thirds?

Daley put all his eggs in this sexy, high-profile basket only to have them crushed under the weight of his own hubris.

I'd love to see a fraction of that energy directed towards a genuine, constituent-oriented, investment in the community that would yield an honest measurable dividend.

Anonymous said...

It's not an argument - it's a factual reality (although, not many people on this blog seem to understand "reality"). Daley will be mayor for as long as he wants. Anyone who disagrees with that is NOT from Chicago and has no idea how things actually work in this city.

Lance Uppercut said...

Your definition of "reality " is fatalistically naive at best.

You may enjoy bending over and taking it like the French but not everyone shares your spineless POV.

Anonymous said...

Ok People lets be serious here. I am an implant from the Detroit area I have been here for 3yrs now and I love this city.
I have been a resident of San Francisco(2yr), London (1yr) and the Detroit area and now Chicago guys this is the best city in my view the cost of living is pretty good compare to NY and SF.
As far as Mayor Daley is concerned compare to other mayors in the Midwest the man is doing a good job the city is clean, fun and a world class city but unfortunately most people have no idea how fun Chicago is as a city. I had no idea until I came here for a business meeting and fell in love with the place and moved here and to me this is the best place.
The Olympics would have exposed the city to tourism for years to come now it's gone I think they should have an advertisement campaign in Europe and Asia to show off this great city, remember to make money you need to spend money.
I hear some people trashing Millenium park I heard it was a pretty nasty hole before Daley spent 300 million on this park so what it was over budget it's beautiful.
We have parks in this city that compare to Paris I visit Paris every year by the way Buckingham fountain is a copy of the fountains of Versaille, the Metra entrance on MI ave is a copy of the Metro entrance in Paris.
People please before being a critic give an alternative ask the people in Detroit how jealous they are of your great city.
To all the Daley critics remember what Chicago was like before he was Mayor nobody lived in this city at least that's what everybody tells me.
Unfortunately too many people have a shallow midwestern mentality over here they think everybody knows about Chicago when it's not true, outside of the US people know NY, LA, Miami not really Chicago it's time to start an advertisement campaign to solve this, we don't need the olympics it would have been nice but we can do it without.
A human does not apreciate what he or she has until you take it away from them.
As Daniel Burham said it "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized."

Anonymous said...

Chicago is the single most heavily-taxed city in the Nation . . . we're not getting much bang for our buck.

Chicago is NOT a world-class city and comparing it to NYC or SF is simply not a 1:1 parallel.

Chicago is a very livable city and I'd like to keep it that way with minimal "Disney-fication".

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you're actually comparing Chicago to Detroit! That, in and by itself, is an insult to Chicago. However, I do agree that the violence, poverty/welfare, gangs, and murder rate per capita are creeping close to Detroit's.

Anonymous said...

Dude Chicago is a much better city than both NY or SF if you dislike it so much maybe you should move out.
I left SF because I hated the damn place too expensive. By the way my paycheck with the same salary after tax was UP after I moved here from SF have you ever heard of CA SUI TAX you want to talk about Tax move to CA then let me know. The Tax here is the Sales tax not income tax.
You want to talk about crime per capita Chicago is not even on the top 5 in the US but it's not an excuse it should be better.
You are just an ignorant midwestern suburbia mentality you need to start traveling the world and you can appreciate what you have.
For your info I have travel to outside the US:
Bangkok, London, Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Tokyo, Mexico city, Shanghai and RIO now you want to talk about crime go visit Rio lets hope you don't get kidnapped.

Anonymous said...

So if Chicago is not a world Class city what is a world class City????
For your info SF is just lucky that Oakland is not part of the same city it's a tiny over priced city.
NY is a dirty city and it smells.
Rome and Paris are great but dirty and smells like piss.
You really need to start traveling.