Extinguish the Torch!
Dashiell Bennett of Deadspin understands what's really at stake in tomorrow's International Olympic Committee vote to select a host city for the 2016 summer games:
Four cities are vying for the right to punish their own citizens with higher taxes, crippling transportation problems, and acres of over-priced and underused infrastructure projects that will blight the landscape for decades to come. Let the torch burn bright!
Politicians, wealthy businessmen, and other "civic leaders" love to brag about the jobs and income that hosting an Olympics creates. And it will create income--for politicians, wealthy businessmen, and civic leaders. For everyone else, it's mostly a giant headache. They get eminent domain lawsuits and obnoxious construction snafus and in exchange they get pop-up souvenir stores and sporting events they can't afford to tickets to. Yet, the city fathers will bend over backwards to bring it to them. Higher, faster, stronger, people!
Comments (9)
Gil
Don't forget the modern Olympic torch was started by the Nazis.
Published: October 1, 2009 9:53 PM
Rob
Here, here. Much of the money for the London olympics is coming from the national lotto fund, which ordinarily supports charities. I do not fully support the lotto setup, but at least the money was going to things that have a chance of doing some good.
Published: October 2, 2009 3:40 AM
Beefcake the Mighty
Gil:
Relevance?
Published: October 2, 2009 6:59 AM
DJF
If they are going to have the Olympics they need to settle on one spot so they would not have to spend lots of money on new building in each “winning“ city. Greece would be a good one since they just had the Olympics a few years ago so they have already spent the money on infrastructure and so any subsequent Olympics would not have to spend massive amounts of money on little used buildings. They could also learn from each Olympics and so lessen the problems that come about from one off events
But this won’t happen since too much money is made by the government and insider connected businesses from the traveling circus called the Olympics
Published: October 2, 2009 7:02 AM
Oh well!
Chicago lost out.
Good luck to whichever nation wins.
Obama felt qualified to go and bid for the venue because his bowling scores would qualify him for the special olympics.
He does get a gold medal in wasting taxpayers money though.
Published: October 2, 2009 11:56 AM
Rio Wins!
We can learn at least two things from this Obama trip:
1)the IOC is rascist.
2)This was George Bush and the republican's fault.
Published: October 2, 2009 12:45 PM
Bill Jones
Why anyone thinks that putting a few more billions of dollars at the disposal of perhaps the most corrupt (it's a tightly fought contest) political regime is a good idea, is beyond me.
Published: October 2, 2009 4:48 PM
Gil
How that make the Olympics look when they continue to display a symbol started by the Nazis?
Published: October 2, 2009 9:59 PM
Russ
The torch *relay* was started by the Nazis, but the torch itself was from ancient times, and was reintroduced in the 1928 Summer Games in Amsterdam (according to Wikipedia).
Published: October 2, 2009 10:38 PM