This just in...

So the word on the street (and by street I mean NBC Channel 5 and Brian Williams on the national news) is that my homegirl, Michelle Obama, will be repping my adopted town's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games in Copenhagen next month for the big vote. In Brian's words, it's a "last ditch effort" to "go all out" before the Olympic Committee makes it's decision next month.

As a world traveler, I'd like to share with you my theory on why Chicago should (and BETTER!) win the 2016 Olympic Bid.

The competition:

Rio de Janiero: seriously, of all places I ever visited, this one was the biggest disappointment, by far. I felt HUMONGOR sadness during my trip. Brazil is straight up unsafe, y'all. The country features, among huge disparity between the rich and poor, these lovely things called favelas, that are worse than a Detroit ghetto. And there was one that I could look out upon from my hotel room balcony. And could hear gun shots from. Favelas are everywhere. The travesty that is the sewage dumping into Ipanema beach is a whole 'nother story, but if they win the games, maybe they'll work on cleaning that up? Either way, generally, the Olympics need to be held in a place where people feel that it's safe to walk on the streets. That kind of safety does not so much exist in Rio. I was strictly instructed by the senior mamas and papas (flight attendants that regularly fly the trip) not to go anywhere alone, not wear any jewelry, not to go in the water, and most definitely not to go anywhere alone at night. This was the only city in the world where anyone told me anything remotely like that. *and I did also go to Buenos Aires, so it's not just a Latin America thing. It's a Brazil thing. Wikipedia favelas and read up if you don't believe me.* But back to my point. If there's one thing the Olympics trips out about, it's safety and after the Beijing volleyball coach family incident, I can only assume that the committee is even more conscientious about it.

Tokyo: didn't we just have an Olympics in Nagano, like 10 minutes ago? And the last Olympics were in China (Asia representation)... NEXT!

Madrid: ok, this is probably Chicago's only competition. But Spain is a small country with smallish representation at the Olympics and they had a recent Olympics in Barcelona. I realize that we had the summer games in Atlanta since then, but we're talking powerhouse-medal-front-running USA vs. Spain (did they win any medals in Beijing?) here. Plus, the Olympics between now and then is in London so that is the Euro representation.


See, it's a no-brainer. Go Chicago 2016!

*wow, I am a little more ethnocentric than I thought, eh? Of course Spain won some medals in Beijing. The Olympics brings out a little patriotic snarkyness in me, I guess.*