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Olympics Fri Feb 20 2009
Sports & Politics: Rick Telander on the Olympics
The Sun-Times' sports columnist asks, "Is the five ring Olympic circus worth it?" (Hint: No.)
Oh, and folks, you never have seen the intrusion of security and all its muscle until you have been to an Olympics. Hidden cameras, patrol boats, armed guards and blockades will be your summer pals.
Remember, you can watch the Olympics on TV like billions of other global viewers, wherever the competition is held. But when the stuff occurs in your backyard, you are but pawns in the drama.
London, which has the Games in 2012, already has hinted it wished it didn't.
And Vancouver, which hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics, has been forced to borrow $350 million -- taxpayer-backed -- to guarantee shaky event financing.
Last March there was a Chicago Olympics fund-raising dinner at which tables sold for as much as $100,000. Were you there? Were you paying up?
Somebody was.
Which leads me to the key question: Who owns the Chicago 2016 Olympics, if they happen?
Can you hear the snorting and grunting of the porcine-snouted wheeler-dealers as they jockey for position for when the five-ringed money -- let's face it, your money -- comes roaring down the chute?
I can.
