Chicago Aims Big, but at What Cost?

Editor's note: This is an updated version of an earlier column.

COPENHAGEN -- Forgetting the need for prim-and-proper behavior, the staid, stuffy members of the International Olympic Committee broke from protocol today. They grabbed their cell phones in the Bella Center and took photos of President Obama, confirming that they view him as a rock star. Whether this translated into Chicago landing the 2016 Games would be known in a few hours, but clearly, Obama can charm the world without saying much or staying very long.

"I urge you to choose Chicago," he told the voting members during his five-hour stay in the Danish capital. "And if you do -- if we walk this path together -- then I promise you this: The city of Chicago and the United States of America will make the world proud.''

He sounded, as GOP House leader John Boehner has complaned, like a parochial homer. "He's the president of the United States, not the mayor of Chicago,'' the Ohio Republican said. Would Obama have come to Denmark if another city were bidding and not his hometown? Probably not. But he had to make the journey, noting the success of London and Sochi, Russia, when Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin made face-to-face IOC
pitches.

"You see, growing up, my family moved around a lot. And I never really had roots in any one place or culture or ethnic group,'' Obama told the voters. "Then I came to Chicago. And on those Chicago streets, I worked alongside men and women who were black and white, Latino and Asian, people of every class and nationality and religion. I came to discover that Chicago is that most American of American cities, one where citizens from more than 130 nations inhabit a rich tapestry of distinctive neighborhoods.

"Each one of those neighborhoods -- from Greektown to the Ukrainian Village; from Devon to Pilsen to Washington Park -- has its own unique character, history, song, and sometimes language. But each is also a part of our city -- one city -- a city where I finally found a home.Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different just as we celebrate what we have in common. It's a place where our unity is on colorful display at so many festivals, parades, and especially sporting events, where perfect strangers become fast friends at the sight of the same jersey. It's a city that works -- from its first World's Fair more than a century ago to the World Cup we hosted in the nineties, we know how to put on big events. And scores of visitors and spectators will tell you that we do it well."

Did he lack a certain energy? Yes, perhaps understandable after an all-night flight. But the question was whether his mere appearance would be enough to land the bid. The words sold themselves. "It's not just the American dream that is the Olympic spirit; it's the essence of the Olympic spirit, and that's why we see so much of ourselves in these Games," he said. "That's why we want them in Chicago, that's why we want them in America."

Later, he praised the Chicago 2016 committee and didn't make the Republicans happy when he said of the video that was shown to IOC members, "It made me miss home.'' As for the critics who have made an issue of Obama spending a morning in Copenhagen with so much else on his presidential plate, his chief of staff had a retort.

"You know,'' Rahm Emanuel said, we'll make sure they get some good seats once Chicago does host the Games.''

After years of talk, there was nothing left to say. Let the voting begin.

Through the halls of the Opera House, where only the security presence was heavier than the tension, a buzz circulated Thursday night that Chicago is the favorite to win the 2016 Olympics. You'd think the news would thrill a black-tie-only ballet crowd ranging from the first lady, Michelle Obama, to the mayor, Richard Daley, to the queen of pop culture, Oprah Winfrey, who continues her grand mission to speak with every known person in Copenhagen -- Olympic voter or hotel doorman or otherwise.

But wisely, all are cautious. They know where they come from, after all. They know what tends to happen when Chicago expects a victory in formal competition.

Crash!

"This is a very tough election,'' said Daley, the gimme-a-beer guy who seems out of place amid the stuffy aristocracy of the International Olympic Committee. "These are very competitive cities and countries. They're as passionate and enthusiastic about their cities as we are. Anything can happen up until the last minute.''

He would know. Anyone who has experienced Chicago understands why being a frontrunner isn't necessarily a good thing here. When a team is favored to win in that city, chances are it will lose -- especially when the team is the Cubs. The civic dread has led to what I call Ohhhhh-Nooooo Syndrome, an impending doom currently embodied by Steve Bartman, the poor soul who didn't concede a fly ball to Moises Alou when the Cubs were five outs from the National League pennant and ... you know the rest. For all the passion and hope people pour so dutifully into their five sports teams, there often is little return from that investment -- no World Series titles in 101 years for the Cubs, one World Series title in 92 years for the White Sox, one NFL championship in 45 years for the Bears, no Stanley Cups in 48 years for the Blackhawks.

Which is one reason why a massive Midwestern metropolis, arguably the most architecturally immaculate and relentlessly fun in America, has been stuck with the strangest of afflictions. Whisper it, because the natives don't like hearing it, but Chicago has a major inferiority complex. Part of it is the longstanding Second City stigma that comes with a larger and more savvy New York looking down its nose at the Windy City, but more than that, it's a place that really needs to win and win big. Sure, the Bulls won six NBA trophies in the '90s, but the sense always has been that Michael Jordan -- who isn't coming to Denmark, probably because he's busy building a 37,942-square-foot home in south Florida -- was a rent-an-icon who happened to drop down from the heavens and wasn't necessarily a Chicagoan in spirit. To this day, Mike Ditka is a rousingly more popular local celebrity, a man's-man football hero in a testosterone-driven town with a steak house just off the so-called Viagra Triangle, where men of his age go to party.

So maybe two Chicago women can get it done, huh? Just so we have it straight, the O in Copenhagen is for Oprah and Obama, two confident forces trying to do what male athletes have struggled to do for decades: bring a championship to Chicago. The Danish capital is a pleasantly beautiful town with a laid-back sensibility, but you'd never know it the way they're ogling over the Os and their pro-Chicago lobbying. "It's a seven-year party,'' said Ms. Winfrey, "and the party could start tomorrow.''

"Oprah is Oprah, what more do you have to say?'' said Mrs. Obama, who met individually with IOC voters who anxiously await her husband's arrival Friday morning. "Every city that is bidding wishes it had Oprah.''

When they ask why Chicago even would want the Olympics -- and a lot of people are doing just that, with support dwindling to 47 percent in a Chicago Tribune/WGN poll last month -- the answer involves identity and pride. As I write this, Chicago is not a worldly city as much as the fourth-best-known American town globally, behind New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. By noon Central time Friday, it suddenly could be the most talked-about city on the planet, no longer associated with Al Capone, hog butchers and, well, Jordan. That's what the Olympic
brand can do: change an image forever, as Barack Obama did in his own way during an Election Night speech in Grant Park. And that's why Michelle Obama was nearly moved to tears when she talked about her first Olympic TV experience -- watching gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who is here on behalf of the Chicago bid, compete in the 1976 Games. She wonders if Chicago children in less-privileged areas would be equally inspired if the Games were staged down the street in seven years.

"I thought I could do that. I didn't know then that I'd grow to 5-11,'' Mrs. Obama said of Comaneci's perfect performance. "I remember being inspired by people who were doing things beyond belief. I just think now, 'Wouldn't it be great if that kind of spirit was happening right down the street in our community? Kids in communities across the city -- in Austin, kids who grew up in Cabrini (Green), kids who live so far from the city -- just imagine if all of that was happening right in their own backyard. That's what I think about. They can never dream of being that close to such power and opportunity. So that's what excites me most about bringing the Games to Chicago, the impact it can have on the lives of our young people and our community. We have put together a phenomenal set of ideas that no matter what the outcome is, we should be proud of as a city.''

Said Winfrey of her longtime friend: "She was born in Chicago. She grew up in Chicago. She started her career in Chicago. She met her husband in Chicago. She began her family in Chicago ... she loves Chicago.''

Which is all very sweet, nice and well-intended. But just because the Games might come to Chicago doesn't mean they'll automatically turn the city into an international gem. Atlanta had such a goal in 1996, but no one there was smart enough to figure out transportation or sophisticated enough keep a flea-market environment off the streets. When a bomb exploded in Centennial Park, killing a woman and leaving blood on the park bricks, Atlanta's legacy was doomed. I've written often that I'd prefer Chicago, where I live, not host the Games in an
age of terrorism.

Then there's the financial issue. At $4.8 billion, the Chicago plan seems to be fairly grounded in a plan involving existing infrastructure. But didn't Daley say all along that no public funding would be involved -- until abrutply changing his tune two months ago under pressure from the IOC? Originally, the London 2012 folks said the public would pay little for the Games; now, the public funding package has soared to $13 blllion. Vancouver already is $37 million in the hole, not a healthy situation with Opening Ceremonies still more than four months away. The 2014 Winter Games, in the Russian resort town of Sochi, now might spent $33 billion -- three times more than originally budgeted. Athens was a creative success in 2004, but the city is stuck with a final bill of $12 billion and 21 of the 22 Olympic venues are sitting unused. Beijing spent ungodly sums last year, but in the Communist land of China, isn't held accountable for wasteful spending. Remember the Montreal Games watched by Michelle Obama in 1976? They weren't paid off until 2006. So how much of this is a big lie? Most of it, actually.

The IOC, of course, prints money via the insane TV fees it extracts from countries. That's why president Jacques Rogge and the boys could host an extravagant pre-vote program at the Opera House, where the host uttered obnoxiously, "The Olympic Games is for elitists -- and so is ballet.'' They're just taking their circus to the town
where they can make the most money and have the fewest headaches.

That town, apparently, will be Chicago. If so, the inferiority complex goes away immediately.

But at what cost?