For months and years, Chicago has flirted with the notion of hosting the 2016 Olympics. There have been plenty of hypotheses, some founded and some unfounded, about what the games would mean for the city of Chicago. If all goes well, those plans will have a chance to be tested.

In the meantime, first things first -- Chicago officially submitted its bid today in a ceremony at Jesse Owens Community Academy on the South Side:

Students from Jesse Owens Community Academy on the South Side waved handcrafted paper stars and provided the backdrop for the symbolic send-off of Chicago's "bid book" submission for the 2016 Olympic Games. [...] Mayor Richard Daley addressed the lively crowd, predicting that winning the bid would "leave a lasting legacy of affordable housing and athletic facilities." Chicago's $1.1 billion Olympic Village would be built on the Near South Side on the soon-to-close Michael Reese Hospital site, which the city agreed last month to buy for $86 million.

The bid book is 560 pages long, which, if our math is correct, clocks in at just slightly longer than Infinite Jest and slightly shorter than the Bible. Good times! We wonder which intern gets to parse through Madrid, Tokyo, and Rio De Janiero's bid books. That job's a keeper.

In any case, Daley made the common reassurance that the economy will not prevent the city from hosting the Games, which is good to know. It's also good to know people think the economy will still be this bad in seven years. That's really reassuring.

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