Win or lose, there will be plenty of blame to go around for Chicago's Olympic bid.
In fact, if Chicago wins the Games we'll have seven years to blame the various parties involved for the inevitable unfolding of scandal, corruption, overruns, broken promises and headaches beyond our imagination.
If Chicago loses the Games, we'll have about seven days to chew out the appropriate parties before the next routine scandal refocuses our attention and all that wasted time and money is forgotten.
Let's get started early.
WHO TO BLAME IF THE CITY WINS THE BID:
1. Mayor Richard M. Daley. This is his folly, first and foremost. His legacy will indeed be sealed - a legacy of contract corruption and cronyism.
2. President Barack Obama. He's vouching for Daley and the rest of his tentacled Machine, including the gang in the White House. He wouldn't be in Copenhagen if the American bidder was Houston 2016.
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3. The media. Total fail.
4. Governor Pat Quinn. The old Pat Quinn would've been calling daily press conferences denouncing the Games and traveled to Copenhagen with the No Games Chicago delegation. Instead, he's there with his new team, the old enemy.
5. The Chicago City Council. Total fail.
WHO TO BLAME IF THE CITY LOSES THE BID:
1. Mayor Richard M. Daley. This is his folly, first and foremost. If he fails to bring home the Games, he's failed epically.
2. President Barack Obama. He just didn't spend enough time schmoozing IOC members. Stupid health care.
3. The media. Assigning more reporters to the bid than to our children dying in the streets every day was hardly enough.
4. Rio. Even if Madrid or Tokyo gets the Games, Rio will be viewed as the spoilsport for having the gall to be a beautiful, if flawed, city with many gorgeous assets and a bankroll seemingly more unlimited than ours.
5. Pat Ryan. You call those insurance policies?
Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.
Check out NBCChicago's full coverage of the Olympic Bid here.
