So Rio gets the Olympics in 2016.I had not realized that, with the exception of Australia, that no country in the Southern Hemisphere had hosted the Olympics, so I'm glad, out of fairness, to see Rio get its due. And I'm also kind of glad that Chicago didn't win, and, in fact, got tossed out in the first round of voting. It's another nation's turn.
So Oprah and the president get to go home sad. I'd feel bad about that if I weren't laughing just a little bit. Sure, bring on the hard-hitters, including Miss Self-Aggrandizement Through Humility and Barack Savior Obama, Beacon of a New America. I'm glad Rio had Lula and that obscure but fitting rule of geographic fairness fighting for it.
I don't understand how the Olympics can be an economically good idea for cities. Sure, it's an impetus to get taxpayer money -- and more taxpayer money through federal governments - for sports arenas and mass transportation, but it seems like a lot of money spent to get maybe enough money to pay for the balloons and confetti used at the opening ceremonies. The cities get sports arenas and roads the taxpayers still have to pay for, and, briefly, get an influx of international tourists. But it don't last long.
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