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Chicago Loses, Nerds Win: The real story behind Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid

54 points by brandnewlow 17y ago

brandnewlow 17y ago
Hey HN. I wrote this for Slate today and wanted to share it with you as it breaks down the conflict in Chicago over their own Olympic bid, good-government geeks on one side, pro-tourism jocks on the other.
- tptacek 17y ago
  Great article. I'd love to hear more about what it's like to try to get pieces in Slate, if you ever get bored and want something career-negative to write about. I thought it ended a little abruptly, though.
  - brandnewlow 17y ago
    Much like Chicago's bid.
- biohacker42 17y ago
  What I found most interesting is the detailed analysis of the expect costs and benefits. What I strongly disliked is how it was cast in jocks vs nerds theater. I understand that Slate's readership isn't HN's readership, and that just the facts aren't enough, that there needs to be some kind of emotional story to hold the reader's attention. But is jocks vs nerds really it? Is that the most interesting thing? Wouldn't a more generic dreamers vs. hard nosed realists be something a wider audience can identify with? Perhaps you're also looking for strong passion, not just the widest general interest? But even in that case, the jocks vs nerds cliche? Nerds hate any kind of sports related activity so much they won't even allow their home city to host the Olympics? It just feels tired and forced. But the economic analysis was great.
  - scott_s 17y ago
    I came here to say just that. It's a juvenile classification system that thoughtful people ditch once they leave high school. I had difficulty pushing my strong dislike of that characterization aside so I could understand the good analysis of the downsides of Chicago hosting the 2016 Games.
  - jacoblyles 17y ago
    I wonder if the same people opposing the Olympics would oppose, say, an economically dubious high-speed rail line?
    - hughprime 17y ago
      I would! I can't speak for anyone else, though.
  - lurkinggrue 17y ago
    The nerd angle seemed a bit forced.
  - brandnewlow 17y ago
    Great points! I understand the dislike for "jocks vs. nerds" theater, however: a) It's more immediate than dreamers vs. realists. Everyone can relate to jocks vs. nerds , even if it ticks them off (as in your case). Doesn't PG have several essays breaking down the jocks vs. nerds divide? b) That's my read on the situation, having hosted dozens and dozens of debates about the Olympics over on my site, WindyCitizen.com. The whole jocks v. nerds angle actually originated in a thread over there. A few local bloggers picked up on it, which got me thinking about it as a great way to explain why both sides could say so much and yet hear so little. c) It's funny. If you don't find it funny, that's perfectly fine. I and the editors there were busting up about it when I pitched it to them. Extending the metaphor out to include Obama was too perfect. Learning the head of the bid committee is part owner of the Chicago Bears made my day. Thank you for reading the piece. I respect and understand it wasn't your cup of tea and thank you for telling me so on here.
  - chrischen 17y ago
    > What I strongly disliked is how it was cast in jocks vs nerds theater. I agree. I don't like those terms because well, they are labels. And in the article jocks and nerds were essentially, for lack of better terms, dumb and smart people.
- projectileboy 17y ago
  Nice work, but the attached photo gallery ("Olympic Village") is an absolute mess - the photos didn't follow the theme, and some of the pictures were downright horrible (the TV shot from the '84 Olympics - what was that??). You might mention it to your editor. But again, nice article.
noodle 17y ago
p.s.: rio won the bid for 2016.
bilbo0s 17y ago
I'm sorry . . . But the comic in the right hand column of that Slate Article is awesome. That is SO Chicago.
- tptacek 17y ago
  The comics rotate. Which one were you looking at?
  - bilbo0s 17y ago
    The one with Obama at the podium, flanked by two mafia guys with tommy guns. And he says something to the effect of, 'Like we Chicagoans always say, vote early, and vote often!'
    - tptacek 17y ago
      It is definitely annoying that every time I go downstairs to buy coffee, I have to thread my way around angry looking mafia guys with Tommy Guns and bribe the barista.
      - pasbesoin 17y ago
        Ha. In a previous corporate position, senior management was flipped to some East Coast "fixers". They started whacking jobs left and right. They felt the need to be on site, rather than remaining out east, but apparently feared for their lives or well-being during this blood bath. So... they holed up in one wing of the building, and installed armed guards in the lobby. Every time I went in or out, I was walking past armed guards. (I realize a significant fraction of people here may have that, but for a bland corporate job?) Fortunately, the guards were decent fellows, once you got to know them (and working a lot of evenings and weekends, I got to know them). Neither angry nor armed with fully automatic weapons. But then this was the genteel suburbs; might have been different if we were downtown. ;-)
edw519 17y ago
I'll become interested in the Olympics when they add programming to it. I've been an aspiring prograthelete for years, but alas, the Olympics still doesn't have the most grueling sport of all: the prograthelon, 36 consecutive hours of mind blowing competition: 1. IDE Finger Gymnastics 2. 100 Lines-Of-Code Dash 3. Individual Text Editor Medley 4. Regular Expression Datelifting 5. Greco-Roman Webpage Translation 6. Modern Compiling 7. Databaseball 8. Hackstroke 9. Printer Throw 10. Debugging Marathon
- gaius 17y ago
  You forgot race condition :-P
- rikthevik 17y ago
  Don't forget the longjmp.
- tome 17y ago
  Exception throwing.
dschobel 17y ago
Interesting article. I wish it would have addressed the go-to stat of the pro-Olympics crowd here in Chicago, namely that no Summer Olympics has lost money since '84.
- hughprime 17y ago
  Really? I heard that no summer Olympics in history had ever made money except for 1984. I expect it's one of those creative accounting things where you can come up with pretty much any number you like.
pasbesoin 17y ago
In all the commentary so far (e.g. on Chicago's WBEZ public radio, playing in the background), I haven't heard a single mention of the hassle it has become for many people to visit the U.S. I've seen this point made many places, including in comments on this site, particularly a year or two ago. I've heard it from friends and acquaintances. I don't know whether it would have influenced the decision at all -- my ill-informed impression is that many of those decision makers don't travel in such a "plebian" manner. But I've been wondering. Given what I've heard, if I were a non-U.S. representative casting my vote, I'd take it into consideration. Overall, but again without having paid particular attention, the Rio decision makes sense to me. South America has not seen much of the Games. Brazil is an up and coming power. Much of the world is weary of the excesses of U.S. hegemony (the excesses, as opposed to the entire role of the U.S.), even if it did in general take some heart in Obama's election. Perhaps, also, this is a leading indicator of a decline in the need to kiss the U.S.'s posterior.
- jvdh 17y ago
  Even those non-US citizens who fly business class still have to go through the same line with the same stoic DHS servant asking the same questions they ask everyone in the same non-interested manner.
  - iohnuiob 17y ago
    But they will throw out those billionaires that arrive on their own jet. http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/43 http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/43 Remember HN readers you can't enter the US under visa waiver in your own Learjet, but we all knew that didn't we?
    - santamaria 17y ago
      Now imagine you're not a billionaire in your own Lear. The Games are supposed to be a symbol of international spirit. How could America even hope to win them? You can't claim to be "exceptional" and above the rest of the community, then ask that same community for support. America was tolerated before, because it had money. Now it has less money, and the cracks are beginning to show.
balding_n_tired 17y ago
Denver actually bailed out of a commitment to host the Olympics 30-odd years ago: http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/millennium/1012stone.shtml http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/millennium/1012stone.sht...

54 points by brandnewlow 17y ago

Hey HN. I wrote this for Slate today and wanted to share it with you as it breaks down the conflict in Chicago over their own Olympic bid, good-government geeks on one side, pro-tourism jocks on the other.

tptacek 17y ago
Great article. I'd love to hear more about what it's like to try to get pieces in Slate, if you ever get bored and want something career-negative to write about. I thought it ended a little abruptly, though.
- brandnewlow 17y ago
  Much like Chicago's bid.
biohacker42 17y ago
What I found most interesting is the detailed analysis of the expect costs and benefits. What I strongly disliked is how it was cast in jocks vs nerds theater. I understand that Slate's readership isn't HN's readership, and that just the facts aren't enough, that there needs to be some kind of emotional story to hold the reader's attention. But is jocks vs nerds really it? Is that the most interesting thing? Wouldn't a more generic dreamers vs. hard nosed realists be something a wider audience can identify with? Perhaps you're also looking for strong passion, not just the widest general interest? But even in that case, the jocks vs nerds cliche? Nerds hate any kind of sports related activity so much they won't even allow their home city to host the Olympics? It just feels tired and forced. But the economic analysis was great.
- scott_s 17y ago
  I came here to say just that. It's a juvenile classification system that thoughtful people ditch once they leave high school. I had difficulty pushing my strong dislike of that characterization aside so I could understand the good analysis of the downsides of Chicago hosting the 2016 Games.
- jacoblyles 17y ago
  I wonder if the same people opposing the Olympics would oppose, say, an economically dubious high-speed rail line?
  - hughprime 17y ago
    I would! I can't speak for anyone else, though.
- lurkinggrue 17y ago
  The nerd angle seemed a bit forced.
- brandnewlow 17y ago
  Great points! I understand the dislike for "jocks vs. nerds" theater, however: a) It's more immediate than dreamers vs. realists. Everyone can relate to jocks vs. nerds , even if it ticks them off (as in your case). Doesn't PG have several essays breaking down the jocks vs. nerds divide? b) That's my read on the situation, having hosted dozens and dozens of debates about the Olympics over on my site, WindyCitizen.com. The whole jocks v. nerds angle actually originated in a thread over there. A few local bloggers picked up on it, which got me thinking about it as a great way to explain why both sides could say so much and yet hear so little. c) It's funny. If you don't find it funny, that's perfectly fine. I and the editors there were busting up about it when I pitched it to them. Extending the metaphor out to include Obama was too perfect. Learning the head of the bid committee is part owner of the Chicago Bears made my day. Thank you for reading the piece. I respect and understand it wasn't your cup of tea and thank you for telling me so on here.
- chrischen 17y ago
  > What I strongly disliked is how it was cast in jocks vs nerds theater. I agree. I don't like those terms because well, they are labels. And in the article jocks and nerds were essentially, for lack of better terms, dumb and smart people.
projectileboy 17y ago
Nice work, but the attached photo gallery ("Olympic Village") is an absolute mess - the photos didn't follow the theme, and some of the pictures were downright horrible (the TV shot from the '84 Olympics - what was that??). You might mention it to your editor. But again, nice article.

noodle 17y ago

p.s.: rio won the bid for 2016.

bilbo0s 17y ago

I'm sorry . . . But the comic in the right hand column of that Slate Article is awesome. That is SO Chicago.

tptacek 17y ago
The comics rotate. Which one were you looking at?
- bilbo0s 17y ago
  The one with Obama at the podium, flanked by two mafia guys with tommy guns. And he says something to the effect of, 'Like we Chicagoans always say, vote early, and vote often!'
  - tptacek 17y ago
    It is definitely annoying that every time I go downstairs to buy coffee, I have to thread my way around angry looking mafia guys with Tommy Guns and bribe the barista.
    - pasbesoin 17y ago
      Ha. In a previous corporate position, senior management was flipped to some East Coast "fixers". They started whacking jobs left and right. They felt the need to be on site, rather than remaining out east, but apparently feared for their lives or well-being during this blood bath. So... they holed up in one wing of the building, and installed armed guards in the lobby. Every time I went in or out, I was walking past armed guards. (I realize a significant fraction of people here may have that, but for a bland corporate job?) Fortunately, the guards were decent fellows, once you got to know them (and working a lot of evenings and weekends, I got to know them). Neither angry nor armed with fully automatic weapons. But then this was the genteel suburbs; might have been different if we were downtown. ;-)

edw519 17y ago

I'll become interested in the Olympics when they add programming to it. I've been an aspiring prograthelete for years, but alas, the Olympics still doesn't have the most grueling sport of all: the prograthelon, 36 consecutive hours of mind blowing competition: 1. IDE Finger Gymnastics 2. 100 Lines-Of-Code Dash 3. Individual Text Editor Medley 4. Regular Expression Datelifting 5. Greco-Roman Webpage Translation 6. Modern Compiling 7. Databaseball 8. Hackstroke 9. Printer Throw 10. Debugging Marathon

gaius 17y ago
You forgot race condition :-P
rikthevik 17y ago
Don't forget the longjmp.
tome 17y ago
Exception throwing.

dschobel 17y ago

Interesting article. I wish it would have addressed the go-to stat of the pro-Olympics crowd here in Chicago, namely that no Summer Olympics has lost money since '84.

hughprime 17y ago
Really? I heard that no summer Olympics in history had ever made money except for 1984. I expect it's one of those creative accounting things where you can come up with pretty much any number you like.

pasbesoin 17y ago

In all the commentary so far (e.g. on Chicago's WBEZ public radio, playing in the background), I haven't heard a single mention of the hassle it has become for many people to visit the U.S. I've seen this point made many places, including in comments on this site, particularly a year or two ago. I've heard it from friends and acquaintances. I don't know whether it would have influenced the decision at all -- my ill-informed impression is that many of those decision makers don't travel in such a "plebian" manner. But I've been wondering. Given what I've heard, if I were a non-U.S. representative casting my vote, I'd take it into consideration. Overall, but again without having paid particular attention, the Rio decision makes sense to me. South America has not seen much of the Games. Brazil is an up and coming power. Much of the world is weary of the excesses of U.S. hegemony (the excesses, as opposed to the entire role of the U.S.), even if it did in general take some heart in Obama's election. Perhaps, also, this is a leading indicator of a decline in the need to kiss the U.S.'s posterior.

jvdh 17y ago
Even those non-US citizens who fly business class still have to go through the same line with the same stoic DHS servant asking the same questions they ask everyone in the same non-interested manner.
- iohnuiob 17y ago
  But they will throw out those billionaires that arrive on their own jet. http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/43 http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/43 Remember HN readers you can't enter the US under visa waiver in your own Learjet, but we all knew that didn't we?
  - santamaria 17y ago
    Now imagine you're not a billionaire in your own Lear. The Games are supposed to be a symbol of international spirit. How could America even hope to win them? You can't claim to be "exceptional" and above the rest of the community, then ask that same community for support. America was tolerated before, because it had money. Now it has less money, and the cracks are beginning to show.

balding_n_tired 17y ago

Denver actually bailed out of a commitment to host the Olympics 30-odd years ago: http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/millennium/1012stone.shtml http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/millennium/1012stone.sht...