In bid blame game, point fingers here

[IndianaGreen]

In bid blame game, point fingers here

John Kass

October 4, 2009

Chicago politicians, politically connected contractors, trucking bosses, Mayor Richard Daley's nephews and other wide-eyed idealists need somebody to blame for their humiliating loss of the 2016 Olympics.

So blame me. I'll wear the jacket and make my friend the mayor happy. Why?

I've been a supreme idiot for opposing the mayor's Olympics and all that noncynical fun.

Sure, the taxpayers were worried about digging into their pockets for Olympian cost overruns, just so the politicians could hand out Olympic gold to their friends. But upon reflection, I fear that I've stupidly cost myself oodles of cash.

My God, what have I done?

Just before Chicago's embarrassing fourth-place finish in the Olympics sweepstakes in Copenhagen on Friday, my young friend Wings and I were about to make a killing in the T- shirt business. We were set to order hundreds of thousands, and sell them at a ridiculously high markup, The Chicago Way.

On the front, the shirt would have said, in the official Olympics script, "Chicago 2016."

And on the back?

"Terre Haute 2020."

Why?

As every Chicago politician knows, Terre Haute, Ind., is home to a federal prison. That's where a few would be tossed after boodling their way to Olympic fortunes. And why 2020? That's how long it would take for grand juries to do their work.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-04-oct04,0,7539028.column