Is everyone sitting down? And yes we realize that's a stupid question considering that you're all reading this at the computer so of course you're sitting down, but run with it. Anyways, we have some big, big news to relate to you: SF has been chosen to represent the U.S. for the 2016 Olympics! Or at least, that's what all the headlines say. The reality is that we're merely still in the running along with LA and Chicago as Houston and Philadelphia were dropped from consideration. Wah...wah...sucks to be you.
If you're waiting with baited breath to see if we become an Olympic city, don't. The USOC will decide first whether to even put together a bid in the fall (they're not sure if they want to because, frankly, who wants the hassle?). Then they'll figure out which bid to go with sometime next spring. And the Olympic Committee won't even make the decision until 2009 and gosh, that's a long time from now. We want our instant gratification and we want it now!
As for the bid itself, Gavin gave some dint of his Olympic plans in an interview with the Chron in which he talked about leveraging all the new Olympic buildings that would have to be built and use it for other things, like housing or a new stadium for the Niners. This is pretty much par for the Olympic course, telling people all the joyous rewards they'll get if they say yes to the games.
Lest you think all of this is going to go smoothly without nary a peep from the Board of Supes, Gerardo Sandoval peeped. He wants a ballot measure saying that no bid for the Olympics should be allowed without long discussions, debate, and an eventual proposition that the city would have to vote on. Like most things in the city, we think it's a great idea to hold all of this to debate and to a vote, especialy something as huge as the Olympics. And like most things in the city, we shudder to think about what will happen if we hold all of this to debate and to a vote.
Eh, who cares. By 2009 when all of this will be official, SFist will have been bought out by SFGate by then and we'll be too busy blowing our severance packages on upside margaritas at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo to care about any of this.
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The sfgate buy out made me laugh so hard. That's a big assumption-that sfgate will even be around in years from now.
In the front page Chron article, it said the Olypic Commtte was looking for a a city with an "international" reputation. I thought the article was ironic cause it seems like such a parochial acheivement for the Chron to be boasting about and putting on its front page. I doubt the same news made front-page copy at the NY Times when NYC got this far in its bid for the 2012 games. The Times knows it reps an "international" city and helps make NYC that type of city by NOT putting silly "golly gee, we're a real city now" articles in its paper. The Chron is as goofy and irrelavent as the Salt Lake Tribune.
If you wait for something with baited breath, people may well wonder what you have baited it with. The correct phrase is bated breath, which comes from the verb bate, meaning “to lessen or restrain,” as in “To his dying day he bated his breath a little when he told the story” (George Eliot).
Sorry, this is a pet peeve of mine.