Frank: I guess the presidentreally could have found a better use of his time than flying to Copenhagen and shillingfor his hometown.
Artie: Chicago was dead last among the four choices.I don't get it: Corruption, shady politics, cheating—the place is a perfectmatch for the Olympics!
Frank: Remember, this is the newly"pure" IOC. After all the bribery involved in giving the 2002 WinterGames to Salt Lake City, the IOC was embarrassed to be caught wallowing in themuck. Now the members pretty much stay away from the bidding cities. But thistime, I'd say, they pampered themselves with a little extortion.
Artie: How so?
Frank: In September the IOCpresident, Jacques Rogge, made it clear that his cronies expected some strokingfrom Obama. Rogge said, "I don't think there's an IOC member on the planetthat wouldn't love to meet your president... If he can be persuaded to go, Ithink it makes a huge difference."
Artie: In other words, get yourbutt to Denmark,Barack, or else.
Frank: These IOC fat cats wantedphotos with the president or his wife or Oprah, in lieu of lining theirpockets.
Artie: And then they stuck it to Chicago anyway. What agreat con; the home of The Sting getsstung!
Frank: I thought all along thatObama shouldn't go to Copenhagen.He had many more important issues to worry about—just as he implied on Sept.16, before he changed his mind.
Artie: He's catching hell fromGlenn Beck and other right-wing nuts. But with them, he's always damned if hedoes and damned if he doesn't, ain'a?
Frank: Absolutely. And I'm proudto say I voted for Obama. But I think pandering to the IOC was improper,regardless of the outcome. The Associated Press says it probably cost more thana million bucks for the Air Force One flights, security and whatever otherexpenses. That's our money, and I didn't want it spent that way—any more than Iwanted it spent on a trip to New Yorkto josh with David Letterman. This stuff is not what the nation'sleader should be doing.
Artie: He was acting more like thepresident of Chicago’sChamber of Commerce.
Frank: There was talk about theOlympics boosting the whole country, but how? I'm an American and it wouldn'thave changed my life one bit. I don't care where the Olympics are, as long asthey're on my TV screen.
Artie: I'm glad Riowon because I sure don't want Al Qaeda 90 miles from here. You know they'd becoming in '16 if the target was Chicago.
Frank: Like all Olympic bidders, Chicago expected aneconomic boom. But cities like Montreal and Athens have found that inthe long run, the Games are a bust. Costs always go sky high and the publicultimately gets stuck for the deficits.
Artie: Chicagohad some venues in place, like the United Center and Soldier Field.But during the Games there'd still be baseball with the Cubs and White Sox, andmaybe football season starting up. Think about the traffic. Cripes, you can'tdrive around Chicagoon a regular day!
Frank: No wonder the public was,to say the least, divided on the Olympics, according to all the polls. But Chicago's loss was also Wisconsin's, sort of. The Madison area would have been the venue formany of the cycling events.
Artie: We had the last SummerGames in Beijing.Why have even part of 'em in another Communist territory?
Frank: Are you channeling GlennBeck?
Artie: Hey, the Badgers don't havered as their main color by accident, mister.
Frank: In the end, I think, theRio choice was based on giving the Games to South America for the first time,plus a little bit of "stick it to America." And let's neverforget the self-interest of IOC members; as I heard one pundit say,"They'd rather go to Rio."
Artie: Who wouldn't want to sambawith those babes you see at Carnival, their version of Mardi Gras? And think ofit, Mr. Beach Volleyball Fan—Blame It onRio came out 25 years ago, and Ipanema looked pretty uninhibited then. Godknows how wild that competition will be in '16!
Round 1 Is Favre’s
Frank: A tight deadline keeps usfrom commenting much on the Packers' loss at Minnesota, and I guess from your standpointthat's fine.
Artie: You betcha. The less saidabout that offensive line the better.
Frank: Still, for all thenegatives—eight sacks including a safety, plus a fumble and interception whilethey were driving toward scores, plus a dropped fourth-down pass in the endzone—the margin was just 30-23.
Artie: I thought the key would bestopping Adrian Peterson, and they pretty much did. But they still lost.
Frank: The biggest reason, astough as it might be for some folks to take, was that No. 4 in purple.
Artie: Brett played like the Favreof old, as we heard constantly from Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden. But alot of that was because the Packers never, everput any pressure on him.
Frank: That may have had somethingto do with the schemes they used to stop Peterson. But yeah, the difference inquarterback protection was glaring.
Artie: Remember a couple of yearsago when Favre was telling Ted Thompson, "Get me more weapons"?Aaron Rodgers is gonna be begging Thompson, "Get me a line!"
Frank: Rodgers gets a chance withthe bye week to rest up from this pounding. And with games against Detroit and Clevelandafter that, the Packers should be 4-2 when they see Favre again on Nov. 1 atLambeau Field.
Artie: He won't feel ascomfortable then.
Better Late…
Frank: Chalk up another victoryfor the Observers! Oregonfootball coach Chip Kelly has changed his mind and given LeGarrette Blount achance to play again this season.
Artie: That's the running back whopunched a Boise State guy after the season opener,ain'a?
Frank: And was suspended for therest of the season by Kelly—which we said was excessive.
Artie: Mainly because the Boise guy started it bytaunting Blount and whacking him on the shoulder pad. And Boise coach Chris Petersen didn't punish him.
Frank: Last week Kelly said Blountmight return if he meets certain goals, including academic.
Artie: Kelly will get some raisedeyebrows for backtracking, but he can't... DUCK that.
Frank: Pun duly noted. Some mightsuspect he wants Blount's help for a possible run at the Pac-10 title.
Artie: Or even the national title.Since the Boiseloss, the Ducks are 4-0. Before the season some folks said they could knock offUSC in the conference, and they play the Trojans at home on Halloween night.
Frank: Kelly says Blount can'treturn until after Nov. 7 at the earliest. That would give him threeregular-season games plus a bowl.
Artie: If they finish with justthe one loss to Boise,that bowl could be the BCS champ-een-ship game.
Frank: Maybe even a rematch with Boise, which is unbeaten.
Artie: I'd love that. It wouldscrew up the BCS system big-time!
Frank: As long as we're dreaming,why not have Bucky Badger in the title game? UW is 5-0, and with a little luckSaturday at Ohio State...
Artie: Why not? Until you'redefeated, you're undefeated!
Frank: Readers, you can't getwisdom like that just anywhere.
