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According to a Chicago Tribune report, the Amateur World Boxing Championship events will be held at the Pavilion at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
The Pavilion has already been slated to host the boxing events if the Chicago 2016 Olympics happen.
Should be interesting to watch, at least.
What do you think?
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The International Amateur Boxing Association announced Thursday that Chicago would take Moscow’s place as the host city for this year’s amateur championships. Matches will be held from Oct. 17 to the final on Nov. 1.
Moscow was deselected because it didn’t live up to its committments, said AIBA, whatever that means. (Probably money or politics.)
“We know that Chicago has a great boxing tradition and we are excited about the opportunity of showcasing our sport in such an important American city,” AIBA president C.K. Wu said in a statement.
It could be a decent stage on which Chicago can show off its international feathers, and I have no doubt it will, but I think one event is about all anyone can handle.
But I suppose you never know.
(More information coming soon.)
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS ALERT: Read AIBA’s full statement here.
After gains yesterday of more than $20 a share, the price of Dow Jones stock (Symbol: DJ) has fallen about 0.36 percent today. Early today, the losses were well over 1 percent, but that could have just been a reaction to Rupert Murdoch’s announcement yesterday.
As something of a non sequitur, here are excerpts from some of today’s editorials around the Web about the News Corp. bid.
I wonder if the price will level off fully or if it will stay around $55 a share. Perhaps Wall Street investors are wondering what Murdoch knows that they don’t.
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Toni Preckwinkle is no fan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill these days.
An article in today’s Chicago Sun-Times, reported by City Hall Reporter Fran Spielman, cites 4th Ward Alderman Preckwinkle’s furor over plans for the $1.1 million Olympic Village, slated to be built over a truck staging area at McCormick Place.
Said Preckwinkle, the proposed Village “looks like something dropped from outer space.”
Ouch. All joking aside, though, the alderman questioned the basic motivation of the architects, and in my opinion took a well-deserved shot at Chicago 2016 planners.
“I want it to be like a neighborhood. [What they’ve proposed] is sort of architectural egotism as opposed to a real neighborhood.”
Architectural egotism…sounds like a trend in Chicago these days…
(NOTE: Check out this graphic listing the proposed Olympic sites.)
If any of you are designing anything – a Web site, a magazine, a room, whatever – check out Kuler.
Created by Adobe, Kuler is a Web-hosted app (it’s linked to Creative Suite 3) that configures color schemes inside your browser. Basically, it’s an awesome site and worth bookmarking.
If anything, checking out Kuler online is cheaper than buying the full suite, which starts at about $1,200. Yowza!
Here’s a video about it.
Imagine this: The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post could soon be controlled by Rupert Murdoch.
 If Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. purchase Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal may get a bit racier. Here’s what it may look like (above) |
According to a CNN Money article, News Corp. bid $5 billion today on Dow Jones, which isn’t up for sale.
Just think about the possibilities, though. Regular Page Six-style stories on the happenings of the hoity-toity. The possibilities are endless, as you can see in the picture. (Note: I haven’t yet installed Photoshop on my computer, so the image is really bad.)
Dow Jones – not surprisingly – employees are pissed. In a statement, the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees (the union representing Dow Jones) said, “Mr. Murdoch has shown a willingness to crush quality and independence, and there is no reason to think he would handle Dow Jones or The Journal any differently.”
At least we know where they stand.
Let’s see what happens with this. I’m keeping an eye on this story.
(Disclaimer: Photo courtesy TribuneIndia.com, and it’s not a real story. I just used a random image of a stockbroker. So lay off, you lawyers out there.)
I found myself at a conundrum yesterday as I watched the Chicago Bulls knock off the Miami Heat yesterday.
A lifelong fan of the New York Knicks, I’m torn. In the 1990s, the Bulls, who featured Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant et al, demolished the Knickerbockers at every opportunity. I would be flabbergasted if I were to support the new Bulls team, led by Kirk Heinrich, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng.
My question: Should I root for the Bulls? On one hand, I’d be supporting a good team in my adopted city. I would allow myself to watch them on TV (and maybe make arrangements to, gasp, watch the games with others). I may even attend a game or two.
On the other hand, I’d feel like a turncoat. I can’t imagine my veins, which have always pumped orange and blue, to start pumping the Bulls’ red and white.
Perhaps I should take donations online for an NBA On-Demand subscription. Any takers?
The Mental Floss magazine Web site is definitely worth checking out. Recommended to me by Roger Kamholz, a buddy of mine, awhile back, the magazine is a smart, snarky rag with an eclectic mix of feature and news stories. It’s a thought-leader publication that is somewhat reminiscent of Good Magazine, but without the moral compass.
Basically, the site, powered by WordPress isn’t necessarily flashy, but as I skimmed the posts, I felt as if it were a timestamped rendition of the weird thoughts people have every day. (Check out the staff bios here.) The site also features blog posts and trivia.
If you’d like to recommend some sites, please Click e-mail me.
 Hosting the Olympics in Chicago may not be the best idea |
The U.S. Olympic Committee announced today Chicago as its lone bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics in what U.S.O.C. Chairman Peter V. Ueberroth called “a very tough decision.” (Listen to the U.S.O.C. announcement here).
Chicago will be up against a formidable slate of cities rumored to be Madrid, Tokyo, Rome and Rio de Janeiro.
But so far, with a projected price tag well over $1 billion, the question to me still remains: Would having the Olympics in Chicago be a good thing? Already the City of Chicago and State of Illinois have pledged to throw in some dough – $500 million and $150 million respectively – in case the Games were to lose money.
Pardon me, but isn’t this what’s called an investment? Already, the city’s Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority is slated to transfer $125 million from the sale of public air rights and some land near McCormick Place to the Olympic efforts.
Chicago has also unveiled plans to build a $366 million, 80,000-seat temporary stadium in Washington Park and a $1.1 billion lakefront athletes’ village. (Check out a January 2007 Sun-Times article on this risky move.)
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS ALERT: Here is the City Council’s authorization for Mayor Daley and Lori Healey, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development to do whatever it takes to make the Games happen, regardless of whether the investment stream dries up. (Check out Section Two of the ordinance.) This means that more money can – and will – be taken from the city and state if (when, really) construction runs over budget.
Listen, folks. New Yorkers didn’t want the Olympics. Do Chicagoans really want it? Will hosting the Games suddenly make Chicago a better city? Let’s be serious.
But then again, if Atlanta can have one… (cough)
NOTE: In case you forgot, here’s why the Chicago 2016 committee thinks you should support the Games.