Big guns in place for 2016

The drums, they are a-thumping for 2016 in Chicago:

The 2016 Olympic Games in Chicago would bring the world to our doorsteps.

The games would bring sorely needed development to the near South Side.

The Games would bring jobs.

But perhaps, most importantly, the Games would bring magic.

Thank you, Sun-Times, for my favorite editorial today in the whole, wide world.

When Chicago’s businesslike 2016 Olympic bid team makes its final presentation in Copenhagen on Friday, expect to hear its purposeful pitch softened by emotional chords, with first lady Michelle Obama, and perhaps her husband, President Barack Obama, bringing the appeal to its crescendo.

After 2 1/2 years of working to convince International Olympic Committee members that Chicago can deliver a compact Summer Games in the heart of the city, the bid team needs to warm it up to slide past emotional favorite Rio de Janeiro, as well as well-connected Madrid and well-financed Tokyo, observers say.

Thank you, Chi Trib, for this Front Page above-fold right-hand column BIG-NEWS item. 

P.S.: I love that “purposeful pitch,” which in another context would have been a slider just nicking the outside corner, down and out.