Leftovers: Goodbye, Olympic Bid

• Breaking: Philly dropped from Olympic contention. Shocker, we know. Houston also dropped. Details TK. Update: Here are the aforementioned details from KYW 1060 and the Inky.

• Philly Future says that if they’re sold, they’ll be sharing the profits with you, the user! They also say “Driving an Hyundai like myself bub?” Ahh, yes, I can see the venture capitalists lining up to buy Philly Future any day now, and with Karl sharing the dough, Her Alter Ego will have enough bolding and capital letters to last a lifetime. [Philly Future]

• The New York Times loves City Hall! Add it to the list of things that the NYT hearts about Philly — that’s hipsters, the Liberty Bell, the Art Museum, Pat’s Steaks (probably), etc. — STAT! (Related: A very angry comment on Phillyist.) [NYT]

• The head of the prison guards’ union agrees with the lawsuit filed that claims poor conditions in Philly’s jails. So you know it’s bad. [Metro]

• Oh, and that stripper with the human hand in a jar? She skipped her court date today. Why are we (and the Daily News, and 50 other local blogs) writing about this even though it’s not really anywhere near Philly? Oh, right: She’s a stripper with a human hand in a jar. [AP/Philly.com]

Blogicized: Goodbye, Fu Manchu

• Philebrity points out the thing we forgot about Sal Fasano’s impending move to the Yankees: He has to shave his mustache and cut his hair, per George Steinbrenner’s no-facial hair rule/no-long hair rule. Gasp! The implications of this on Sal’s Pals can not be overstated. [Philebrity]

• More Phillies news: Is the fans’ love affair with Aaron Rowand already waning? If balls keep flying over his head… maybe. [Swing and a Miss]

• That Olympics press conference is today at 4:30 p.m., where Philadelphians will learn if our Olympic bid is dead before it officially began. [Politics Philly]

• And Greenadelphia! is a new blog, apparently about, uh, Philly’s green environmental issues. [Greenadelphia]

Swan Song For Philly Olympic Bid?

Later today, Philadelphia could learn that it has been eliminated from contention for the Olympic Games. Or, it could learn it’s still alive.

Count on the latter. Chicago appears to be the frontrunner, even though the centerpiece of its bid — the Olympic Village — is in the shadow of (New) Soldier Field, the ugliest, most embarrassing building in history.

Reportedly, one city has already been cut. No word on, uh, when the press conference is — we could have missed it already! — but we’ll keep youse updated on if Philly’s longshot bid is staying alive for another day.

U.S. Olympic Committee Narrows List Of Cities [CBS 3 Chicago]
Philly Gets Update On Olympics Today [NBC 10]

Pat Croce, Wachovia CEO Go For The Gold

As far as major things to happen in Philadelphia, getting the freakin’ Olympics would be pretty huge. Regardless of how one feels about the bid, having the 2016 Olympics in Philadelphia would be a tremendous undertaking for the city.

Well, Pat Croce and Hugh Long (the Wachovia State CEO for Pa. and Del.) really, really, really want the Olympics to be in Philadelphia, and they think it would be perhaps the biggest thing to ever happen:

Where would Philadelphia - indeed the nation - be today if the framers of the Constitution heeded those who said it wouldn’t work, and they were dreamers?

Where would we be today if Ben Franklin listened to those who said Philadelphia didn’t need and couldn’t afford a free library, a hospital, a volunteer fire company, each the first of their kind in the nation?

And you certainly wouldn’t be reading this online if the creators of ENIAC, the world’s first computer, invented at the University of Pennsylvania, paid attention to those who said they were crazy, and the machine, while clever, had little practical application.

And, where, indeed, would we all be if God hadn’t decided to make the world? Certainly not bidding for the Olympics, that’s what!

Also: did the scientists who created ENIAC really have a jeering section while they were making it?

OLYMPIC DREAM: A PHILLY-STYLE CHALLENGE [Daily News]

Quickies: Fat Camp Instead Of Summer School?

• City Councilman Michael Nutter knows how to run for mayor: He says he’s going to get our kids to stop being fat! This may work with parents, but crotchety old people could be all “How about you show them some manners first!” [KYW 1060]

• Your Anthony DiMeo update, courtesy of Metro DiMeo beat reporter Josh Cornfield: “He said in previously filed court documents that the comments made about him on Max’s site caused him to live ‘in constant fear for his safety and the safety of his loved ones.’ DiMeo said in the documents that he was forced to seek out psychological counseling, that he suffered a loss of privacy and his business was affected.”

• Hey, when he’s not bashing those free AOL CDs about five years after people forgot what AOL is, and when he’s not playing with his doggy, we can always count on John Grogan for some good old fashioned Philadelphia optimism. Wait. Philadelphia optimism? [Inky]

• We Americans say goodbye to Katie Couric. Only, uh, she’s just going to be doing the news on a different station. Is she really leaving? [Gawker]

Leftovers: Welcome, Our New PR Overlord!

• We’re hearing…. that the Brian Tierney/Bruce Toll/etc. bid to buy the Inquirer and Daily News has gone through, and there’s a press conference at the Inquirer Building at 5 p.m. to officially announce the sale. Staff meeting to follow at 6, but you probably need some sort of special badge or ring or “job” to get in to that one. Update: Here’s a press release. [Yahoo!/McClatchy]

• As mentioned earlier, Dubya himself will be here tomorrow, helping out the campaigns of Jim Gerlach and Mike Fitzpatrick. Tickets are a thousand bucks, so, uh, start saving. [AP/Philly.com]

• Philly businesses got a pep talk today; “You, too, can get the Olympics… if you work together.” Philadelphia promptly ended its bid for the 2016 Olympics. [Inquirer]

• Nick Lachey to The Trentonian: Stay away from me! Trentonian to Nick Lachey: “Popfest headliner Nick Lachey snubbed efforts to talk to him yesterday for a pre-concert interview — that’s despite being splashed across the front of The Trentonian’s GO section last Thursday.” Oh my God, the GO section? That jerk! [Trentonian]

Who Knows Where This Name-Changing Man Will Show Up Next?

Metro, “City Debate,” May 10, 2006, pg. 2:

Metro, “Today’s Debate,” May 10, 2006, pg. 14:

Each day, Metro’s person on the street interviews become more and more like The Onion’s. Hey, they’re both green.

Metro
American Voices [The Onion]

We Can Hold The Olympics Here…

… because we’ll all be dead of bird flu!

The problem is the city doesn’t yet have a flu plan, according to a report by the Thomas Skelton Harrison Foundation, a Philadelphia group that promotes good government.

Genius, I tell you! Genius!

Phila. flu plan kept out of sight [Inky]

Quickies: Get off my lawn!

• The Inquirer goes all Hey, you kids, get off my lawn! Oh, and skateboarding is “antisocial behavior.” And newspapers wonder why nobody under the age of 21 reads. [Inky]

• Sorry, Ben: Franklin Field is too “narrow” to host Olympic track and field. That track has nine lanes. How much bigger could it be? [Bucks County Courier Times]

• Drugs in the water have turned male bass into female bass in the Potomac. See, that transgender teacher in South Jersey didn’t need to get a sex change operation — she just needed to go for a swim in the Schuylkill. [Inky]

• Metro interviews an author with a big Internet following, and runs the following quote: “I was like, ‘Holy f-king sh-t!’” You know, if you’re going to censor his quote like that you might as just well run the fucking curse words. [Metro]

Birmingham 2016!

Well, just as the Olympics are about to get started, our own fair city has been designated as an official “Olympic partner.” Whoo! Alright! Yay!

Wait, what does that mean?

According to the Inquirer article, being a “community partner” means… uhh… it means that the Olympic committee knows you’re a city in America. Also, this has “no bearing” on the city’s possible Olympic bid.

After seeing a list of other sites that are possibly bidding for the olympics and are also Olympic partners, well, it seems like Philadelphia is the annoying kid who kept whining until they made him an Olympic partner:

Besides Philadelphia, the list of U.S. candidates is likely to include Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and Washington. By the way, Houston became an Olympic community partner last fall, Chicago last month, and San Francisco is about to join the ranks. [...] The community partnership program, which also includes Birmingham, Ala., and central Oklahoma, is a relatively new venture for the USOC.

Ooh, Birmingham or Philadelphia! How will they decide which place to hold the Olympics at? Erhm.

Philadelphia named Olympic ‘partner’ [Inky]
Nov. 10, 2005: A (new) way to lose money? Count me in!