No Jordan For Olympics Push?

Michael Jordan won't be joining Chicago 2016 in Cophenhagen. Oh well.

With the exception of Barack Obama, Michael Jordan might be Chicago's biggest PR weapon in the fight to win the 2016 Olympics. Pity he no longer seems interested in the cause.

That was the message from Chicago 2016 chair Patrick Ryan last night, who told the Chicago Tribune he didn't expect Jordan to join the Olympics Committee in Copenhagen to help make the final push for the 2016 games.

"I have no reason to believe he will be there," Ryan told the Tribune. "We haven't given up on it. He hasn't said no to us yet.''

In all reality, though, if Jordan were going to be there, Ryan would probably know by now. It's possible Jordan will still come, but knowing his Airness -- especially in his post-career, I-don't-really-need-to-do-this-marketing-stuff-anymore persona -- it doesn't seem likely.

And frankly, that's OK. Jordan's free to do what he wants, and while the initial impulse is to say that he owes Chicago this, he doesn't. He's already helped with the Chicago bid, for one. For another, Chicago's sports fans, the sort of people who ostensibly would want the Olympics here anyway, have derived just as much from Michael Jordan as Michael Jordan has ever derived from Chicago. Were it not for MJ, the past 20 years of Chicago sports history would be utterly useless.

So while we'd prefer Jordan show up and help make the Olympics happen, it probably isn't in the cards. Which is OK. At least we've still got Barack Obama. (People still like Barack, right? Phew.)

Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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