Chicago dodged a bullet yesterday. The combination of ueber-corruption, left-wing politics and megalomaniacal ambition virtually destroyed the economy of Montreal, Canada in the mid-seventies, after it hosted the Summer Olympics.

Nestled in the seedy borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve on Montreal Island, the Big 'O' stadium was a stunningly ambitious monument conceived as the central venue for the 1976 Olympics. While retractable roof stadiums are becoming--if not common, certainly more familiar these days, the Olympic Stadium's design was truly ground-breaking.

Grand and glorious dreams. Sound familiar?

The reality was, shall we say, rather inglorious. The stadium was taken hostage by labor unions and opened half-finished for the Olympics. The high-tech roof languished in a French warehouse and wasn't installed until eleven years afterwards. The 134 million construction estimate ballooned until the final tally was 1.6 billion dollars--rivaling the just completed Dallas Cowboy's stadium in Arlington, Texas. Finally paid for in 2006, its ready to be torn down.

The stadium was an embarrassment, and dangerous besides. Falling structural members lead the Expos to spend the balance of their season on the road. The football team left and after snow and ice and a partial roof collapse fell on workers , the Montreal Auto Show left for good as well.

Big dreams, "good intentions" and a legacy of decades of misery and economic deprivation. That's what Chicago missed this week. Let's hope that the other Big 'O' doesn't do the same to us.