New Yorkers Scratch And Claw In Final Minutes

At the ungodly hour of 5 a.m. ET tomorrow, the International Olympics Committee — motto: "We will not be undersold!" — will announce the winner of the 2012 Olympic bid. The competitors are Paris (the favorite, for some reason), London, Moscow, Madrid and New York City. Despite pretty overwhelming odds, New York continues to shamelessly flog its bid, even going to the astounding effort of promising the Mets a stadium to woo the committee. (And they've propped up Muhammad Ali too. Poor guy. We suspect he never has any idea what position his legend is advocating on a daily basis.)

We're not going to get up that early tomorrow, because no one's up at 5 a.m. except for Katie Couric and Roy Jones Jr. (and he's only awake because it's 2 a.m. on the West Coast, and he's just getting dressed for a night out). But we eagerly anticipate the backpedaling that will ensue; we'll believe the Mets are actually going to get a new stadium when Yankees owner George Steinbrenner dies or Billy Crystal becomes mayor. If you're up to watch the announcement, don't bother calling us to tell us the news. Our phone will be off.

Final Lobbying Before 2012 Vote [MSNBC] Paris Odds Start To Blur [Oddjack]