This post appeared in a previous blog and is here for posterity’s sake.

Touché, New York Times, Touché.
On Sunday, the paper of record decided to weigh in on an issue that we covered two weeks ago, with an article entitled, For a Mysterious Clock, Method in Its Madness:

It turns out that July 6 is the day the International Olympic Committee will announce the host city of the 2012 Olympics. According to Jay Carson, a spokesman for NYC2012, the group spearheading New York’s Olympic bid, the clock countdown is a joint venture between NYC2012 and the Related Companies, which manages the building and commissioned the Metronome, and was created so that “thousands each day would feel the urgency.” After July 6, the clock will return to its old form.

Our reporting on the Union Square Clock, known as the Metronome, came to the same conclusion, with information from an employee at One Union Square South. We asked the press liaison at NYC 2012 for a comment, but they declined in a quite patronizing fashion. My suggestion to the folks at NYC 2012, is that you need all of the good will and press you need, especially after reports of bribery by New York and London surfaced last week.
At the very least, we can be proud that we scooped the Times, even if it is over a trivial matter such as this. But the gauntlet has been thrown, and we have accepted the challenge.
Old Gray Lady, we have more information to share our readers: in addition to counting down to the Olympic Bid, NYC 2012 will hang a huge banner explaining what the numbers mean – or perhaps advertising the Olympic bid. Which won’t be ugly at all. Nope. Everything that NYC 2012 has designed is just beautiful. Yup. I just hope they get Building Department approval, unlike the giant M&M add.
So to help our readers, here is an artist’s conception of what we think, given the past record of NYC 2012’s design decisions, the banners might look like:

Old Gray Lady, bow down to our mock artist rendering skills!