Chicago Grieves over the Olympics

A husband leaned over to his wife because he wasn’t sure he had heard correctly the giant TV screens set up to bring the news to the crowd of thousands.

“Did he really just say Chicago?” the man asked.

Yes, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge really did say “Chicago,” when announcing the first city eliminated as a potential host for the 2016 Olympics.

And when Rogge did, mouths dropped all over Daley Plaza. Heads shook.

Fifteen satellite trucks were parked on Clark Street to bring the world this?

There are awkward moments, and then there was Friday morning standing next to the Picasso sculpture next to 2016 supporters dressed in orange T-shirts.

How does one react when its city gets kicked in the groin?

Sweet ’16, this wasn’t.

One Cubs fan in the middle of the crowd of thousands tore his blue “W” sign in half and tossed the pieces of cardboard into the air like he had probably done so many times before.A mother hugged her son, whom she had taken out of school to witness a historic party that quickly felt like a civic funeral.

All the while, one politician after another looked into cameras and vowed Chicago would bounce back from this to bid again. One even compared the spirit Chicago would exhibit in recovering from this Olympic defeat to the way it rebuilt itself after the Great Fire in 1871.

The Chicago Tribune article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-03-haugh-oct03,0,2037215.column