Chicago is out.

[cassiesmom]

In typical Chicago style, we are not moving forward from this but still discussing and splitting hairs over why we didn't get it (Because Mayor Daley went! Because Pres. Obama went! Because Pres. Obama said he wasn't going to go, and then he did! Because Pres. Obama arrived late! - I don't get that one, uhhhmm, he was THERE and I thought he did a great job as the last speaker for the panel - Because the Chicago presentation was flakey! Because of the U.S. Olympic Committee!). I don't think we will ever really know. Meanwhile, a 2-year-old was killed in a fire in a house without a working smoke detector -- low-income families can get them free from the CFD or their alderman's office, all they have to do is ask. And a father was charged with drowning his 19-month-old son to death. Get over it, people; we have bigger problems to solve!

[Randi]

You will notice that Oslo is quite a distance from Copenhagen.

[RICHARD]

You will notice that Oslo is quite a distance from Copenhagen.

Thanks......

Wait, so you mean Finland has nothing to do with fish?


So what about Cucamonga, Timbuktu and Lake Titicaca?

[Grace]

From Sports Illustrated -

October 12, 2009
It's Not You, It's Them
Chicago's Olympic bid was brought down by an anti-USOC vibe

Brian Cazeneuve


Chicagoans upset by the city's failure to land the 2016 Olympics may find solace in this: They shouldn't take the IOC's decision personally. Chicago's bid was by all accounts one of the strongest ever by a U.S. city. It was bolstered by an 11th-hour appearance by President Barack Obama before the IOC vote in Copenhagen last Friday, a stirring speech to IOC members by his wife and a star-studded (Oprah!) cast of supporters.

Still, the 2016 Games will be in Rio de Janeiro, and Chicago received just 18 of 94 votes. The shockingly poor showing was more a reflection of how strained IOC-USOC relations are than a knock against the Windy City. International impatience with the USOC has been mounting since March, when the USOC board pushed out CEO Jim Scherr, a well-respected figure in the Olympic community. (Neither his replacement, acting CEO Stephanie Streeter, nor chairman Larry Probst, who took over his post one year ago, proved capable of navigating the IOC's insular political mazes.) This year the USOC and IOC got into a still-unresolved spat over the high percentage of revenues the USOC receives from IOC television contracts and marketing agreements.

In July the USOC angered IOC members further by announcing the formation of a 24-hour Olympic network—even though the IOC had asked the USOC to hold off. Says Denis Oswald, an IOC member from Switzerland, "You can't behave the way [the USOC has] and not foresee some sort of resentment."

A USOC housecleaning is probable. Streeter and Probst are the most likely targets, and some USOC staffers fear that the Chicago debacle may drive the federal government to demand greater oversight of the committee. The failure will also make other U.S. cities think twice about lobbying for the Games in the near future. Bid preparation cost Chicago organizers nearly $50 million. "Why would a city want to become involved," says Jack Kelly, a veteran consultant for U.S. candidate cities, "if it can only get 18 votes?"