The media frenzy is finally over, until the next big story comes along anyway. We were eliminated early from the Olympic voting and Rio prevailed. In the long run, its hard to say if this is a good thing or a bad thing for the city. Yes, traffic would have been horrible, worse than it already is. The upheaval of the parks especially on the south side for at least a couple years leading up to the games would have made for some interesting community reactions. And, lets not forget that if we were awarded the games, we the taxpayers would have had to foot the bill on cost overruns. With all of that being said, Chicago on a world stage for something as amazing as the Olympic Games spectacle would have been spectacular to be a part of. I don’t see us making a run at the 2020 games. Though, if they started right now on trying to fix the things most citizens have voiced concerns over, it might almost be doable. Oprah and the Obamas made an impact, but obviously that wasn’t enough to sway the voters and possibly the worlds view on the USA (I’m not saying, I’m just saying). All that being said, Congratulations to Rio De Janeiro. I look forward to the 2012 games in London and the 2016 games, just as I do every four years.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Rio De Janeiro Olympics 2016 (manolith.com)
• Sorry, Chicago: Rio Takes 2016 Olympic Bid (oneriot.com)
• Second City Winds up Fourth in Olympics Bid (abcnews.go.com)
• Chicago, Tokyo out of Olympics running (cnn.com)