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 It was kind of yucky the day we left Copenhagen and boarded a chartered United Airlines flight back to Chicago. Folks were drawing analogies to how it must feel to be on the plane with the losing SuperBowl team. The week certainly had that kind of appeal. Great parties and camaraderie for days before the big game.

As Bart Conner told me as we waited to board the plane... "We got shellacked!" Still we found ways to laugh and enjoy each other's company for the nine hour flight. Tim Smithe relayed a story to me of NBC 5's Larry Wert telling basketball great David Robinson that even though he was sitting 10 rows behind Larry, David's feet were still under his seat.

People have been asking me what the moment was like when we heard them say the city of Chicago has been eliminated. I can only repeat what you have either read or experienced yourself. It was utter disbelief. Every mouth in the room dropped open with a gasp.

There were occasional tears from those who had the reality set in quickly but most of us stood silent, looking for some sense in what we perceived to be a surreal situation. After all, the entire week we had been told it was between Chicago and Rio. That very morning I had read that "Tokyo was out..." whatever that meant.

As you recall, the IOC completed a second vote at that point and upon its conclusion and the announcement of the two finalists our projection screen went silent.

Still a quiet room, it felt like a wake at that point, one gentleman climbed upon the stage. His name is John Vincent and he is a singer at Ditka's Restaurant. He had performed for us just the night before.

John started to sing a very impromptu and A cappella version of The Star Spangled Banner. Every person in the room joined in with full voice. By the end of the song, there were tears in many eyes.

It took about another hour before we started to look back on all of the good things that had been done in this process for Chicago. I noticed watching television over there that they don't even have Chicago on their weather maps when they show the United States. It seems their interest and understanding of the US lies on both coasts.

Chicago has a global publicity problem. Still known for gangsters and sometimes as a cow-town. We took full advantage of the chance to show the world that Chicago is so much more. We competed with 3 other world class cities and we took another stride in making Chicago a first tier destination.

I'd like to thank all of the people who spent so much time on this project to move or area forward in such a good way. Our company played a role, but it was definitely as supporting cast.

There is a legacy to this project called World Sport Chicago which will carry on the vision of engaging youth in sports programs for the good of each community.

Thanks to Jay Lieser for a couple of the photos you see in the album.

This was an amazing life experience. I would go back to Copenhagen in a minute on a family vacation and ride bikes all over that great city. I made some great new friendships and shared a moment in Chicago's history.

The "I Will" spirit of Chicago tells me that we will reconvene in some time to find the next big thing. I truly hope to be a part of it when we do.

Thanks for reading.  JC/