Media Reactions to Chicago's Olympic Fail

Of course Matt Drudge would put it this way: WORLD REJECTS OBAMA: CHICAGO OUT IN FIRST ROUND. (And, yes, he went with the siren graphic.)

Yes, Chicago was eliminated as the host city for the 2016 Olympics even though the president and first lady (and Oprah!) went to Copenhagen to personally lobby the International Olympic Committee. (Oprah—as embodied by Maya Rudolph—even appeared on SNL Weekend Update Thursday last night to hand out gold medals to everyone in the audience.)

The Chicago Reader's Whet Moser wrote simply, "Wow." (He then followed that with several updates.) Chicagoist, a local news blog, is reporting shock in the streets. The Chicago Tribune's David Greising is warning, "Don't expect a second effort" for the games. On CNN Newsroom, Tony Harris was actually struck dumb before saying "wow" and "whoa" over and over. He also talked to Michael Jordan, who expressed his own sadness and surprise. "I can't believe they did not win," the former NBA all-star and two-time Olympic gold medalist said.

The winning city has not yet been selected, but Rio and Madrid remain in the running.

Update, 12:50 p.m.: And the host city is... Rio de Janeiro!