CHICAGO - It may be the biggest Chicago road trip since the Blues Brothers hit town - the International Olympic Committee's tour of sites where the city wants to hold the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Members of the IOC inspection team were driven on Sunday to existing facilities, like Soldier Field, and to the sites of those still on the drawing board, like the Olympic Stadium.
It is arguably the most important day of their nearly weeklong visit, which ends Tuesday, for the simple reason that it gives organizers the chance to drive home a key point of their bid - that Chicago's Olympics would be a compact affair.
"Today is the day we can really show that," United States Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said. "The significance of today is that it's an opportunity not only to present plans, but to show those plans - bring them to life."
The tour ended with a video greeting from Michael Jordan, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, at the city's United Center, where Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls.
"The memory of standing as a representative of the United States in the Olympics was one of the proudest moments of my life," Jordan told IOC members as children played basketball nearby.
