Before the president officially told the nation that Osama bin Laden was dead, the news made its way down Blake Street from the news programs that replaced ballgames on the sports-bar TVs.

Someone would wander out of a bar and let out a whoop. Someone farther up the block would answer with yelp or a holler.

“I think it’s great — great for America and great for all the men and women who died on 9/11,” said Tommy Bishop of Englewood, as he waited for his car outside the Rodizio Grill near Union Station. “I feel great about it.”

Added his girlfriend, Jill Haupt of Highlands Ranch, “I hope it’s the end, but I think it’s going to get worse because of terrorists wanting to get even.”

As the president prepared to give his televised speech, about 20 people made up a slow Sunday-night crowd at the Sports Column bar. TVs that showed baseball and basketball had been muted until the president’s distinctly timbered voice resonated in the hall.

All faces turned toward the president.

“Yes, that’s from America,” said Holt Gannon of Denver. “I hope he suffered.”

The president drew a heckler at one end of the bar who tried to fill in the gaps with rude comments and loudly suggested switching back to the game.

From the other end of the bar, another man told the heckler, loudly, to “chill out,” then followed the man’s next rude comment with an expletive and a threat.

The heckler didn’t speak again.

When the president stopped speaking, the crowd clapped and cheered, though politely. Seated at the bar, Michael O’Neal of Denver weighed the good news against reality.

“I think it’s wonderful, but I’m sorry it took all those years,” he said. “But it’s probably not the end. Some people say there will be more (terrorists) to step up and take his place, but I don’t know about that.”

At the Capitol, about 20 young men cheered, waved flags and solicited honks and cheers from passing motorists.

“We drove by, and there was nobody here, so we started calling our friends,” said Emanuel Perez, 18, of Aurora, who carried a sign that said “Rot in Hell.”

“This is a great night.”

Jacob Caldwell, 19, chairman of the Arapahoe County chapter of Young Republicans, waved a flag he kept as a memento from a John McCain-for-president rally in 2008.

“This is what America is all about: justice for all,” he said. “This is about freedom. This is what bin Laden tried to silence.”

Ibrahim Kazerooni, a prominent local Muslim cleric, said bin Laden’s death has an added meaning for Muslim-Americans. The attacks not only traumatized Muslim-Americans as they did the rest of the nation, Kazerooni said, but they also cast a menacing shadow over their religion.

Bin Laden’s death likely won’t change the antipathy some feel toward all Muslims, Kazerooni said. But it does lighten the shadow.

“I believe there is some kind of relief for Muslims that the person who brought this to them finally paid the price,” Kazerooni said.

Staff writer John Ingold contributed to this story. Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com