Writer’s block

Waiting till next year

Being a Chicago sports fan can be an unsettling way to live, but we wouldn’t have it any other way

By George Vlahos

As early as 2006, Chicago was named best sports town in America by The Sporting News. And why not? Chicago is home to some of the most well-known and historic sports teams in the country. Not to mention home to some of the most passionate, rabid and knowledgeable fans in the country. From the Bears, Cubs, Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks, these teams have enjoyed huge and loyal followings from their very beginnings.

As we have come to know, being a Chicago sports fan isn’t always easy. We always wait for the roof to fall down or some inevitable collapse to occur. Two of our sports teams have the longest championship droughts in their respective sports — the Cubs at 101 years and the Blackhawks at 48. Regardless, Chicago sports fans stand tall and proud and support their teams with faith and passion year after year. Through thick and thin, mostly thin.

Two words for you: DA BEARS! Who can forget those legendary “Superfan” skits on “Saturday Night Live?” Chicago is and always will be a Bears town. A Super Bowl victory, eight NFL championships, nine league championships. What Chicagoan hasn’t sat at a bar with a cold beverage and cheered their beloved Monsters of the Midway? What Chicagoan didn’t leap for joy when the Bears clobbered the New Orleans Saints en route to their first Super Bowl since the Bears won it in 1985? Speaking of 1985, that was a great year to be a Bears fan. From “Sweetness” Walter Payton to “The Fridge,” the Bears did it all that year. Even 23 years removed from that dominating Super Bowl victory, those “85 Bears” are still spoken of highly among NFL circles and are a team this city will never forget.

As we all know very well, up until this year at least, the main problem those Bears have had was at quarterback. Boy, have they had a bunch of them. Since the Super Bowl victory, when they were lead by bad boy quarterback Jim McMahon, the Bears have gone through 23 starting quarterbacks. This has led to many frustrated Bears fans scratching their heads as to why the majority of their passers are so terrible. What Bears fan can forget Cade McNown? From Rex Grossman, to Jonathan Quinn, Craig Krenzel, Chad Hutchinson and Kordell Stewart, these names are enough for Bears fans to want to pull their hair out.

Things are looking bright for the Bears’ passing game after hopefully solving their quarterback woes with the acquisition of Jay Cutler. Finally, fans won’t have to complain about the quarterback position, and maybe this signing is an omen of good things to come on the lakefront. Regardless, Bears fans will be right there this coming season, and the rest to follow, proudly wearing Bears jerseys, singing “Bear down, Chicago Bears” after every touchdown and waiting anxiously for that next Super Bowl victory.

Then there are the Cubs. Oh, those Cubbies. They have broken more hearts then the popular girl during prom week. The Cubs hold not only the longest championship drought in professional sports, they haven’t even been to the World Series since 1945. From 1946 to 1983, the Cubs made the playoffs a grand total of zero times. ZERO. They have only won one playoff series in recent memory, and that was in 2003, when the beat the heavily favored Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series. Their previous playoff series win came in 1908, when they last won the World Series. After late-season collapses in ’69 and ’04 and heartbreaking playoff losses in ’84, ’89, ’98, ’03, ’07 and ’08, people wonder, why bother with the Cubs?

But the habitual trend of falling short doesn’t stop those die-hard Cubs fans from cheering on their beloved team every season. Cubs fans are extremely loyal to the point of absurdity. As George Will noted, Cubs fans are 90 percent scar tissue. Their huge fan base extends beyond the city of Chicago and state of Illinois. With the availability of WGN nationally, they have fans everywhere. Milwaukee’s Miller Park has been dubbed “Wrigley North” because of the huge amount of Cubs fans who jam the stands to watch the Cubs play.

Every year since 1908, generations of Cubs fans have come and gone with no World Series championships, but they always remain optimistic that “this is the year.” The Cubs, at least, are becoming more and more competitive. They won back-to-back division championships in 2007-08, sending them to the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since they won back-to-back World Series titles in 1907 and 1908. With the Cubs expected to win the division again this year, they have the chance to end the frustration and finally bring a championship to the fans that bleed Cubbie blue. When you ask the average die-hard Cubs fan what will happen if the Cubs ever do win the World Series, you’ll get answers like “Pandemonium” or “Mardi Gras times 10” or “Tears of joy” or “The city will never be the same because it will burn.” The question is, will fans be able to experience all of those things later this fall, or will they have to “Wait ‘till next year” yet again?

Fans of the Chicago White Sox are often viewed as “second-class citizens” in Chicago, and their team is often nicknamed by Chicago media and national media as “the second team in the Second Sity.” Those labels didn’t stop them in 2005, when they finally won the World Series after an 88-year drought. Before that, it wasn’t always easy being a Sox fan. In addition to the whole second-class status label, the Sox did their fair share of losing. Before their American League Division Series win in 2005 en route to their championship, the Sox last won a playoff series in 1959 before losing to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The 2005 postseason was definitely one for the ages. The Sox absolutely dominated, going 11-1 with a sweep in the ALDS over the defending world champion Boston Red Sox and another sweep in the World Series over the Houston Astros. Sox fans had plenty to cheer about that year, as their team finally gave them the championship they so badly wanted.

Sox fans are as knowledgeable, loyal and passionate as any other team’s fans. They may not come out in numbers like fans of the Cubs and Bears, but they sure know their baseball. As one Sox fan put it, “You really have to know your baseball if you want to be a Sox fan.”

The Chicago Bulls are one of the most recognizable sports franchises in the world. This has plenty to do with the Bulls winning six championships in the 1990s, led by arguably the best player to ever play the game of basketball, his Airness Michael Jordan. The Bulls have given their fans plenty to cheer about, especially during the championship years, but there have been some dark ages that fans soon want to forget.

The summer after the Bulls last championship began with the complete dismantling of the team. Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Luc Longley, Steve Kerr, Michael Jordan and plenty others were let go because then general manager Jerry Krause felt the team to be getting old and wanted a clean slate. This lead to five difficult losing seasons for the Bulls. The United Center, where the Bulls play, was previously an absolute noise fest. But for several years after the final title, the fans’ disenchantment with where the franchise was headed led to you being able to hear a pin drop.

The start of the 2004 season looked bleak. The Bulls began dismally at 0-9, but suddenly began to play better and finished the season with a 47-35 record en route to their first playoff appearance since 1998, and since then, they have become competitive once more. The Bulls’ future looks bright. With the emergence of Derrick Rose as the central leader of the team and the effectiveness of players like Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Joakim Noah, John Salmons and Tyrus Thomas, fans have plenty to look forward too. Another championship dynasty perhaps? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves in a league with LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard.

What’s that loud noise coming from the United Center? It’s the Chicago Blackhawks’ fans during the national anthem. Blackhawks fans are some of the loudest and rowdiest fans in sports. They are also known for cheering and screaming during the national anthem. Being one of the original six NHL teams, the Hawks boast plenty of history. From legendary players like Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito and Denis Savard, Blackhawks fans are proud of their storied history, even if their Stanley Cup drought is the longest in the NHL.

Blackhawks fans weren’t always loud and rowdy though. In fact, there was a long time in which no one seemed to care about the Hawks. In 2004, considered the all-time low point for the franchise, the Blackhawks were named the worst franchise in professional sports by ESPN. This had a lot to do with the Blackhawks’ dismal play and late owner Bill Wirtz archaic policies that drove the majority of a reliable fan base away. Wirtz raised ticket prices to an average of $50 and did not allow home games to be televised in Chicago.

But during the 2007-2008 season, Blackhawks fans had something to cheer for again. Bill Wirtz’s son, Rocky, took over and changed much of his late father’s policies, including bringing back legendary Hawks players who were at odds with the franchise, like Mikita and Hull. Also, for the first time in the franchise’s long history, all home games are televised, bringing the action into living rooms and sports bars everywhere.

The product on the ice has also seen dramatic improvement, as the Hawks advanced to the Western Conference Finals this season for the first time since 1995, led by young stars like Adam Burrish, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. With improvements in the management of the team, fan interest at an all-time high and a proud tradition to build on, there should be plenty to cheer about in the years to come.

Being a Chicago sports fan is all about passion, loyalty and dedication. While things may not always go our way, we usually stand proud and united, as if our team just won a championship.

But actual championships. That’s what we need more of.

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