Bryan W. Alaspa 1When sports mean life or death
June 27th 2009 20:48
The way most Chicagoans act you would assume that if their baseball, football, basketball or hockey team did not win the entire city would be destroyed. I have known grown men who, upon seeing the Bears lose a game on Sunday, spend the entire week in some kind of mourning. You would swear that they were on the field, walking up and down the sidelines, the way they act. It is a common thing to hear people in this town talk about the games using terms like “we” and “us” as if they are a part of the team.
This may be something you run into among sports fans in cities across the country, I am pretty sure. It just seems to be taken to some kind of level of art form here in the Windy City. Maybe because it does get so cold here in winter, you have to cling to something and the Bears are as good a thing to cling to as anything else.
I admit that I fall into this category. I am a Bears fan. I do not let their loss destroy my entire week. If I did, given the team’s history, I would be in an intense depression almost constantly. However, I do admit to feeling a bit higher-spirited come Monday if the team has managed to pull out a win. I realize this is sad and pathetic, but I have to face the fact it is also the truth. I am quite sure the rest of the city feels this way. OK, maybe just the sports fans, but there are sure a lot of them.
I am also a White Sox fan. To me, the greatest sports moment in Chicago history as in 2005 when the Sox went from the first day of the season to the very last in first place. They had a few scares along the way, but they ended up winning and bringing a baseball championship to the city for the first time in a very, very, very long time. It seemed to insult Cubs fans who somehow seemed to feel that they were more entitled to win than the Sox and, truthfully, that added to the whole thing for me.
I spent much of that World Series only watching the game sporadically. I know I spent most of the final game hiding on a stairwell in my friend’s house while my friends watched on a large flat-screen television in the basement. You see, it is well known among my friends that I am a jinx to whatever sports team I want to root for. Whenever a team starts doing poorly, I get calls and text messages from friends asking if I am watching the game. If I am, I am asked to please stop.
Ever since 2005 I have felt that the Sox owed me for their win. I feel that key plays would have been missed had I not taken my appointed spot on the stairs and missed seeing much of the game live. Personally, I feel this means the White Sox organization owes me a World Series ring. I have yet to get one however.
This is how seriously we take sports around here. Right now, as I write this, the White Sox and Cubs are in round 2 of the “cross town” classic. It was one thing when they did these games as mid-season exhibition games. It was only for pride. Since both teams were unlikely to get into the post-season, it was the one game most Chicagoans cared about. Now that the games actually count, it has taken on some kind of epic proportions. You half expect the city to burst into flames and for weapons to be drawn.
In the end, it’s just baseball. If you want to be truthful about it, in the long run, it really doesn’t matter. Just don’t try telling that the people at the game. They’re likely to hurt you in some way. I tell you, we take these things seriously around here.
This may be something you run into among sports fans in cities across the country, I am pretty sure. It just seems to be taken to some kind of level of art form here in the Windy City. Maybe because it does get so cold here in winter, you have to cling to something and the Bears are as good a thing to cling to as anything else.
I admit that I fall into this category. I am a Bears fan. I do not let their loss destroy my entire week. If I did, given the team’s history, I would be in an intense depression almost constantly. However, I do admit to feeling a bit higher-spirited come Monday if the team has managed to pull out a win. I realize this is sad and pathetic, but I have to face the fact it is also the truth. I am quite sure the rest of the city feels this way. OK, maybe just the sports fans, but there are sure a lot of them.
I am also a White Sox fan. To me, the greatest sports moment in Chicago history as in 2005 when the Sox went from the first day of the season to the very last in first place. They had a few scares along the way, but they ended up winning and bringing a baseball championship to the city for the first time in a very, very, very long time. It seemed to insult Cubs fans who somehow seemed to feel that they were more entitled to win than the Sox and, truthfully, that added to the whole thing for me.
I spent much of that World Series only watching the game sporadically. I know I spent most of the final game hiding on a stairwell in my friend’s house while my friends watched on a large flat-screen television in the basement. You see, it is well known among my friends that I am a jinx to whatever sports team I want to root for. Whenever a team starts doing poorly, I get calls and text messages from friends asking if I am watching the game. If I am, I am asked to please stop.
Ever since 2005 I have felt that the Sox owed me for their win. I feel that key plays would have been missed had I not taken my appointed spot on the stairs and missed seeing much of the game live. Personally, I feel this means the White Sox organization owes me a World Series ring. I have yet to get one however.
This is how seriously we take sports around here. Right now, as I write this, the White Sox and Cubs are in round 2 of the “cross town” classic. It was one thing when they did these games as mid-season exhibition games. It was only for pride. Since both teams were unlikely to get into the post-season, it was the one game most Chicagoans cared about. Now that the games actually count, it has taken on some kind of epic proportions. You half expect the city to burst into flames and for weapons to be drawn.
In the end, it’s just baseball. If you want to be truthful about it, in the long run, it really doesn’t matter. Just don’t try telling that the people at the game. They’re likely to hurt you in some way. I tell you, we take these things seriously around here.
| 24 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
