By:
The Dude on the Right
I was going to see the movie "Waiting" today, at least to add another movie
review for the weekend, but alas, the football game between the Chicago Bears
and Cleveland Browns started, and since I did see "Two For the Money" on
Saturday, I didn’t feel that guilty. But as I camped out on my couch,
listening to the radio feed from
WBBM and watching the TV
feed on FOX (the FOX announcers were, well, not that great, and the
Chicago radio crew is great), it is now official: I’ve lived in
Chicago long enough to switch my allegiance from my old home teams, those being
based in Cleveland, to my new home teams, those being based in Chicago, although
there is a slight baseball wrinkle, and that came up during the end of the
baseball season when the Tribe was playing the White Sox. There I was, on
my couch, cheering on the Bears and pissed that the Browns trounced all over
them. So, and I somewhat apologize to anyone I know back in Ohio (sorry
Mom), but, for football, I’m a Bears fan first and a Browns fan second.
I’ll cheer on the Browns with all of my heart, unless they are playing the
Bears, and I found that out today.
Now, here comes the baseball wrinkle. I’ve turned into a Cubs fan, which in inherently wrong, since I "grew up" in
Chicago on the south side, across an expressway from the old
Comiskey Park. But, the first game I remember going to in Chicago was
a Cubs game, during Rush Week at
Theta Xi. I guess
that is where I started my liking the Cubs, but in those early years, I’m pretty
sure I caught more beer-an-inning White Sox games than Cubs games. And
things were pretty simple, for the most part, because in my dreams, I would be a
Cubs fan and an Indians fan, and only have to worry about things if they both
ended up in the World Series. Then this year came, the Cubs were sucking
as usual, the Indians weren’t doing much at first, and the White Sox were just
unbelievable. I found it odd, but I started cheering on the White Sox, and
not caring about the Cubs and Indians. Then the end of the season
came, the Indians were unbelievable, the White Sox were average, and I have to
say, I was cheering on the Indians. It is here that I decided my baseball
allegiance now goes something like this: Chicago Cubs first; Cleveland
Indians second; and Chicago White Sox third. I suppose this allegiance
will never be tested because during the regular season, if the Cubs play the
Indians, I’ll cheer them both on, but if, by some twist of impossible fate, the
Cubs and Indians end up in the World Series, I’ll finally have to make a choice.
I know what you are saying, "What about basketball?" That, again, won’t be
answered until a playoff series because, well, I’ve grown to like the Bulls,
especially during the Michael Jordan era (although I was cheering on the
Cavs until Jordan would, inevitably, crush their hopes like a bug). And
last year, I was really pulling for the Bulls, but I’ve also become a fan of
LeBron, so that is at least keeping my interest in the Cavs on a higher
level (they better never trade him, or it’s over for me).
I have to say, it was almost weird cheering on the Bears, hoping somehow that Kyle Orton would
pull out some dream ending to the game, but I’ve been living in the Chicago area
some 19 years now, more years than I can remember living in the Lorain, Ohio
area, so I guess it shouldn’t be that weird. I just so much wish that the
Bears could have won. Maybe next time.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!