So I
grew up in Chicago and as a result was obviously a Chicago Bears fan. That is
one of the things that people don’t understand about Chicago: Absolutely
everyone in the city is a Bears fan. Even when the Bulls were on their
championship run not everyone was on their side (mainly because while Jordan
might have been the best basketball player ever he certainly wasn’t the best
person ever). The Blackhawks are supported by the portion of the city that
loves hockey and of course the Cubs / White Sox divide is long lasting and all
I can say to Cubs fans who complain about my team’s stadium / fans /
surrounding community “Call me when you see your team win a World Series.”
Anyway,
so last week I got to watch my Bears play the rival Packers with a playoff
berth on the line. It was a classic Bears – Packers game: it was cold, the play
was brutal and the game was back and forth the entire way. And, in true Bears –
Packers fashion, the Bears were leading in the last minute and had forced a
fourth and long only to see Aaron Rodgers elude a tackler, Chris Conte screw up
his coverage and a long pass go undefended for a touchdown. No Bears in the
playoffs this year.
After
living in Chicago I then moved to Kansas City. The best description I can give
of Kansas City is that it is just like Chicago except that everything is
smaller and more convenient and you have to deal with the fact that you are
forced to enter Kansas way too often. KC doesn’t have the Magnificent Mile,
more like the really cool stretch of four blocks. Anyway, since there isn’t
much else to do in the town I did follow the Chiefs. Hell, within my first week
of living in the town I had bartenders telling me about serving Joe Montana
back in the day when he was the quarterback. In my five years there the Chiefs
alternated between being surprisingly good and depressingly bad but could make
the playoffs if only to blow it in their first game.
So
yesterday I watched the first half and saw the Chiefs just demolish the Colts
to the point that Kim and I turned off the game to watch old episodes of
Restaurant Impossible. We flipped the game back on just in time to see Andrew
Luck hit his last bomb to mount a 28 point comeback to win the game. I didn’t
even want to look at Facebook knowing that all I was going to see was the
digital equivalent of people shaking their head in disbelief and ordering a
beer to cry into.
After
Kansas City I decided that living in Wilmington, Delaware sounded like a good
idea. It wasn’t, in the fact that I will never understand that city but it was
really the only place to live for my job. Wilmington is essentially a
Philadelphia suburb. I followed the Eagles but never really became a big fan
because, well, hanging out with Eagles fans can be scary. Throwing snowballs at
Santa might not even make the top ten of their most infamous moments.
So of
course last night I flipped on the Eagles – Saints game to watch the Eagles
hold a lead for most of the game until a late collapse causes them to lose on a
last second field goal and I knew that the most interesting stats from Lincoln
Financial Field will come from the police report as opposed to the football
field.
Three
towns and three heartbreaking losses. I live in Fort Myers now so there is no
football team that I can curse by my presence. Though I have to feel for the
poor Fort Myers Everblades who now have to suffer my fandom.
Best of 120 Minutes: I’m a bit more surprised in
retrospect that I was never really into The Smiths / Morrissey. I guess when I
was a disaffected youth there was something about them that put me off. Maybe
the fact that all I had ever heard about them was that they were incredibly
depressed and even I wondered why that would be something that would encourage
you to listen to their music. However, I’ve been listening to them more
recently and I have to say they are much better than I ever gave them credit
for. Plus, I am a sucker for any video that is done in one take.
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