Chicago's blues over Brewer, Packer rise
By Greg Couch
You have to understand how far back this goes. The first time the Chicago Bears played the Green Bay Packers in Chicago, in 1921, hundreds of Packers fans came down and brought a band. They went into the Loop, bouncing from hotel lobby to hotel lobby, with the band all excited. And get this:
According to the book “Mudbaths and Bloodbaths,” the band wore “corduroy pants, lumberjack shirts and mackinaws, hunting caps and high boots.’’
I mean, really, how were Chicagoans supposed to react? It’s hard to respect that. More important, why do the people in Wisconsin still dress that way?
So this is a bit of a hard time for Chicagoans. The Milwaukee Brewers, the little engine that could, are walking right into the playoffs, while the Cubs, the big engine that couldn’t, just fired their general manager. It’s another meltdown for the Cubs, who are just trying to figure out how to unload some of the worst contracts in baseball history.
Meanwhile, the Packers beat the Bears in Chicago in the NFC Championship Game, won the Super Bowl and are a good bet to win it again.
Look, Milwaukee is nice. Wisconsin is nice. Nice, of course, is nice.
But it isn’t easy for Chicagoans — and I’m one — to take a back seat to Wisconsin. It's like taking a back seat to Mayberry.
Understand that Chicagoans see Wisconsin only as a great place to get Christmas trees, or maybe to hit a homey festival. And it’s a little insulting to be beaten up by a state that is entirely surrounded by white picket fences.
I haven’t written for FOXSports.com before, so here’s a quick intro. I have a pretty good understanding of the mentality of a Chicago sports fan. I wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times for years. But it’s not just that. This is true: When I was born, doctors had to induce labor. But it turned out that on the day it was scheduled, the Bears were playing the New York Giants in the championship game. So, yes, my parents put off my birth until after the Bears game. First, they won the title. Then I was born.
Then they wouldn’t win another championship for 22 years.
That was nothing, though. Not one major Chicago team won a championship my entire childhood. Talk about growing up thinking you’re a jinx. The Cubs haven’t won in more than 100 years, since my grandpa, rest his soul, was a fetus. My dad used to take me to Wrigley Field all the time, setting up my emotions. I’ve pretty much forgiven him.
So I have a love-hate relationship with Chicago teams. I hate it that I love them.
Anyway, Chicagoans don’t exactly see Milwaukee as the place with the stuff for champions. But that’s wrong.
The Packers are the best franchise in football now. And it figures that they have done things the right way, through great scouting, drafting and coaching. They sign undrafted free agents, and next thing you know, those guys are starting in the Super Bowl. Guess how many of the Bears’ first-round draft choices, not counting this year’s, are on the team now.
One.
More after the leap...