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Entry #4
The Real Reason Why I Hate Chicago
Sports Teams
Posted August 12, 2011, 3:15pm by Chris
Fetterman
The real reason I hate Chicago sports
teams’ is because they are just so damn good. I mean, wait, no. People
ask me almost daily why I dislike the Bulls, the Cubs, the Sox, the
Bears, the Hawks, and the University of Illinois -- and the truth is
it’s because of how I was raised.
I grew up in Lansing, MI so naturally my love
for Sparty doesn’t need to be explained, but I’ll give you a little
background. Along with the pledge of allegiance, we sang the Michigan State
University fight song every morning when I was in kindergarten. My father
was a teacher at MSU and my entire family, save for one cousin (who for the
sake of his safety will remain nameless), all grew up going to games and
loving the green and white. So, we were trained at a young age to believe in
that ONE team. There has not been one day of my life that I have ever
respected, admired or cheered for the University of Michigan in any way,
shape, or form. That is how it has been my entire life.
Growing up, I liked Notre Dame, the San Francisco 49ers, the Colorado
Rockies and the Minnesota Twins. Hell, my favorite player of all time
happens to be Kirby Puckett. So, it’s not like I don’t respect other teams,
their fans, or their traditions -- in fact, I like a lot of professional
teams and players…but I do not love them. I love MY teams. I love the teams
where I come from. My heart is and always will be in Michigan, but my body
resides in Illinois. I am a Detroit Tigers fan through and through and could
tell you every single player that played on the 2003 team that lost 119
games, tying a single-season loss record, and probably what they batted that
year. I can tell you the names of every player on the 1995 Detroit Red Wings
team that lost to the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals. I can
name the entire Detroit Lions roster and coaching staff on the 2009 team
that finished with an 0-16 record, and I can most certainly tell you who was
on the Pistons team in 2002, before they made their run of 5 straight
Eastern Conference Finals…and I can do it all by memory. I can tell you more
about Michigan State than you can probably tell me about anything you know.
Not only do I love my teams when they are GREAT (look it up -- Detroit was
named best sports city in America five times between 2002-2008) but I love
them when they are bad as well –- see the Detroit Lions. You might be
thinking to yourself, so what? Why does that make you a fan? And that
doesn’t explain why you hate the Chicago sports franchises?
Allow me to explain: I hate most, if not all,
Chicago sports fans (with the exception of the Cubs, because do they really
have die-hard fans or just fans who like to hang out at the Wrigley Field
and get hammered?) because they are some of the biggest, uneducated,
fair-weather sports “fans” I know.
Chicago Blackhawks' fans created a chant that sounds more like jealousy than
anything, and more importantly, they think its cute and clever. They simply
yell “Detroit Sucks” and I wonder "what is it that they suck at?" Winning
four Stanley Cup titles in the span of eleven years (compared to Chicago's
one title in over sixty years)? Do they suck at making the cars you drive
around in every day? Does Detroit suck because its' class of people has to
work their butts off every day? Does it suck because you decided to buy
foreign made cars so many of the people their lost their jobs? Or does it
suck because the fans of its sports teams are true, unwavering, die-hard
fans that you couldn’t possibly understand?
Memo: you are yelling “Detroit Sucks” to an
organization that is arguably the best run franchise in the entire sports
world (name one team in the world that has made more consecutive playoff
appearances than the Red Wings -- you can't because there isn’t one). You
are yelling “Detroit Sucks” to a community that has possibly taken it harder
on the chin than anyone in the country, for being jobless, because you won’t
buy American-made automobiles. You are yelling “Detroit sucks” to some of
the most friendly, down-to-earth, and passionate fans in the world. Maybe
you should look in the mirror rather than belittling a group of people that
have more class in their pinkies than you ever will. That’s why I hate the
Blackhawks. Oh, and you are welcome for the Bowman Family.
The Chicago White Sox are one of the oldest teams in Major League Baseball,
are perennial title contenders every year, yet they can’t even sell out
their own stadium during in a pennant race! You have one of the worst
broadcasters in the history of time-who is about as classless as they
come-and you have an overpaid and underachieving team. Congrats. But, if the
White Sox somehow make the playoffs, lo and behold the White Sox "fans" come
out of the woodwork and start talking trash. The lone bright spot is your
manager, who is a brilliant baseball guy, who loves the game and is
passionate. Yet, your media rips him nightly? Without him, you would be
below .500 team, playing an overpaid roster every night…oh wait, you are
that team now. Support your team when they are good and when they are bad.
The Cubs aren’t even worth discussing.
The Bears fans don’t ever accept when someone is better than they are. The
Chicago Bears are not the greatest thing since sliced bread, so stop acting
like it. The defense is old, the offensive line is literally the worst in
the NFL, and the quarterback is as overrated as they come. Do I think the
bears are good? Sure. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if they won the
division this year, but if they don’t win the first game, Chicago "fans"
will jump off the bandwagon the very next morning. Be a fan, and live and
die by your team; stop giving up at the first sign of another twenty
interception season by your "awesome" QB. Oh, by the way, that Calvin
Johnson touchdown should have counted and you know it!
The Bulls...I could care less about them. They could barely fill their
stadium until about three years ago. When they’re good the "fans" start
showing up, but when they are losing no one even knows when they are playing
in Chicago.
I have met maybe three people in thirty years that have graduated from the
University of Illinois, and have impacted me positively. Memo: you are not
better than anyone, probably at anything… so stop acting like it. You are
offensive and foolish to think that anyone is jealous of anything you will
ever do.
Those are just some examples of why I hate Chicago sports teams and their
fans. I do respect a lot of their players, coaches and I admire the true
fans, and there are a few, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. I
hated Michael Jordan…not because he was so good (no argument there), but
because he was a terrible role model for kids and I am a Pistons fan. I hate
Chicago teams and fans, mostly because they are rude, uneducated, and have
no concept of 100% support of their teams. I was raised to pick
something…love it… and give everything I have to it. Maybe you should be
doing the same.
Moving here wasn’t easy, and I probably support my teams and know so much
about them because it’s a way to hold onto my roots. I can stay in touch
with the place that I love so much. Maybe it’s because I like to argue, or
prove a point, or because I can hold it over my friend’s heads when my team
wins. Or maybe, just maybe… it’s because I am proud of where I am from, and
when someone bashes where I am from, I take it personally.
Or maybe it's because Chicago and their fans
suck? Have you ever thought of that?
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