Anyone that knows anything about me will tell you that I am a Cubs fan first and foremost. However, I’ve been a fan of Chicago sports since I was a young kid growing up in Iowa. As much as I love the state of Iowa, they have zero professional sports teams to follow and the state gives 100% of their attention to the University of Iowa (if there are any Iowa State fans reading this, Iowa will ALWAYS be a Hawkeye state.) So because there were no professional sports teams to root for in Iowa growing up, I naturally gravitated to the nearest market for professional sports: Chicago.
I grew up lucky enough to get to watch Michael Jordan dominate the NBA during the peak greatness of the Chicago Bulls. I got to watch my beloved Chicago Bears play in Superbowl XLI ten years ago, which teased fans that we may get a repeat of the infamous 1985 team. I feel like I’ve been lucky enough to get the chance to watch both the Bulls and Bears be elite franchises in their respective leagues and for that I’ll be forever grateful.
Now….
If you’ve been following either team the past couple of years it’s no surprise that both the Bulls and Bears are complete dog shit. I think NBA basketball is hard enough to watch with all the isolation/pick and roll nonsense but when you also factor in a team who is run by two buffoons and would struggle to complete in the D-League, that makes for some horrendous TV. The Bulls currently sit and a league-worst 3-19 and are a measly 16.5 games out of first place. Every time I flip a Bulls game on, this is my reaction.
(And for Bulls fans freaking out reading that paragraph — YES, I understand how rebuilds work. Let’s just hope “The Finnisher” pans out.)
My beloved Bears are not too far behind the Bulls in terms of overall shittiness. I’m not sure if it’s the coaches, management, or front office that frustrate me the most about the Bears but the fact that I turned down two free tickets to Sunday’s game so I could clean out my garage shows you mentally where I stand with the team. I’ll give the Bears the fact that they’ve been on the wrong side of the injury battle but I still can’t see that as the only reason why they look like a hot dumpster fire.
The dumpster fire was perfectly exemplified last week when the 1-10 San Francisco 49ers came into town. That was supposed to be a game that Bears fans were going to get a glimpse of how great the team’s 1st-round draft pick, Mitchell Trubisky, was because the coaches were going to “loosen the reigns” on the quarterback.
Did that happen?
Nah.
We all know the outcome. Former Bears legend, Robbie Gould, came in as a 49er and kicked five field goals to defeat his former team (BY HIMSELF) 15-14 which officially stamped the 2017 Bears season as a fucking joke.
How bad has it been for the Bears and the Bulls? The goddamn Cubs have more wins than both of them since October 1st.
Total wins since Oct 1st@Cubs 4@chicagobulls 3@ChicagoBears 2
Home wins since Oct 1st@Cubs 2@chicagobulls 2@ChicagoBears 1
Quite a battle.#yesIknowitsdecemberalready@MattSpiegel670 @ckamka— Mike Garrigan (@MikeGarrigan23) December 5, 2017
Once again — I understand how rebuilds work so before you start blowing shit out of proportion, relax. I lived through the Cubs rebuild not too long ago so I get it. It’s my hope that both the Bears and Bulls will continue to rebuild and return to prominence in their respective leagues but after watching the product that’s being put on the court/field — those days seem so far away.
I’d also never forgive myself if I didn’t point out that the White Sox have a grand total of zero wins since October 1 because — you know — you have to be eligible to play baseball in October.
