It comes from my family all living in Chicago. I’m not terribly close to my father’s side, but I associate pretty closely with my mom’s family. My mom moved to Near North Side sometime in the 1970s, before she found a job in Dallas, TX, and met my father. She and a few of her siblings crammed into a little apartment right off Lake Shore and enjoyed the city life for a while. Now most of my family lives in the suburbs, except for the cousins who are going to school or have a job in the city.

Before rooting for the Cubs, I really didn’t root for anybody. I was happy with the Red Sox winning their first World Series in decades because I knew the Cubs weren’t very close to it themselves. Several years later, after choosing my allegiance, I admit that I enjoyed seeing the Rockies make it to the World Series — even though it meant that my Cubs weren’t there. After all, as the song goes, “The last time we won the National League Pennant / was the year they dropped the bomb in Japan.” You can credit a Rockies fan for giving that song to me, though I had heard it one spring in the car on the way to the suburbs from the airport. How unfortunate for the songwriter, Steve Goodman, who in his lifetime never saw the Cubbies win a World Series much less a pennant — not that anyone today can say that they saw the Cubs win a World Series.

I really should be at the game right now. The Cubs are losing to the Rockies 4-3 in the top of the 6th right as I type, and the Cubs lost last night with probably a more horrendous score (I like to forget about this kind of thing). Tomorrow I’ll be watching at Coors Field, wearing my Soriano shirt and swearing like a sailor, but I won’t stand down. Yes, I will go to Coors Field and be one of those jerks rooting against the home team. I’m totally fine with that.

And hey! The Cubs just tied the game at 4!

But will I get my hopes up? Probably not. Like my father told me, “The Cubs were created by God to make us suffer here on Earth.” I don’t know — to believe in God is to believe  that the Cubs might just win a World Series someday. Would God make the northern half of the city of Chicago absolutely, incredibly, pitifully miserable?

I remember giving a boyfriend of sorts — a Rockies fan — a key chain in the shape of a bat, adorned with a Cubs logo, as a little bit of a joke.  What it really meant to me was a reminder that I’m pretty adamant on my choice of teams, much like I am to the people who are good to me. What can I say? I’m a loyal person. When we later parted ways, he gave it back to me. “I’m not a Cubs fan,” he said, acting as if it was some sort of sin to root for the Cubs. I was actually pretty insulted; being a Cubs fan is about loyalty, and to be perfectly honest, self-flagellation. It takes some honor, more patience than you can imagine, and tough skin. It is a true feat of emotional strength to be a Cubs fan, requiring a dash of naïveté and a hint of humility, and I won’t let anybody convince me otherwise.

And the Cubs are now up 5-4 as we go into the 7th inning. And I am pretty sure there is still time to foul this one up. Really now — in the time I can write this blogpost, the Cubs took a lead. In the time that I can submit it, they can blow it. But guess what? I’ll still be a Cubs fan. Ask any other Cubs fan — it defines their character.

Look for me tomorrow, amongst the sea of other Cubs fans. We might be a little miserable, but Coors Field is pretty thankful for us during this four-game series; we damn near sell the whole place out, and hosting a team like the Cubs means will be a whole lot of beer poured to help ease the pain.

Well, I’m obviously not a gentleman, and sometimes I’m a little too brash to be called a ‘lady’, but I can definitely tackle politics and sports at the same time. It’ll be easy this time because there is one clear winner the last few days: the city of Chicago.

pic via blacksportsonline.com

You could really say that all of Illinois won. But I don’t know, being a semi-Chicagoan — spending quite a lot of my time out there with my mom’s family — I am kind of a jerk and don’t think of an entire state existing outside of Chicagoland. It’s one thing that the suburbs are separate from the city, but the difference between the rest of Illinois and Chicagoland is far bigger. Therefore I am demonstrating my bias by declaring Chicago the winner here.

Why did Chicago win? And just what is it they won? Yesterday, Chicago witnessed two big developments in sports and politics: first, the Broncos happily traded quarterback Jay Cutler to da Bears (why are we so blessed?!) for the miserable Kyle Orton (but two first-round draft picks and a few fourth-rounders, I think), and Rod Blagojevich — the state-wide embarrassment of a former governor — received just what he deserves: an indictment for various federal charges boiling down to corruption.

As for the trade, Chicago seems pretty happy. Why not? It’s pretty obvious that, even though Jay is a big crybaby, we lost a really good quarterback. By obtaining Kyle Orton, we lost a ton of leverage. We’d better pray for a really good draft choice or two; if Josh McDaniels throws this one away, his first season with the Broncos will be extremely tainted, and it could even be his last (but it’s a little early to tackle that one). Denver lost a good one to Chicago; we were pretty much set with a great offense and Jay’s Amazing Arm, but this melodramatic battle between our young, inexperienced coach and his young, immature quarterback was handled incredibly poorly, arguably at the fault of Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, and now Denver football fans have an uncertain season in the coming year. This is assuming that McDaniels & Co. get nothing out of the draft picks. Even if we do get some good picks, it’ll be a few years before Denver even starts to bring back the kind of offensive potential that was possible pre-McJaygate.

Although a lot of people seem to believe that getting rid of a crybaby like Cutler is a way of showing power, and that it’s like getting rid of a cancer, I almost feel that it was more a sign of weakness than it was strength. Cutler complained far too much and the drama continued, during the offseason, for something like a month before McDaniels gave in and traded him. That’s what he did, folks — McDaniels gave in. He didn’t exert his power. He gave Jay just what he wanted (or at least what he said he wanted in the first place, then backtracked on soon thereafter). Had we traded Jay to some horrendous team without a chance (I’m optimistic for the Bears, okay?) and stripped him of any dignity whatsoever, maybe the Broncos would’ve won the battle of egos right then and there. However, that didn’t happen, and McDaniels likely lost a lot of respect out of his players. Let’s just pretend that McDaniels knew that Jay didn’t want to be traded and just played along with all the media hoopla. Doesn’t that make the trade seem like a really extreme move? Couldn’t McDaniels have just held strong and used his supposed coaching skills to combat this problem? In my opinion, all McDaniels really did was demonstrate how easy he can be manipulated. This whiny attitude on behalf of Jay Cutler was not that big of a deal in the first place, and the media really took off and ran with it. McDaniels let the media circus overwhelm him.

picture by AP via Politico

In the political arena, Chicago is looking at vindication now that corrupt ex-governor Blagojevich may actually be facing jailtime for his corrupt practices. Sixteen counts of felony charges, oh my! Yes, I know what you’re wondering: since when has there been a clean Illinois governor? Right, good answer, because I don’t know, either. Perhaps Illinois deserves a break — and this would definitely be a break — but considering the fact that Blago has been a heck of a burden on the always-ailing political system of Chicago, just the fact that there are charges is a step forward.

With that said, although I’m glad that Chicago is rid of Rod’s horrible haircut, I don’t think they’ll really be rid of Blago for a while. He’s going to be all over the news, getting loads of the attention he has always craved. But at least he’ll be taking the well-deserved abuse from a brutal public; Chicago is a city that is just as harsh in criticizing its politicians as the politicians are with backstabbing one another. Furthermore, Chicago has Barack Obama for bragging purposes — who really cares about Blago when Chicago’s prodigal son is our current president?

And on an even more shallow note, I think Kyle Orton is, um, well — to say the least — far less attractive than Jay Cutler. (What, did you guys expect a completely serious post about politics and sports from me?!) Yes, his boyish looks and his dimpled chin were absolutely adorable atop his Broncos orange-and-blues. If trading Jay really was the best decision, and I could somehow weigh-in and get a compromise, I would’ve been much happier with Brady Quinn. Now that’s eye candy. First the Rockies with Matt Holliday, then a highly decreased likelyhood of seeing Peter Forsberg in an Avs jersey ever again, and now Jay Cutler? Do Denver’s sports teams want to lose their female audience forever?!!

So there you have it. Denver will be missing its franchise quarterback while Chicago gains The Arm Better than Elway’s, and hopefully nobody besides a federal prison will have to put up with having Rod Blagojevich around. This is to you, Chicago — you won out this time, but don’t expect to get this lucky again!