Going hand in hand with my current mood, I’m thinking of other times when I’ve been sad, and for the purpose of somewhat getting back to regularly scheduled programming, I go to my teams. Of course, with what has just happened, these sad stories pale in comparison, but at the time, they didn’t feel too good. It started early…
I believe the first time I cried over my teams was in 1984; I was 8 years old. Although I didn’t really grasp the history of the Cubs back then, I sure was excited about them being in the playoffs. For game one, my grammar school teacher actually put on the game for us; they kicked the Padres ass. In game two, it was another Cubs W… one game away from making the World Series. We all know what happened next, but when Steve Garvey hit that home run… I was in bad shape. What happened in Game 5 was just the cherry on top; we’d have to wait another 32 years to get to the Fall Classic. The next time I remember tears flowing was on a Monday Night in 1985. Yes, the mighty Bears took one on the chin in Miami that fateful night. Already up way past my bedtime, the waterworks came. Thankfully, with this one, there was a happy ending. Of course, the Bears would go on to win out, pitching shutouts in both NFC playoff games, and absolutely routing the Pats in the Super Bowl.
As I got older, I don’t recall crying over my teams like that, although there were equally sad things to come. I wasn’t locked in as much to the Hawks as a kid, you know, couldn’t watch them on TV and all, but don’t worry… the Cubs would continue to carry the sad torch. Fast forward to 2003 and the NLCS against the Marlins. Since 2016 happened, I was able to finally recover from that one. This has to be one of the worst of all time. 5 outs away in Game 6… and it all came crashing down. It took a while to move on from this one… Was I over it by the time 2007 rolled around and the Bears made their 2nd appearance in the Super Bowl? Not sure, but if I was, the Bears brought me crashing back down. The loss in the Super Bowl vs the Colts is definitely on this list of sadness. I remember, curling up in bed, feeling very depressed, after the Bears lost that one. OK, moving right along… the next sad moment I can recall was in 2012; it actually happened right after one of the happiest moments of my life. Yes, my son was born earlier in the same month of this event; he was actually in his first little Bulls outfit for the occasion… the start of the NBA playoffs. The Bulls headed into the postseason as the #1 seed for the 2nd straight year; I just knew they were going to avenge their loss to the Heat the previous year, and get that 7th banner we’d all been waiting for. Then it happened… Derrick Rose got hurt. I wasn’t bawling or anything like that, but I do think a tear ran down my cheek when I was washing the dishes later that afternoon. I know there have been a bunch of memorable injuries in Chicago sports, but this one… this one may take the cake. And like that, the Bulls run at 7 was over… we’ve still never recovered.
OK, there you go… a return to Chicago sports talk. Can’t promise I’m back 100%; I’m definitely not. But, we’ll get there…
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