By David Stanczak
Several years ago, I was taken to task by an Illini fan for suggesting that maybe, just maybe, Illini fans and Cub fans were kindred spirits. How dare I compare Illini fans with people who follow that bunch of losers!
There are three things which have characterized Cub fans (I know from being one for so long): The first is lack of desire to talk about the team’s current situation. If I had a dollar for every time I expressed an inability to wait for the Bears and football season because the baseball season was another endless round of suffering and disappointment, I’d be living in a mansion with an ocean view. If I had a dollar for every time (as an Illini fan) I couldn’t wait for basketball season (or the next football season), same result.
The second is loyalty. If there is one thing that characterizes fans who haven’t given up on a team that hasn’t won a World Series since 1908, it’s loyalty. There is nobody walking around wearing a Cubs World Series ring. They may not have even made them back then, and anyone who ever did wear one went to the Field of Dreams Annex long before I was even born. Similarly, I’ve known of no Illini fans who have jumped ship during the increasingly unbearable orange and blue doldrums.
Finally, there is the wait-till-next-year mentality. “Wait till next year” has been a Cubs motto for decades now, maybe even a century. Whenever the Cubs did field a respectable team, you could count on seeing lots of shirts saying “This IS next year” even though it never was. In Champaign, after 4 agonizing losses, reality has set in and some of the giddy enthusiasm of the Lovie-fest that began at the announcements of Lovie Smith’s arrival has faded. This year, Lovie is stuck with the players who got there before him, and unless he’s able to make silk purses out of sows’ ears, we have no choice but to wait till next year-at least. But it’s hard when you wonder every week if the team will gain more yards than they lose in penalties.
I rest my case for the kindred spirits theory in the fervent hope that my patience and loyalty will be rewarded soon.
David Stanczak, a Forum commentator since 1995, came to Bloomington in 1971. He served as the City of Bloomington’s first full-time legal counsel for over 18 years, before entering private practice. He is currently employed by the Snyder Companies and continues to reside in Bloomington with his family.
The opinions expressed within WJBC’s Forum are solely those of the Forum’s author, and are not necessarily those of WJBC or Cumulus Media Inc.
