2007 bearsing: IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (and i feel fine, but everyone else doesn't)

i can sum it up best by dropping this quote from efnet's #bears a few minutes after the loss became official:

<> the cubs are done this year
they still can make it and all
<> haha
<> but i've emotionally uninvested
<> another example of how true a fan you are
<> 3 and out
<> faggot
-!- nein [~nein@ideacomplex.com] has left #bears []

cubs fans: the giant whirlpool of suck that brings fatalism to such great heights. they live and die with every pitch, they go from exhalting the game's greatest players one moment to lambasting the piece-of-shite bum the next. because of their dubious distinction of being proud supporters of, arguably, the most underachieving team in all of professional sports (while they may not be the WORST franchise out of them all, in terms of having 40k people per game attending with the general idea being that the cubs are doing all they can to field the best team possible in order to accompany the so-good-it-sells-itself product that is "THE WRIGLEY FIELD EXPERIENCE", if you juxtapose that factor in with on-field performance clearly they are the most grand upper echelon of perennial underachievers)

these people take immense amounts of pride in being a cubs fan, seeing their weathering the perpetual shitstorm of mediocrity-at-best as a testament to their greatness as baseball fans. they derive their identity from being someone who ostensaciously displays sheer and utter faith in a team due to pure love, as opposed to thought-manifested-appreciation of the game of baseball.

as such, in their throes of PASHIN (pronounced like SASHAGE) they are liable to question, in this particular order, your fandom, your sexuality, and whether or not you are the masculine partner in said unorthadox sexual relations. yes, you are usually the feminine.

this leads me to one final example of cubdom, and more specifically its prevalent mentality in consuming sports in chicago these days, takes us back to may of 2002, a beautiful weeknight where star-phenom/future-bust mark prior made his MLB debut against the pittsburgh pirates. cubs fans were extra gregarious as this was their can't miss #1 draft pick from just a year ago, and he looked damn impressive on the mound s oas the beer kept flowin the bravado was just about as high as i've ever seen it at wrigley field.

i would like to take this moment to interject the seemingly random happenstance that i was wearing an expos batting practice vladimir guerrero jersey. blue with red letters and white name/#s on the back: megamerican.

around the bottom of the fifth, as i was walking to the concourse to go have a cigarette, i was grabbed by the throat and shoved up against a wall by a shorter white-trash lookin dude in a brian urlacher jersey. he proclaimed "hey faggot, this is chicago. you wear a cubs jersey, preferably sosa, you wear an urlacher jersey, or you go the fuck home. you got htat?"

before i could recriprocate there were a few chunky white guys with earpieces in cubs-logoed polo shirts who showed up to expunge that guy from the crowd, however, the damage was done.

why do i bring this up on I LOVES ME SOME BEARS, you ask? simple. because hanging out in #bears talking whilst the game was going on, from kickoff to the demise early int he 4th quarter i came across a bunch of seethign bears fans, which i believe to be representative of hte general swarth of emobearsfans. check out this exchange:

FuFu is FuFu@rrcs-67-53-139-242.west.biz.rr.com * FuFu
FuFu on @#greenbaypackers +#CheatingNetwork +#fw #chicagobears #bears

<> hahahahahahaha the bears are fucking horrible
<> hahahahahahaha the bears are fucking horrible
<> hahahahahahaha the bears are fucking horrible
<> hahahahahahaha the bears are fucking horrible
<> hahahahahahaha the bears are fucking horrible
<> hahahahahahaha the bears are fucking horrible
<> hahahahahahaha the bears are fucking horrible
-!- FuFu [FuFu@rrcs-67-53-139-242.west.biz.rr.com] has left #bears []
<> catcha y'all next week
-!- MrZebra [neonmoose@abcdefg.look.mah.im.a.geenie.us] has left #bears []
<> BTW
<> for all of my fans.....
<> emessiah, we dont need analysts in this channel.. we need bears
fans.
<> and yes
<> you certainly are a faggot
<> hahahah
<> thanks guys

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basically, i was ridiculed for talking all concilatory near the end of the game, talking about how i saw some positives in this game, nearly that we did hang with teh chargers... the defense basically gave up 7 points, as the other 7 were giftwrapped. that's not a bad day.

grossman got rattled early, making a heap of inconsistent throws... however there were two fumbles from the RB position, 1 benson 1 peterson. rex did throw an interception, however at the time he threew it hte bears were in control of the game, even after having been outplayed for hte vast expanse of the ifrst quarter, and it was essentially a punt at this point.

so now fans are engaging in catharsis, calling up wanting to send rex and ced to the gallows... saying our offense is horrible we can't win the big game and this and that. fatalism. living and dying wiht every pitch: much like how hte cubs went from ebing a team of destiny to being a waste of $100mil to being that loveable rightful heir to the NL central all within the span of a month or two.

i need to add more detail later, but trust me peoples, the bears will be fines. a healthy dose of chiefs next week will be just what the doctor ordered... i predict htat the bears wills tuff hteir rushing game, exposing them as a very non-scary air attack team, and then we will strike.

if we lose to the chiefs next week something like 24-10, then panic away.

incidentally, i want to give a moment of respect to miek brown, whose career is probably over. another knee injury... he cried during a postgame interview. the bears have known that mike brown has an annual injury, and they prepared for it accordingly, drafting daniel manning and signing adam archuleta. they let chris harris go, and im sure htey knew brown would get hurt (he even got hurt in, um, either or or 05 in greenbay... first game, the one where he returned a ahman green fumble for a 99 yard TD)

seriouslky, he is the heart and soul of the bears defense... but unfortunately hes not an actual physical part of it... hopewfully hew sticks around to impart wisdom to d-manning and start off what i hope could be a nice career in coaching. i think he's smart enough to be a head coach someday.

0-1. a game mostly bleak and scary, but in the end hopeful as it wasnt like the chargers walked in and outclassed htem from the getgo. these were teams of an equal calibur, in that they're both elite NFL teams... and i reckon if hte bears get anothe rcrack at them the results would be quite different, if not a little more favorable for the beloved.

rex isnt a polished ranchise quarterback. he still has to learn. these are the growing pains... go whomp some chief ass next week and let's get back on the horse.