Megan Wells is an IT tech and sports blogger in Chicago.
Sports create narratives. Really appealing ones — underdog stories, hard-work parables, rags-to-riches daydreams. But ultimately, sports teams are run by businessmen, not writers, and athletes are people with jobs first and heroes second (if at all). Fans of the St. Louis Cardinals got a painful reminder of exactly that last week, when superstar first baseman Albert Pujols took his talents to the Los Angeles Angels for a 10-year, $254 million deal. Cardinals fans are understandably pretty upset, and the possessiveness… Read more
And they want you to love it too! The University of Connecticut has started saying the Pledge of Allegiance before the national anthem at its men’s basketball games. I think the Pledge is kind of creepy for a whole slate of reasons, including the fact that I can still be patriotic while choosing not to recite my unflinching loyalty in a glassy-eyed monotone. Some members of the UConn community agree: Those who supported saying the pledge said it was unifying… Read more
On Monday morning, the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Veterans Committee confirmed what Chicago Cubs fans have known for a long time: Ron Santo, legendary third baseman, belongs in Cooperstown. Ronnie was an elite player in his own era, despite a career cut short by juvenile diabetes (for which there were no reliable treatments at the time). But he cemented his place in Cubs fans’ hearts by returning to the organization, this time as a color commentator for WGN Radio’s game… Read more
As long as there have been superstar athletes, there have been fans who confuse being really good at a sport with being a really good person. We all want to believe that the men and women we watch on TV go home from a day of shooting three-pointers to buy their kids ice cream and adopt several puppies. Sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? Time and again, the religious – even those who aren’t hardcore practitioners themselves – ascribe moral virtue on… Read more
