When you grow up in a state that has no major league football team, no major league baseball team, and no major basketball team, you have to adopt teams from other states as “your” team. And, if your dad grew up in Chicago and his entire family still lives there, that decision is made for you at a very early age. I have grade school pictures of myself wearing a puffy Bears-colored blue and orange winter vest, and grew up wearing lots of Bears shirts and Bulls baseball caps. Being a Chicago fan hasn’t been that bad. In seventh grade, when practically every other kid at school was a Dallas Cowboys fan, the 1985 Bears destroyed team after team, ending the season with 15 wins and only 1 loss before going on to win Superbowl 20. Even the die hard Bears haters knew the names of Mike Ditka, Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, Mike Singleterry, and of course William “The Fridge” Perry. And just when we Chicago fans thought it couldn’t get any better, in 1984 the Bulls drafted a rookie player named Michael Jordan …

Of course, being a Chicago sports fan isn’t always fun. The ’85 “Superbowl Shuffle” team faded. The Bulls had a long winning streak, but eventually the star players were traded, or retired. Soon, that party was also ended. I’m not a huge baseball fan but I know the Sox and Cubs have both had their share of ups and downs throughout the years as well.

Tonight, the Chicago Bears lost the Superbowl. The fair-weathered fans will ride through the streets displaying their Colts colors, maybe with flags on their cars or shirts or hats or something. Me, I’ll be wearing my Bears jersey tomorrow. It’s easy to like the team that won; a real fan sticks by their team even when they lose.