- Tom Lynn/Getty Images
- He blew it, but so did you, Chicago voters.
At the risk of sounding cruel and sadistic, I must confess I’ve been getting a perverse charge watching Bears fans desperately search for words to adequately express their rage over Sunday’s 55-14 massacre at Green Bay.
So far I’ve heard fans call the Bears gutless babies, wusses, cowards, wimps, and a whole lot of nasty things I can’t print in a family newspaper.
It’s as though the Bears betrayed the ethos of Chicago—a city of tough, take-no-shit warriors who never, ever go down without a fight.
If only that were true . . .
Alas, this current Bears team perfectly symbolizes the political lapdogs you have become, Chicago.
Let’s just sample a few of your more abject humiliations—starting with the parking meter deal.
That’s where Mayor Daley—who you elected and reelected six times—sold an incredibly valuable public asset for a fraction of its worth.
Now every penny you stuff into those meters goes to the Sultan of Dubai—or whoever currently owns the parking-meters—as opposed to the city’s coffers.
Meanwhile, we’re so broke we have to close a bunch of schools.
Oh, you ranted and railed for a few months after that deal went down. Then you promptly went out and elected Mayor Rahm, Mayor Daley’s hand-picked successor.
You also reelected many of the same aldermen who approved the deal, including Ed Burke, Richard Mell, and Patrick O’Connor.
By the way, all three of those aldermen ran unopposed in the last election—just like Jordy Nelson and the other Packer receivers in last Sunday’s game against the Bears.
Wait, I’m not done . . .
Last year, the city council—at the mayor’s urging—reratified that wretched parking meter deal, thus making it even harder to undo.
Now you’re talking yourself into reelecting the mayor and many of those aldermen.
That’s roughly the equivalent of the Bears following up a shellacking in New England with another one in Green Bay. At least the Bears get paid for rolling over. What’s your excuse, Chicago?
Hold it, still not done with you . . .
You bitch and moan about your taxes. Then you dumbly look the other way while Mayor Rahm snatches about a billion or so from the public coffers to build a hotel for Marriott and a basketball arena for DePaul in a gentrifying south loop neighborhood under the guise of eradicating blight in a low-income area, thus wasting taxes and jacking them up—in one fell swoop.
That’s the mayor’s equivalent of Jay Cutler bouncing a pass off an offensive lineman’s helmet and into the arms of a Packer defender, who runs it back for a score.
Talk about misdirection.
Watching Mayor Rahm standing in the council chambers, smugly smiling as aldermen obediently fall into line, is about as humiliating as watching Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, coach Mike McCarthy, and all those other Cheeseheads laughing as they pound our hapless Bears.
If you had any pride, Chicago, you’d vote ’em all out of office.
But you lost your pride years ago. Just like your football team.