Finally in Title Town

I'm starting to think this thing might turn around. No, not the blogging thing, though I do realize this is my third post this week (a modern record.)

In my lifetime, I have now seen one of my teams win a title for the second time. You see, all my life, I've supported loser teams.

For example:

The Cleveland Browns. Lost in the AFC Championship three times in the 80s. Haven't won a title since 1964, two years before the Super Bowl was invented. "The Drive" and "The Fumble" both happened during my happy childhood. They moved to Baltimore in 1995 and since returning in 1999 as an expansion team things have been really ugly.

The Cleveland Indians. Lost in the World Series in 1995 to the Braves and in 1997 to an absurd blown save and extra inning choke job in Game 7 to the Marlins. Before the turn around in 1993 and 1994, the Tribe was THE joke of the league. They mired in futility for the better part of 5 decades, last winning a penant in 1954 (before Willie Mays made "the catch" and the Giants swept us) and only winning World Series titles in 1920 and 1948.

The Cleveland Cavaliers. I was never a fan per say, but they weremy home town team. They were crushed over and over my the Pistons and the Bulls when they had their "great" teams in the 1980s. Never been past the second round of the playoffs. "The Shot." Need I say more? When I finally jumped ship (Jerry Reinsdorf and the Bulls starting giving me money) they landed King James, or as most Clevelanders would have you believe, the second coming of Christ. Just my luck.

The Chicago Bulls. Sure. Six titles in my lifetime, but none since I've supported them. In the 2 1/2 years I worked at the house that Michael built, they had a combined record of 53-111. Yikes. I leave and what happens? 88-76 over the next two seasons and two playoff berths.

The Buffalo Sabres. My first hockey team due to some family in the area. In 1999 Brett Hull had his damn skate in the crease. Everyone saw it but the referees. Fucking cheater.

The St. Louis Blues. My new number one hockey team since about the same time the Sabres blew it. This was admittedly my only real fair-weathered move, but one that was made at a time when I was deeply in love with a St. Louisian. I broke every man-law imaginable and adopted two of her teams. One, the Blues, as my number one NHL team. The other, the St. Louis Cardinals, as my second baseball team. More on that in a second. Either way, the Blues 26-year run of consecutive playoff appearances broke last season. This team has never won a championship despite being one of the perenial favorites in the West from 1999-2003. Best record in the league in 2001 and a first round playoff exit followed to the 8th seeded San Jose Sharks.

The St. Louis Cardinals. Okay, I'm not a Cardinals FAN, so don't jump on me. I'm a firm believer that you can only be a fan of ONE TEAM PER SPORT. It's a rule. Of all the teams in the National League however, I've always kinda followed them. Even as a kid I loved collecting the Donrus cards with the Stan Musial puzzle. I'm a bit conflicted though since I've been living in Wrigleyville for the past 4+ years.

The Chicago Cubs. Since I've lived just blocks from the friendly confines I was lucky enough to be in the bleachers for Mark Prior's first start in the bigs, the first Yankees series at Wrigley since Babe Ruth the double-header that clinched the division in 2003 and a couple of playoff games that season. Then they wet the bed in the NLCS against the Marlins and have been extremely shitty ever since. Again, not a fan, but I'll support them while I'm here because it's fun to be in that park (most of the time) and there are typically hot, young, drunk girls walking around. What can I say? I'm a guy. Sue me.

The Columbus Crew. My first MLS franchise. Cheered for them from 1996-2000 and love Brian McBride. McBride and the Crew's first goalie, Brad Friedel, are two of my three favorite American soccer players of all time (Eric Wynalda is the other.) They generally stunk it up and always blew the conference title to D.C. United.

D.C. United. I jumped off the Crew's ship for an internship and move to our nation's capital in the summer of 2001 and continued to follow the team for another couple years. They were awful during those couple years after winning titles in 1996, 1997, 1999 and then they won again after I dropped them in 2004.

THEN, FINALLY, in 2002, I finally realized one of my dreams, getting to watch The Ohio State University Buckeyes win the BCS National Championship over Miami (FL) in the Fiesta Bowl. Before that, under John Cooper's watch we kept getting our title hopes crushed by That School Up North and then we'd get slapped around in a bowl game.

But in my professional sports marketing career, I hadn't even come close. I've seen friends get championship rings with D.C. United, the Chicago White Sox, even the Chicago Rush (Arena Football.) Myself? A last placed D.C. United squad, some of the worst seasons in recent memory for Miami Redhawks football, basketball, hockey and baseball (when I worked for the Athletic Department,) the Bulls teams I mentioned earlier and then the Chicago Fire started off miserably this year in a brand new stadium.

Then? Well, then we hosted the All-Star Game and immediately caught on Fire (pardon the pun.) We lost our first game after the break, but have since gone 11-1-1 over all competitions, culminating with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup Championship. So after just five short years, I've won a title. So exciting.

I woke up sick as hell and got permission to come in a little late. Upon my arrival, my boss said that I didn't have to be here if I didn't want to be. I said, "Are you kidding? We're going to win the Dewar Cup tonight? You think I'm going to miss that?"

I suffered through the day, doped up on Day-Quill and then when the gates opened I was bus getting my Army Color Guard ready to go and anxiously awaiting the arrival of KTO and G-Love. My buddy Kevin and his little brother actually arrived first and I sat down with them for a few minutes and watched the Fire jump out to an early 1-0 lead in the first 10 minutes. Then I went up to make sure all of my suite holders were good to go for the night, stopped by to see my friend Dave from J. Crew who was in one of the suites being catered by AEG (our ownership group) to Time Out Chicago, a local magazine.

The Fire led 2-0 at the break, and I knew it was going to be a little chilly with my slight fever, but I braved the elements and went down to visit the girls and my buddy Kevin in the second half. G-Love was freezing too, but she definitely looked cute with her little Miami soccer hoodie. Man do I miss those days sometimes.

We had a good time, the Fire won it 3-1, putting the nail in the coffin with just a couple of minutes remaining. Landon Donovan cried like a little school girl most of the night and Chris Albright took a shot right to the face and dropped like a sack of rocks. The trophy presentation was pretty emotional when our captain, Chris Armas, came out to hoist the trophy (he was serving a red-card suspension for this match.)

Afterwards, everyone went up to the stadium club and we had about 500-600 people packed in there. What a party! I had a couple too many drinks with my cold medicine giving me an extra buzz. G-Love and KTO took off early since G had to train for the Columbus marathon at 5:30 the next morning. I stuck around and hitched a ride home with my friend Fergie, our new graphics design chick. Yes, I know she isn't THE Fergie, but the more the merrier, right?

Looking back on it now, I think I was right. I pulled a Hutch and had built G-Love up WAY TOO HIGH in my head. She's definitely cute and certainly my type, but she's not someone that I'd be crushed if I never got to date.

So here I am, working for a championship team. And we're not done yet, our pursuit of the "double" continues as we can lock up the #2 seed in the East as early as this Sunday. Nobody wants to play us right now, especially D.C. United, who we've beaten in 2 straight. They've been so frustrated that in the last two matches they've taken three red-cards. Unreal.

Alright, I think that's a long enough post today. To sum it up....I get a ring, G-Love is cuter than I remember, but I'm not hung up on her anymore, Hutch is still gay despite finding a girl that will put up with his gayness, and did I mention that in just a few short months, I'll be getting a FREAKING CHAMPIONSHIP RING!!??