It's the summer sports fans, chillax!

Not sure how many of you realize it, but we have embarked on a unique part of the calendar the next couple of days. Today and Wednesday are the only two days of the year where there are no professional matches in the United States of any sort. It’s the summer and us sports fans have gotten use to this part of the year, where the focus lies on baseball, the All-Star Game, and maybe some random sports here and there. It’s always a mix within the population, whether people stay tuned with what is going on or take a mini-break, just gearing up for football season to begin. Some emphasis has been put on the Olympics, which will be starting in less than a month, but how much do people even care about that with all the protesting and drug scandals surrounding it? We got SportsCenter doing their little “Titledown” bout every night, which makes me want to spoon my eyes out. I have little doubt that behind closed doors, my boys Neil Everett and Scott Van Pelt have lamented management for this blunder, along with “Who’s Now?” and “The Greatest Highlight.” Lordie, lord.

I digress.

Wednesday does mark an important day for us Chicago fans, if anyone is paying attention that is. Bears training camp opens up at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Um, yay?

It got me thinking: how much emphasis will be put on training camp this year? This is a pivotal year for the Bears. I have said for much of the offseason that the Bears will either make the playoffs and be able to do some damage or they will go to the bottom of the cellar, possibly being one of the three worst teams in all of football. No grey area. No time for Kyle to start grabbing Jack shots. This could be your time but I highly doubt it considering how much this team has invested in the Sex Cannon that is Rex Grossman.

This is a football town, hands down. The Cubs and Sox are in first place and both might make the playoffs for the first time in all of our lives. That doesn’t change the fact that this is a football town though. It is remarkable though how a city can slowly transform. I saw it in Indianapolis, a city, if not part of a STATE that is known for basketball, that has for the most part jumped ship on their pro basketball team the Pacers and have fully supported their football team, arguably the best franchise in all of sports business, the Colts. It can happen but it takes time and it takes success and failure on both ends. Not sure if we in Chicago have both extremes or are even close to it.

I’ll admit it: for however stupid this “Titletown” thing is, I did get goosebumps watching the highlights for Chicago’s turn. Showing the ‘85 Bears, the high-fives and all. Showing Jordan clinching the championship trophy like it’s his baby, crying in the process. Even seeing the White Sox getting doused in beer, every player squeezing in together just trying to touch the World Series trophy, the one owner Jerry Reinsdorf said he’d trade all the Bulls’ trophies for. That’s pretty special, no doubt about it. I can appreciate that as Chicago fan.

I guess what I am trying to get at is I do hear a lot of this talk that, “It’s a horrible part of the year,” and “Why can’t football just start?” To me, that’s just our society talking about a problem that goes beyond sports: not living in the present. We are always looking towards the future or the past, even lamenting on it. We as a city still talk about The Super Bowl Shuffle, reliving it every day. Sox fans still don’t shut up about 2005 and feel the urge to bring it up when any talk of the Cubs begin. Hell, the newspapers still run a little blurb everyday reminding us fans that it’s been 100 years since the Cubs brought home a title. We get it, do I need to walk around with as sign showing it off even more?

There is nothing wrong with appreciating the past. With life in general, I think about the past everyday, the good and bad. But let’s live in the present people. Let’s enjoy what’s going on within sports, even if it’s ONLY baseball. It’s been a pretty special first half, here in Chicago and nationwide. Some things have happened that have never happened before. More of that is to come, I guarantee it. While Rex and Kyle are smiling and being buddy-buddy Wednesday, let’s just kick back and relax and realize it’s not everyday we aren’t fed with stuff from ESPN daily. Can we try and enjoy these next couple of days? If you start to cry because your baseball team’s league doesn’t win the All-Star game tomorrow, well, I really can’t help you there.

End rant, I think.

Picture courtesy of Flickr user Glover Bryant Communications, thank you.