subject: Flexing Your Muscles in Chicago [print this page] There is no denying that Chicago is a sports town. Go catch a game at any one of the Chicago colleges or one of their many professional teams and you'll see painted faces, bellies (and other unmentionable parts) pom-poms, waving towels and screaming fans. In fact, fan support is so great in the windy city that Chicago is one of only four other US cities that is home to a team from all five of the so called "major" professional sports leagues which are Baseball (The Cubs and the White Sox), Football (The Bears), Basketball (The Bulls), Hockey (The Blackhawks) and soccer (The Fire). Their team support doesn't end there though; Chicago hosts all types of sports teams, including the traditional to the not so traditional. They have wrestling, roller derby, rugby, softball, lacrosse, and even a ten time championship paintball team.
Yeah, clearly Chicago fans know how to get behind their players!
Besides the regular body paint and yelling here are a few other crazy fan or team traditions, all with a clear Chicago link.
#1-The Chicago Bulls Pre-game hype.
There's no doubt that the Bulls were the darlings of the 90's and they were also the team that started the practice, now widely used, of dimming the house lights and using laser lights and fireworks to introduce their starting line to the crowd.
#2- The Hat Trick connection
Though first in use during cricket matches the fastest ever hat trick (three goals in one game by the same player) was Chicago Blackhawks Bill Mosienko who scored all three within 21 seconds.
#3-Towel power
A massive sea of waving white towels is now a relatively common sight at hockey games, no matter who the teams playing are. The very first one ever waved though was by Vancouver Canucks coach Roger Neilson in 1982. They were playing the Chicago Blackhawks in the conference final and Neilson waved a white towel on the end of a hockey stick in mock surrender to protest the poor job being done by the referees.
If you look in private homes, local sports bars or colleges in Chicago, chances are somebody is watching someone play something, and you better believe someone is keeping score!
