Sly FOX

It came out of nowhere, like when Chris Paul is taking the ball up the court and then just flies by a defender, or when Bill O’Reilly actually says something smart. It also was about as un-necessary a cheap shot as it gets. And to be honest, six days later, I’m still upset.

With about two minutes left in the NFC Championship game, after Donovan McNabb and the Eagles failed to convert a fourth down conversion, FOX decided to put the Arizona Cardinals win in perspective. They mentioned how it had been 62 years since the franchise had won a title, how the few loyal fans the team had had followed them from Chicago to St. Louis to Arizona, and how astounding this win actually was. It was good to know. Then, because apparently FOX felt people couldn’t understand what they were saying, they put that message into graphic form. And that’s where my outrage began.

The list was called ‘Franchises that have gone the longest without a title’. Of course, #1 on that list are my beloved Cubs. Now I understand that it’s just history, and there’s nothing that can be done to change it; I’ve accepted that. But there was no need for FOX to have accompanying video, including footage of Leon Durham’s missed grounder and the Bartman play*. Joe Buck didn’t have to discuss the century of darkness for a solid minute and a half during the end of one of the biggest football games of the year when he could have just said the Cubs were #1 and then went back to talking about Arizona. (It’s not a surprise though, Buck has always been anti-Cub and understandably so) I’m probably making too much out of this, but it just pissed me off, and with no football going on this week, it’s stayed on my mind.

* As somebody who was at Wrigley the night of Game 6, I never understood why the Bartman play was such a big deal and nobody- outside of hardcore Cub fans- remember how horribly Alex Gonzalez screwed up. His error on a sure double play extend the Marlins inning and led to Mark Prior completely losing control. Yes, Bartmen and Moises Alou messed it up. But I still hate Gonzalez more than both of them. Alex Gonzalez, if your reading this, watch your back….I’m coming for you.



-Also, starting today, I will be writing a weekly top 10 list at the website TopTenChicagoSports.com Here's this week's list.