We’re nearing the stretch of sports where many fans find themselves mindlessly refreshing X (formerly known as Twitter) starving for some news about their favorite team. Every now and then, a big moment is like a shooting star. “Did you see the Bears got Ben Johnson?!” “The Cubs just landed Kyle Tucker!!” “The Bulls are involved in another meaningless blockbuster trade rumor that wouldn’t move the needle very much at all!” Aside from that last quote and bad attempt at sarcasm, news like the other two examples fuels the hype train for about 48 hours and then we’re hungry again.
We root for all our teams in anticipation of one moment that could provide a lifetime of memories and that warm bittersweet hug of nostalgia. So rather than wrack my brain about potential Cubs and Bears offseason moves, I’m gonna make some claims about the best moments and players from each of my teams over the last 20+ years (and then a player I’m excited about). Sound off in the comments whether you agree or disagree. I’m begging for some interaction, people!!!
Cubs
MOMENT: An obvious choice, but the right choice: Game 7 in Cleveland. There are moments from each of the series we played to get to the World Series that provided unimaginable joy and adrenaline. As a whole, I have never felt like watching sports was more of a religious experience than I did during the 2016 postseason. Each series was filled with drama and our team of destiny was filled to the brim with talent and loveable players… this does not include Addison Russell (though I am on the record during that season saying that out of the entire core, I hoped he would be the one to get a statue. Was definitely tough when I learned he was an abuser who paid child support in pennies).
Back to the moment. Game 7 was in my (totally unbiased) opinion, the most exciting baseball game of all time. The drama that came with a forcing a winner-take-all game after being down 3-1 is the stuff of dreams for fans everywhere; then, when you add the back and forth heavyweight bout that was Game 7, the 2016 World Series cemented itself as a one of the most legendary championships in professional sports history. The feeling of pure ecstasy after our darling dear KB delivered a strike to Captain Rizzo (insane he never got a C on his chest) is one I will never forget. Ahhh, good times
PLAYER: Anthony Rizzo. Hear me out. I know we had Sammy, DLee, and KB (as a noted Mike Fontenot and Aramis, guy I’m gonna honorably mention them here too). Lester is a Cub for life and Arrieta provided us with one of the most dominant pitching stretches of all time. All of those guys are awesome and Cubs HOFers in my book (except for Fontenot – he’s just in the Cakes HOF). Rizzo was there for a lot of bad baseball, and even when we didn’t have much hope to compete, we’d think “at least we have Rizzo”. Probably how Sox fans felt about Jose “I am 12” Abreu for awhile too. He was our anchor and as the team around him evolved, our first baseman remained the same. Rizzo gave us an identity and was the perfect cornerstone to build on in our pursuit of breaking the curse. Anthony Rizzo – best Cub of my life.
Player(s) of the Future: Saying PCA because we know we’re keeping him locked down for the foreseeable future as he ascends to star status. But if there’s one guy I’ll be rooting for to succeed from our prospects/current team, it has to be Alexander Canario. Our outfield is so clogged up, it’s probably a long shot for him to find meaningful time in the bigs without a serious injury or two; but I think it’d be pretty poetic if our return for Kris Bryant ended up producing at the major league level. In short stints he hasn’t been bad and though he didn’t set the world on fire in Iowa this past season, my heart wants him to be an awesome Cub.
Bears
MOMENT: This is a tough one. So many incredible moments for me as a Bears fan have ended up in heartbreak, so I hesitate to choose Hester’s opening kick return in SB XLI or the Bears 4th quarter march against the Eagles in 2018 that led to the worst DD any of us have ever imagined (we were winning it all that year). So I’ll say the best moment in my Bears fandom was a frigid Thursday night on December 11th, 2008 against Drew Brees and the Saints – my first game. My dad and I were in the nosebleeds to start the game. A real feel of almost 0 degrees at kickoff didn’t feel like anything after Danieal Manning took the opening kickoff almost 100 yards for the score (who needs Hester?!). The game was tight throughout, but the Saints took a late lead.
Sometime at the beginning of the 3rd Quarter, my dad’s coworker let us know the season ticket holders next to them were a no-show….. so we ended up watching the comeback from the first row on the 50 yard line of the Bears sideline. 10 year old me was going apeshit as I pounded on the wall and cheered for my guys. I swear Briggs and Urlacher heard me and willed us to an eventual victory because of the passionate (and adorable) fan screaming at them in his prepubescent voice. As we were so used to reading in the paper on victory Monday for a chunk of years, Robbie was good as Gould when he knocked through the game-winning FG in overtime. The only Bears memory I have that isn’t dampened by some tragedy until this current era takes the cake here. I know, probably a cop-out.
PLAYER: #1 Bears player for me is Hester and it isn’t close. He single-handedly changed the way teams and fans viewed Special Teams. It was no longer a time of the game to stop paying attention – Hester was lightning and could strike at anytime. Not much to say here seeing all football fans know that at the end of the day, Devin Hester was just truly ridiculous. Alshon Jeffery before the sour departure is an honorable mention, I grew up with a life-size fathead of him Moss-ing a Vikings corner next to my bed. Man did he know how to highpoint a ball.
Player(s) of the Future: Short and easy answer: Caleb Williams. He is the future – get used to him and BJ because I think they’re gonna run the show for a looooong time. My “try to be somewhat different” answer: Kyler Gordon and Big Daddy Billings. I pray we keep Jaylon Johnson until the wheels fall off, but am super excited to hopefully extend Kyler and watch him continue to make plays and be a leader for us on defense. Billings was sorely missed this season as well – looking for a monster comeback year from him. Stuff the run Big Daddy! And STAY HEALTHY!!
Bulls
MOMENT: DRose buzzer beater against LeBron-led Cavs. LeBron is an all-time Chicago villain. Always had our number, but we always played him tight. So many awesome sports moments came from the Bulls growing up. A real shame that both the Bulls and NBA have been nearly impossible to watch for the past several years. Not sure how to fix the issue at hand with the league, but it is CHEEKS. Back to the moment again. Aside from Korver, the Bulls never seem to have a bonafide sharpshooter from downtown, and DRose was definitely not known for his outside J.
I certainly didn’t expect that inbounds play to end in Rose burying a deep, contested 3 but that’s what happened. The stone cold expression on his face while #1 LeBron Hater, Joakim Noah, lifted him in the air to get mobbed by the team was a moment that sticks on my brain like white on rice. Those Bulls teams during the Rose years were everything I loved about basketball: hard-nosed, defensive-minded gamers who played with as much passion as I’ve ever seen in the NBA.
PLAYER: Another obvious runaway pick: Derrick Rose. Not to rehash the classic what-if’s regarding his career, but we’re looking at possibly multiple Finals appearances and wins… I’ll stop there though. Derrick Rose is the MVP of all Chicago sports teams I’m a fan of in my mind – nobody impacted the game and city like he did. My #2 player would be another fan-favorite in Jo. Joakim Noah is the best guy to have on your team and the worst to face. Thankful I didn’t have to ever hate him.
Players of the Future: In all likelihood, none. This team is not built to compete any time soon and needs change almost as desperately as the Sox…. wonder what the common denominator is there…… that said Matas Buzelis. Finally a rookie that is showing flashes of actual potential. He’s already better than PWill, I can’t stand that college 6th man scrub. No excuses for the Paw anymore, it’s Matas time.
Bama Football
MOMENT: 2nd and 26 in Atlanta to complete the comeback and beat Georgia was the greatest moment of my Bama experience. My natty as a student is something nobody can take from me (especially MichiganMan… Mickey Mouse Natty). To avoid yet another obvious choice though, I’ll say one of the coolest moments as a fan came the very next season. Tua was our QB but got knocked out of the game before the 4Q due to nagging injuries and lackluster play to that point. Enter Jalen Hurts who last got real action in the natty that he had to get pulled from in order for us to win. He engineered multiple scoring drives and capped it off with a gritty touchdown run to play the hero and take down Georgia (again) for the SEC Championship. Roll Tide forever, Jalen.
PLAYER: Derrick Henry. I’ve had the pleasure of watching a ton of future NFL talent at Bama over the years and have rooting interest in just about every single one of them. None top the King for me though. He was a shoe-in to be an NFL force and anybody who watched him at Bama could’ve told you that. Despite his size, he breaks long runs like Chris Johnson and AP did. To add his physicality to that breakaway capability… that’s the ideal RB (Saquon probably wants a word with me). I don’t know how much longer we’ll get to watch this future HOFer play, but don’t take it for granted.
Player of the Future: This is TOUGH. With the transfer portal how it is, there’s no telling who is hear to stay or who might be a one and done. Last year my pick would’ve been Caleb Downs but we know how that turned out. Ryan Williams needs to get back to his early season electricity or risks being a victim of major fall off, so I’m not picking him. Let’s not forget he was in conversations with Jeremiah Smith though… not that case anymore right now, but let’s at least try to make it a conversation again, huh kid? By the way, he’s STILL only 17 as of 1/23/25. Biggest player to watch for next year is Ty Simpson. Will he be our starter or is Kalen gonna go for one of his own choices? We’ll see.
What are your picks for your favorite moments or players? This was a nice way to escape reality, so let’s continue the conversation.
Bear Down, Roll Tide, Go Cubs Go, See Red (meh)
Cakes
4 responses to “Feel Good (Almost) Friday: Best Moments and Players from the last 20 years”
Great piece, Cakes. I’d vote Rizzo and World Series just because it was the highest high I’ve ever felt. Calling my dad damn near tears, Ex girlfriend chewing me out for ignoring texts, college students running straight to the quad to cause havoc. Unforgettable. Forsure thought the Bulls moment was going to be Drose runner over Kobe on Christmas day. Also a sleeper pick would be our massive playoff comeback vs the Nets with Nate Robinson going ballistic.
Glad you brought up Nate. Felt wrong to not have a DRose moment after he was the player choice but couldn’t agree more. The Nate Robinson takeover was up there for most fun I’ve had watching the bulls no doubt. Man he was fun
All good stuff Cakes, agree with a lot of your opinions here. I know you are speaking of more recent Chicago sports history just because that is what you have observed in your time. I just want to add a few from some of us older fans:
1) The Jordan Years—back in the ‘90s, it was absolutely must see TV. Many Chicagoans revolved their life schedules around watching every Bulls game. What a glorious sports decade! Jordan was the king, and still is, with those run of championships. I, as did many other Chicagoans, thought we were going to be blessed again with another insane run at many titles with D Rose, but fate got in the way with injuries. He was unbelievable, what could have been, and definitely gets the honorable mention. Happy to see him get his number retired recently—a Chicago hometown legend!
Back to a personal memory—I went to one of the celebrations at Grant Park after one title—can’t recall which one, but there were hundreds of thousands of fans—and they did this 6 times! Crazy!
2) The 1985 Bears—what a season and cast of characters! From Sweetness, to the Punky QB, the Fridge, Sackman Dent, Singletary, Hampton, heck the entire defense, Buddy Ryan, and of course, Iron Mike—the stars aligned for just the right time to make the SB XX title Chicago’s own. I still have a 45 record of the Super Bowl Shuffle! They made that record and video BEFORE the playoffs, I mean, who does that—if they had lost in the divisional game or any game, talking about brass balls, and they backed it up! Every Bears player on that team made contributions, and what season to remember! I went to a game that year with my dad, vs the Atlanta Falcons. The Bears were still undefeated, and that was the first time they gave the Fridge a handoff at the goal line, a 350 lb lineman diving into the endzone! I don’t know if that had been done before by anyone but it was a great memory. Then they did it again for another TD for the Fridge in SB XX (where many said it should have gone to Walter Payton—which I agree with), but nonetheless, some great memories of that team. Chicago has always been a football City, in my opinion, and that team was perfect, for that time and this City, yeah, just perfect.
3) I notice you don’t have the Blackhawks on here, so I will have to mention the Stanley Cup run of three titles over five seasons 2010-2015. Toews, Kane, Cheli, Crow, Big Buff, Sharpie, Hoss, and many more—it was Disney on Ice and Slapshot combined. Grace and power—the skills were off the charts and very exciting for the City. I actually made it to one of their parades. Couldn’t see shit, but hey, the busses went by and I waved. I can say I was there! Good times indeed.
4) You covered the Cubs—yes 2016 was just unreal and a storybook ending. Bryzzo and company, all good stuff! But I want to mention how much it meant for many millions of older Cubs fans with some historical perspective. Everyone knows the team’s failures for 108 years, so when they finally broke through and that toss from KB to AR brought the title home, it was even sweeter for those of us to see some tantalizing success from the ‘84 team (heartbreak city in San Diego), the ‘98 team (lost to the Giants), and of course the Bartman game and loss to the Marlins in ‘03. Ouch. Many tears of pain and sorrow turned into joy in 2016, and made it even more special for Chicagoans. As the old saying goes: good things come to those who wait, right? I think 108 years were long enough. What a ride in 2016! Personally my favorite memory is being at the clincher vs the Dodgers in NLCS with you Cakes! Rizzo hitting that home run to us in the right field bleachers, and having the ball go off my fingertips, your dad’s fingertips, and the mad scramble for the ball after I got decked! What a memory—and what a season!
Uh, I think I have reached my word limit and then some! Thanks for reading!
JJ
Look at you go, JJ! We may have to give you the blog version of a spot start soon considering your wealth of Chicago sports knowledge and diehard nature! Didn’t mention Hawks because I’m not enough of a diehard, but watching us win the cup while on a fishing trip in Ely, MN was a top hockey memory of mine… those two goals 30 seconds apart after being down towards the end of regulation to suddenly win the Cup was magical. Without fact checking myself, I believe it was Bickell (spell check?) with the series winner. Sadly I was at school for the NLCS Rizz-bomb, so my dad took Johnny instead of me. You guys getting your hands on the ball and entering the scrum in RF bleachers is a moment I live vicariously through more often than I’d like to admit.