Constable: Our sports disappoint, but we are the champions of fall weather

The Chicago Bears choked in London. The Blackhawks went all the way to Prague to start the season with a loss. The Bulls aren't expected to challenge for a title. The Cubs are searching for a new manager who can rekindle old success. The Sox are rebuilding, still. The Chicago Fire's season just ended without a postseason. Northwestern and Illinois football teams don't look bowl-worthy.

But we are champs when it comes to fall weather.

The suburbs are home to glorious, crisp, fall days and spectacular sunsets. People on vacation post photos from the beach of the setting sun seemingly sinking into in the ocean, and that can be cool to see — once. We are home to sunsets where the sun is just a bit player, stepping aside to let oranges, reds and purples paint the entire landscape.

Social media is filled with stunning photos of sunsets that don't need fancy filters to make them gorgeous.

Waking up on a Monday morning in the summer to heat and humidity saps your energy the second you emerge from what should have been a reinvigorating shower. Trudging outside in the winter snow into a ferocious headwind makes it tempting to retreat back inside. Even spring days, when you are waffling between wet and chilly mornings, followed by sun and temperatures that might hover in the 40s or jump to 60, can be frustrating.

But fall delivers.

We might only have a week or two of fall before winter reintroduces itself, but the next few days are ours to enjoy with sunny skies and temperatures around 70 degrees.

Fall also gives us our best wardrobe possibilities. Sweaters hide flabby arms. Long pants and skirts leave legs to the imagination. Hats allow us to keep our bad hair days to ourselves. And there is no reason to spend money on a pedicure when feet are covered in comfy hiking socks.

We hang on to fall as long as we can. The first frost signals the end. In recent history, the earliest frost has arrived the last week of September, according to the University of Illinois extension office. The median date of the first frost in the suburbs ranges from Oct. 9 in the Far West to Oct. 24 closer to Chicago. But we have had years when frost didn't attack our plants until as late as Nov. 19.

September can be tricky. I helped our neighbors put in a bedroom window air conditioner in June, and offered to take it out in September, and then we had temperatures hit 90. I shamefully used our air conditioner one night when it was a very muggy 74 degrees.

But October seems more stable.

This is always the month when I take down the porch screens and put up the storm windows. It's a great month for outdoor activity, whether it's picking apples, trimming bushes or planting tulips. October is great for next Sunday's Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

But it's also perfect for high school sports such as football, soccer, golf, cross-country and the band performances, pompom routines and cheerleading that can accompany them.

If that talk of sports makes you wish our professional teams were satisfying our need for competition, this fall does provide a way of competing with our neighbors where our destiny lies solely with us. Which house on the block can go the longest without starting up the furnace?