Super Bowl ties that divide: Cubs leaders enjoy friendly rivalry

A noticeable rift divides the Cubs' front office these days.

General manager is pitted against assistant general manager.

Team loyalties are at stake.

And there's no end in sight, at least until Super Bowl Sunday ends.

"We went to lunch upstairs to the employee dining room," said assistant GM Randy Bush. "He was wearing his Colts jacket, and I was wearing my Saints hat. It was, 'Let the games begin.' There will be a little bit of trash-talking going on."

Bush was referring to his boss, Cubs GM Jim Hendry. The two men are on the same page when it comes to putting together a baseball team.

But when it comes to cheering for a team in the Super Bowl, fan loyalties take over.

Bush, who attended the University of New Orleans and met his wife there, is a Saints supporter.

How big and bold a fan is he? Well, he had the courage to wear a Saints necktie during the Cubs convention when his team was getting set to play the Bears in the NFC championship game a few years back.

Hendry has been a Colts fan since he was changing the channel between NFL and AFL games for his dad when he was a kid in Florida. Back then the Colts were the Baltimore Colts of Johnny Unitas, John Mackey and Raymond Berry.

He remains loyal to the Indianapolis Colts and has struck up a friendship with current Colts GM Bill Polian.

It sounds like Hendry will put up with only so much "Who dat?" Saints talk from his assistant.

"I told him I'm still the boss," Hendry joked the other day. "If he's obnoxious and takes it to a level I'm not comfortable with, he can reside himself in the Dominican summer league.

"Honestly, I'm so glad it is them (the Saints). If it wasn't the Colts, I'd be rooting like heck for them. They've waited 40 years. It's something great for the city. Even if they lose, it's a great thing."

Both men, of course, reside in Chicago and insist they bear, so to speak, no ill will toward Chicago's football team.

It just so happened that shortly after Hendry joined the Cubs in late 1994, he had a chance meeting with Polian in the Wrigley Field box of then-Cubs president Andy MacPhail.

Hendry attends Colts games in Indy on occasion - he was at last Sunday's AFC title game - and he plans on being at the Super Bowl.

"It's not like I moved to Chicago and I don't like the Bears," he said. "I've been a Colts fan my entire life since I could watch TV. My older brothers were Colts fans.

"It just so happens that the second year I was here, I met Bill up in Andy's box when Bill first arrived, and we've been friends ever since."

Bush describes his wife, Catherine, as a lifelong Saints fan and says the team's success is something to behold on so many levels. For one, the Saints have erased a losing tradition. They've also helped the city feel good about itself after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"If you live there, you can't help but pull for a team that in their first 21 of years of existence never had a winning record," he said. "Twenty-one years and never had a winning record. You're kind of caught up in it when you live there. I've been pulling for the Saints for 30 years.

"It's unbelievable. The people of New Orleans are so into this. It's been such a unifying thing, especially between what (quarterback) Drew Brees and (head coach) Sean Payton did.

"They came in right after Hurricane Katrina. They joined the club and really got legitimately involved in the rebuilding of the community. For them to take this step now and take the team to the Super Bowl, it's just been a wonderful, wonderful thing for that community."

Bush has gotten some flak for his Saints apparel. Lately, he has been taking some ribbing that Saints star Reggie Bush wears uniform No. 25 in honor of Randy, who wore that number while playing baseball for the Minnesota Twins. (Bush does say that his wife is happy to sport the Saints "25" jersey.)

And about wearing that necktie in the middle of Bears country, Bush said fans at the Cubs convention took it reasonably well.

"Whoever the host was at that session pointed it out to the entire audience that I was wearing my Saints tie when the Saints were playing the Bears," he said. "I thought I would slide by pretty good, but I got a few comments, but mostly good-natured. Most people respect the fact that you pull for your team."

So the battle lines are drawn. Hendry and Bush will go their separate ways on Super Bowl Sunday, but they'll reconcile in time for the start of Cubs spring training.

"I don't pick the Colts as some huge favorite," a cautious Hendry said. "I think it's going to be a great game."