Steinbrenner as complex as they come

How is a Chicago baseball fan supposed to react to Tuesday's death of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner?

Mourning Steinbrenner is one option. Dancing in the streets is another. Curse him. Praise him. Revere him. Revile him.

To those outside New York and the Yankees' organization, Steinbrenner was as polarizing as the ballclub itself is.

What you might think of Steinbrenner is as complex as he was, and he was as complex as any person in the history of sports.

To be honest, people like George Steinbrenner make me uncomfortable. To me, winning was too important to him although few sports fans believe that's possible.

I want Chicago team owners to want to win but don't want them to be like Steinbrenner, just as I don't want Chicago to be like New York.

Aren't we taught that doing your best is what really matters, playing hard counts, accepting defeat with dignity is admirable and sportsmanship is essential?

The image of Steinbrenner was that all of those principles were recommended only if they helped the Yankees win the World Series. Otherwise the heck with them.

Anyway, remember, this is somebody who was convicted of obstruction of justice, who made illegal political campaign donations, and who was suspended from baseball for paying an unsavory gambler to dig up dirt on Yankees outfielder Dave Winfield.

None of that is healthy behavior, folks.

Yet the older I get the more it's clear that one or two or even three snapshots don't encapsulate a person's life.

Steinbrenner was a Clevelander who came to symbolize New York's brashness. Actually, fittingly for a Yankee Doodle Dandy born on the Fourth of July, his obsession with winning came to symbolize much of what America evolved into during his 37 years in the national pastime.

Steinbrenner was the ultimate capitalist and consummate philanthropist, at once controversial and compassionate, abrasive and charming, stubborn and conciliatory, influential and insufferable, colorful and dark, a bully and softy, an evil emperor and benevolent dictator.

That's America's diverse personality packaged in one person.

You know, our very own beloved George Halas had many of those characteristics, and we loved him as much as New Yorkers loved their George.

No wonder I'm so conflicted over Steinbrenner.

As a baseball fan I disliked Steinbrenner's resistance to proposals like a salary cap to level the playing field. As a sports writer I found him invaluable as a story subject.

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert became a hot-button item last week with inflammatory remarks about LeBron James. That was tame compared to the battles Steinbrenner fought with his employees, opponents and the media.

A New York sports columnist once told me my favorite Steinbrenner story: "I went up to George to ask him something. He looked at me and said, 'Tell me, I forgot, are you one of the guys I'm talking to these days or one of the guys I'm not talking to?'"

Steinbrenner had texture to him compared to too many of the bland in sports.

I know, I know, I have been all over the page trying to sort out my memories of George Steinbrenner.

But that's how it is when a really complex person dies.

mimrem@dailyherald.com