Can't beat fun at the ol' mayor's office, newsroom
You can barely contain the excitement in the newsroom.
I'm referring, of course, to the relaxing of the dress code that allows the staff to wear Cubs or Sox regalia.
According to the memo from the bosses, we can show our team pride by wearing our favored team's gear or colors. Now, there are some restrictions: If a staffer has to interact with the public, he or she needs to bring a change of gear; no "risque team apparel," either.
Not to betray my alliances, but I fear this could be a short-lived frenzy of fashion fun. By the time this column appears in print, one of our beloved teams could be one game away from elimination.
What prompted this was the adage - one I'm a big believer in - that to make the news fun, we have to have fun ourselves.
So, when we have two local teams in the playoffs for the first time in 102 years, it's time to have some fun with our local mayors. Everyone knows the Chicago mayor is a huge Sox fan, though he says the right things about the Cubs. But what about the mayors in DuPage and other suburbs? Do any of them clearly support one team? Would any of them dare to characterize the communities they govern as Cubs or Sox towns? Best of all, would any of 'em write, say, a 300-word essay on why they love the Cubs/Sox? Then, maybe we could get a photo of the two of them, mock glaring at each other, respectively decked out in their team's gear, accompanied by the dueling essays.
I'm not kidding. That's the way we approach these things. You've gotta shoot for the home run, but maybe settle for an extra-base hit.
Well, based on our early calls, this idea didn't seem to be getting out of the box.
We tried Naperville Mayor George Pradel. He wasn't around, but his secretary said he was a huge "Chicago" fan. Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner was no help, either. "I was raised a Cubs fan, but just as I am a truly nonpartisan mayor, I'm also a nonpartisan baseball fan, and I'm rooting for both teams."
But then we tracked down Wood Dale Mayor Ken Johnson, who did play ball with us. He wasn't up for an essay ("too much work for something that is supposed to be a fun assignment."), but he did give us an earful on his unabashed love of the Cubs, admitting that he sang "Go, Cubs, Go." at his State of the City address. "I guess I've always been a North Sider at heart. My parents must have passed it down to me."
Johnson's remarks, unfortunately, did not appear in Thursday's paper. This inevitably happens when we take on these so-called "roundup" assignments - we get more good material than we can use. (Although we do publish more mayoral comments in today's paper.)
That's why I think it's worth noting here that several of our mayors qualified their love of one team by saying it didn't reach the point of feeling obligated to hate the other. So, perhaps I should mention Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk's complete statement on his love of the Cubs.
"I took a great amount of joy in the Sox win (Tuesday) night. I want the Sox to get in the World Series and then I want the Cubs to beat them."
But we did find the quintessential fan in West Chicago Mayor Mike Kwasman.
A lifelong Sox fan, he grew up on the South side. A poster old Comiskey Park hangs in his office at city hall.
"If it does cost me votes, it does," he said. "I will always be a Sox fan, and if they want to vote against me because I'm a Sox fan, well, so be it."
He doesn't care for the Cubs and doesn't care who knows.
"I didn't go to a Cubs game until I was in my 30s, and it was a wasted afternoon."
Now, wasn't that fun?