New generation of famous Chicago sports fans emerges – Chicago Tribune
A few days after Rise Against performed at the House of Blues in Chicago in December Tim McIlrath – lead singer of the punk rock band — was at his hotel in Dallas, watching ESPN on a mute TV when his band’s name appeared on the scroll at the bottom of the screen.
“Oh (shoot),” McIlrath thought to himself. “That’s not good.”
Blackhawks’ goalie Corey Crawford had injured his foot at the band’s Chicago show and was expected to be sidelined two to three weeks. Crawford told reporters the injury occurred when he “missed a step” on his way out, but refused to provide details.
“Everybody had these wild ideas that he was crowd-surfing or in the mosh pit throwing elbows,” McIlrath said. “It got more press than we anticipated. I realized either the ‘Hawks would go into a tailspin and everyone would blame us or they would find a successor at goalie and Crawford would blame us. Either way, it was a bad scenario.”
The Blackhawks were 7-1 during Crawford’s absence, but he still regained his starting spot. McIlrath avoided the wrath of Crawford and Chicago sports fans, which was a relief because he’s a life-long Chicago sports fan himself. He lives in the suburbs and said he attends about a half dozen Blackhawks and White Sox games a year.
McIlrath doesn’t get as much attention for his love of Chicago sports as some of the city’s more high profile fans, including Barack Obama, Vince Vaughn, Bill Murray, John Cusack, Eddie Vedder, Billy Corgan and Jim Belushi.
There is, however, a new generation of famous Chicago sports fans under 40 years old, including McIlrath, waiting in the wings. Their childhood idols and sports memories are different than those of their older counterparts, but, for the most part, they are just as passionate of supporters and are fully capable of carrying the Chicago celebrity sports fan torch when the time comes. Let’s be honest: You can only trot Belushi out so many times.
Jake Johnson — who can be seen in Fox’s “New Girl” and this summer’s “Jurassic World” — is a die-hard Cubs, Bears and Bulls fan. He was there at Wrigley Field for the infamous Steve Bartman game in 2003 and said the Cubs’ disappointing playoff collapse that year may have played a part in him wanting to get out of the city and move to Los Angeles. His knowledge of the city’s teams is evident in the Chicago-centric sports columns he’s written for grantland.com.
Does the Winnetka-raised Johnson want to become Chicago’s go-to celebrity sports fan, sort of like what director Spike Lee is for New York sports?
“I would like that more than anything else professionally,” said Johnson, only half joking. “I’ll take any connection to the teams. I’m not one of those guys who pretends to know more. I don’t got to bars to watch Bears games. I watch alone because I want to see what they’re doing. I don’t cheer for other teams. Once my team is out, I’m out.
“People are like ‘I’m a Bulls fan like you. The Jordan Bulls were my team.’ ‘How about the Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler team? How about when they drafted Marcus Fizer?’ There’s nothing I respect less than fair weather fans. That’s not how I do sports.”
The biggest strike against Johnson’s campaign, other than the fact he doesn’t live in Chicago, is that he’s not a Blackhawks fan. But maybe you’ll admire him for his reasoning.
“I respect the Blackhawks,” Johnson said. “But I played football, baseball and basketball. I never played hockey. When the Blackhawks started winning, I couldn’t jump on the bandwagon. I’d feel like a phony. I hope they win every year, but I can’t call myself a Blackhawks fan.”
To be fair, it’s hard to find a celebrity who is passionate about every Chicago sports team.
Ike Barinholtz is one of the exceptions. The Rogers Park native and cast member on Hulu’s “The Mindy Project” was passionate about all things Chicago sports while growing up in the city, even UIC Flames’ basketball. He now cheers the teams on from the Los Angeles area and will often talk Chicago sports with Johnson, with whom he shares a neurotic Chicago sports bond.
“I had a bunch of friends over for the famous Bears-Cardinals game (in 2006) and remember my wife took the dog outside to the garden when we were down two touchdowns,” said Barinholtz, who can be seen later this year in “Sisters” with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and next year in “Suicide Squad.” “We scored two quick touchdowns and my wife said ‘Do you want me to stay in the garden because I’m bad luck?’ She was joking, but I was like ‘Do you mind?'”
Modern day technology and social media has made it easier than ever to cheer on Chicago sports teams from afar and publicize your sports interests and opinions.
Johnson has various sports cable packages and even watches minor league baseball to keep up with the Cubs’ farm system. His friends know not to text him during games because he has a routine of DVRing them and watching when his family is asleep.
Barinholtz, who also says he was at the Bartman game, left Chicago in 1999 and used to have to read bleedcubbieblue.com to stay up to date on the Cubs, but now he has the Cubs app on his phone. He credits social media for connecting him with players, including the Bears’ Kyle Long, and other fans, including comedian and fellow Bulls aficionado Kumail Nanjiani, who will send him direct messages on Twitter such as “Why did Joakim Noah shoot that three?”
Roscoe-raised NASCAR driver Danica Patrick also likes to show her support for Chicago teams on Twitter.
Patrick has 1.28 million Twitter followers. When she or CM Punk, who has 2.39 million followers, tweet about the Cubs, it’s extra publicity for the Cubs and furthers the team’s brand (Vaughn, Murray and Vedder, it should be noted, aren’t on Twitter). And rather than pay big money for these celeb endorsements like most companies have to, it only costs the teams free tickets every once in a while. That’s part of what makes these famous fans so valuable to the teams they cheer for.
“It’s great to see the younger (celebs) are so interested,” Cubs senior marketing director Alison Miller, said. “They really embrace social media. Jake Johnson was tweeting about the game last night. They’re social media reach is a little (stronger) than what the older celebs might have.”
To keep those relationships strong, the Cubs reach out to celebs or their representatives before each season to invite them to Wrigley Field and plant the seeds for a first pitch or 7th inning stretch appearance, according to Kaitlyn August, Cubs coordinator of entertainment and event production. She added that Cubs owner Tom Ricketts also hosts a party in Los Angeles every season when the team goes on the road to play the Los Angeles Dodgers and invites many of their famous fans living in the area.
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