When Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields remained on the board just long enough for the Bears to grab him at No. 11, it sparked real hope in an understandably cynical fan base.
Chicago sports fans were treated as well to a no-doubter of a division title by the White Sox and — not to be understated — a cool, clutch playoff run by the Sky to their first championship. More recently, the Bulls have re-emerged as a team that’s not only legitimately very good but also a blast to watch.
In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter, we asked which of those 2021 stories was the best one. Outside of the voting, the biggest reaction was from fans who wanted to know why the Sky didn’t run away with it.
“Come on, people! Winning a title trumps everything,” @mtulls commented.
“This poll is proof that y’all put too much importance on grown men doing the bare minimum,” @scuriiosa wrote.
Speaking of the bare minimum, we also asked about Sunday’s Bears-Giants game. On to the polls:
Poll No. 1: Which of these 2021 Chicago sports stories was your favorite?
Upshot: Maybe look at it this way: There have been too many years when there weren’t four worthy choices from which to choose, certainly not among our big-league teams. What Candace Parker and the Sky did was magical. Unlike the Sky, though, the Bulls have been good — and newcomer DeMar DeRozan pretty dang great — from the start. There’s a lot to be said for starting fast and then keeping the pedal to the metal.
Poll No. 2: If someone gave you tickets to Sunday’s Bears-Giants game at Soldier Field, would you go?
Upshot: Other than having to endure the whole 60-minutes-of-bad-vs.-worse thing, what could go wrong? (We’ll have to reserve judgment, by the way, on which team is “bad” and which one is “worse.”) Take it away, @loggie007: “Let’s see, parking, cost of beer and any food, Giants and Bears fighting for draft choices, and temps below 20. Oh, joy.”
Poll No. 3: Which team will be good again first?
Upshot: “I’ve stared at this question for 10 minutes and still haven’t decided,” @spicycrawdad commented. Wait, is that because all three teams have such bright futures? Or is it because, well, you know? Something tells us it’s the latter.