AtDDtA1: The story so far ....

[David Morris]

Yeah, but Chicago seamed to be FULL of asshole fans that day.  The
number of reports was off the scale.

They even managed to get an un-honorable mention on Keith Olbermann's
daily pick for "Worst Person in the World" on MSNBC:

"The runners up are whoever put up and whoever at Soldier Field in
Chicago did not take down a sign during the Bears-New Orleans Saints
playoff game yesterday.  The banner reads, "Bears finishing what
Katrina started.""

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16770784/#storyContinued

At least the Tribune blog had the decency to shame the perpetrators:

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/01/the_silence_of_.html

At first I thought reports that a Bears fan was spotted around Soldier
Field Sunday holding up a sign reading "Bears, finishing what Katrina
started" had to be an inflammatory urban legend.

No sports fan could possibly be  vile and insensitive enough to invoke
an ongoing tragedy of the dimensions of Hurricane Katrina -- more than
1,200 dead;   tens of thousands or more still displaced --to taunt
residents of New Orleans. Other fans would have immediately ripped the
sign away from him.

Now this picture is making its way around (variations found on several
news sites; this one was taken by Saints fan Michael Bayham, see note
below) and -- barring the possibility that digital-photo tricksters
have been hard at work boosting printed eyewitness accounts -- the
sickening truth seems undeniable.

What interests me is not so much that one guy was disgusting enough to
carry such a sign around, but that no Bears fan who encountered him
had the common decency to shame him out of it or wrestle it from him
and tear it into pieces.

Dude, why taint this season, this team, with your sick joke? We are so
much better than this, so much above this.

If we can't find this knucklehead and get ask him to issue a major
apology on camera, Mayor Daley needs to apologize express deep regrets
on behalf of the rest of us.

UPDATE: This note from Michael Bayham, who identifies himself as the
Saints fan who took the above photo: "Unfortunately I had to leave the
game early due to threats against me by a Bears fan sitting in front
of me...I was also told by that same person that it was too bad I did
not drown. Upon leaving the game, I saw a Bears fan throw his beer at
a New Orleans TV reporter and then shove him.  The next day I was told
to ---- off while riding an escalator on the El for wearing a Saints
hat.  Needless to say, this past Sunday would have been a rough one
for Saints fans even if we had won."



On 2/5/07, Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Well, all sports teams -- like authors -- have their asshole fans who take things too far at others' expense.  Sad either way.