As A Chicago Bulls Fan Am I Even Allowed To Dream?
No.
There you go. Post over. Bulls fans are not allowed to dream. We are only allowed to be foolish gluttons for punishment who spend their time and money on a mediocre product that has no hope of ever becoming better. Great. But we are called "fans" for a reason. It is short for "fanatic" and there is no room for logic and reason in fanaticism so we keep lining up to be kicked in the nuts every April as the playoffs start... without us.
Yesterday was a microcosm of why it sucks so much being a Bulls fan (unless you have a time machine to the 1990s). The biggest news of this off-season was about freaking uniforms. Yep. The most press the Bulls have gotten this summer is because they apparently found a time machine that brought them back to the 90s. But in true Bulls' fashion, instead of bringing back Jordan and Pippin in their primes... they brought back these
Don't get excited. I mean the uniforms not the players.
Wow a uniform! But it has pinstripes! And it is black! And they wore them the last time the Bulls actually mattered... 30 years ago. Yep that is what we have been become: a fan base whose greatest thrill is that we brought back an old jersey the team will wear like maybe 5 times.
The uniform news dwarfed the other "huge" news. It seems that maybe the Bulls are actually going to sign Josh Giddey instead of losing him for nothing. If they had lost him, it would have made the horrendous trade with the OKC Thunder even worse 9if that is possible). After being completely fleeced in the deal that sent super-role player Alex Caruso to the eventual World Champion Thunder in which they received exactly zero of OKC's 1 billion first round picks, they flirted with losing the only asset they did receive: Giddey (who the Thunder did not want anymore at all). Well actually they still are. The deal isn't done but that is how starving Bulls fans are for good news. We take the possibility of the team not shooting itself in the foot as great news.
This is as close as the Bulls will ever get to Giannis.
But here is the real headline. Yesterday as the Bulls were unavailing their only accomplishment of the summer (the old jerseys) The Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo was Tweeting, or Instagramming, or TikTokking, or whatever young people do a picture of himself with the song Sirius by the Alan Parsons Project playing. That happens to be the Bulls theme song. Not only that but a few years ago he stated that "Everybody would love to play for Chicago". (That's being really generous but we'll take it). Plus he is currently really mad at his team for releasing Damian Lillard and letting Brook Lopez walk. So you've got a disgruntled superstar who has shown interest in the Bulls before (he is clearly the only one). This sounds interesting. Also it seems he likes the Midwest and likes living in Milwaukee. Well that is less than a 90 minute drive to Chicago. Now we are really talking. But wait... there's more! Do you know where Giannis is from? Well his nickname isn't the "Greek Freak" because he's huge into musicals set in the 1950s. He's from Greece! Do you know what city has the third largest population of Greeks outside of Greece? Chicago!!!!! We have an entire neighborhood called Greektown that is wildly popular right now.
So will Giannis be taking his talents to the Windy City?!
No.
Bulls fans can't even dream of that.
Being a Bulls fan is just embracing pain with style. Black pinstripes? Love it.
You can never say never in any sport. If he wants to, he will surely make it possible to play where the greatest of all time made history. It would be a challenge, and perhaps with his presence alone, more quality players could join a very interesting project. So, it is allowed to dream about the arrival of Giannis.
Maybe he has his reasons for saying that it is impossible and that it is not worth dreaming, but who knows, maybe what seems impossible now ends up becoming a reality. In addition to first putting together a solid playoff team, with the arrival of some reinforcements, we can even fight for the conference championship.
Athletes who are successful advance through their performance and they must face many obstacles and efforts are made to keep it from becoming famous by their athletes and by many people who envy them and do not want them to become famous. But even today, if we read the history of a successful athlete, he has told us everything about himself, how after facing so many difficult times, he has become a public figure and people like him. This is the case in every field. The athlete just needs to work hard day and night.
As I read the post, I felt the love mixed with the pain of a disappointed but hopeful fan. I know dreams can't come true, but dreaming doesn't stop. Maybe one day some magic will happen in reality!
Hoping means suffering, but loving the Bulls never stops!
This read like the inner monologue of every Bulls fan holding onto just enough hope to hurt again. The pinstripes, the crumbs of news, the Giannis fantasy—it’s all painfully real. But hey, if we’re not allowed to dream, at least we’re dreaming together. That counts for something, right?
just keep loyal to your team
You never know... Lions fans felt like that for decades and now the dream feels like it could almost come true! That preseason game last week doesn't count of course!
I really like Dan Campbell. And the Stafford trade is one of those rare ones that worked for both teams. As a Bears fan I just hope Ben Johnson is the real deal. He has done everything right so far. But they haven't played a game yet so plenty of time to screw up. I honestly can't believe the Bears got him. They never get the guy everyone else wants. They always go cheap and it has shown. Once the Bears were out of it (which was basically day 1) I was rooting for the Lions to win the Super Bowl. They just had way too many injuries. You lose your best player on defense and it is hard to recover. Especially when he simply wrecks the other teams game plan. But they made it a long way against those odds.
I'm hoping that they learned their lesson from all the injuries and the losses in the coaching positions will not make too much of an impact on them this year. We will see though. I'm still honestly not a Goff fan. I think his numbers are misleading.
Every year Chicago fans are teased like this, every year the rug gets pulled out from under us. Bears, Bulls, whatever, Chicago fans seem cursed to live in this hopeful but ultimately tragic loop peaked by moments of greatness, and followed by decades of mediocrity. Maybe this time will be different, but I won't be holding my breath..
Man, this hit way too close to home. Being a Bulls fan feels like a never, ending cycle of hoping, getting disappointed, and then trying to convince yourself that maybe, just maybe, next season will be different. Every offseason, other teams are out there making big moves, getting new stars, building for the future, and here we are... getting hyped over throwback jerseys. Don’t get me wrong, the uniforms are cool, but I’d rather see some real change on the court.
It is very important to be honest with the team and never accept bribes to defeat your team
I felt very sad reading your blog. As a fan, I understood from this blog that the pure feeling of love for the team despite so much disappointment is truly admirable. Best wishes to you.