Is This Our Moment In The Sun?

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Jun 11, 2008 6:26PM

The Sox and Cubs sit atop their respective divisions, Chicago resident and Illinois Senator Barack Obama is set to be named the Democratic Presidential candidate, and Chicago made the short-list to host the 2016 Olympics. Some have suggested that the summer of '08 is Chicago's "moment", to which we say, "Really? Just now?" Yes, Chicago has seen some great success stories so far this year: Tracy Letts' August: Osage County has a Pulitzer and is expected to add a Tony while Alinea's Grant Achatz has made headlines for his fight with cancer and for being a pretty damn good chef. And with all the other things about our great city that we love, we can understand why there's a swell of civic pride. We just think expectations should be tempered a bit. The Cubs are due any day now for their annual collapse, this year's election will be one of the most hotly contested in recent history, and we have a long road to travel before we secure the 2016 games.

Besides, doesn't Chicago kick ass anyway? Sure any of these potential successes will make Chicago shine even brighter, but even if none come to fruition, we're not going anywhere. For all its (many) drawbacks, Chicago is still a world-class city in our eyes and damn if we don't love it.

What say you, readers? Are we just being Debbie Downers? Should we have the audacity to hope? Or are we just nonplussed because we've known all along that our city rocks and rolls like no other and are surprised that the rest of the world hasn't acknowledged us as the center of the universe yet?

Photo by Joe M500