Chicago Sports History: 2016

Friday, April 29, 2016

Yeah you read that title right we now have some of the Chicago Blackhawk's coach Joel Quenneville's mustache trimmings. Don't ask us how we obtained the pieces of DNA, just think of the accomplishments these strands of hair may have been apart of. Coach Q has won three Stanley Cup Championships in Chicago over a six year span. All three championships had the power of his stache to thank. Its intimidating, tough, and kinda cute but most of all the mustache screams winning. On January 14, 2016, coach Q became the second winningest coach in NHL history with 783 wins. Unfortunately the Blackhawks could not defend their championship this season, losing to the St. Louis Blues in a 7 game first round series. Coach Q did coach the Blues from 1996 until 2004 so they might have learned a thing or two about winning from the mustache himself. His current career coaching record stands at 801 wins and 464 loses. As a coach, the stache has 17 playoff appearances. His career is far from over and we fully expect him to take Chicago back to the Grace land sooner than later. He has brought hockey back to the great city of Chicago. So if your interested in a vial of some of the greatest facial hair to skate on an ice rink come by the shop. We don't care if you want to do some voodoo shit with it, tape it to your own boyish mustache, or simply sleep with it under your pillow. Who wouldn't want this piece of history, remember its kissed the Stanley Cup, like a lot of times.

Signed Leonard Floyd Jersey

The Chicago Bears have added a new member to their football team and we have added a new piece to our collection. We have a signed Leonard Floyd Georgia jersey. This year's NFL Draft (2016) was hosted for the second time in Chicago (the first in 2015). That alone will bring some sports history to the city. The Bears originally have the 11th overall selection in the draft but decided to trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to leap frog the New York Giants and take the 9th overall selection and giving up one of their two fourth round picks. With the 9th selection, the bears draft outside linebacker from Georgia Leonard Floyd. Many experts think Floyd is still very raw and needs a lot of developing. He is skinny for the position which may make it difficult to rush the quarterback. But his ceiling is high he could become a steal. The Bears have a great defensive coordinator in Vic Fangio. Many believe Fangio can take Floyd's raw talent and turn him into an Aldon Smith type pass rusher from back in San Francisco. The bears have made some nice moves to improve their defense during the offseason. Adding Floyd to a linebacking core with recent arrivals; Danny Trevathan and Jerrell Freeman and outside linebacker Pernell McPhee has to scare opposing offenses. Not to mention Lamar Houston and Willie Young are still going to be competing for playing time on the outside. Things are looking up for Chicago in their second season under GM Ryan Pace and Head Coach John Fox. We hope the best for Leonard Floyd, so we can eventually sell this jersey over priced.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Jake Arrieta's Signed Hat

We now have an item linked to the newest Chicago sports legend, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta. Arrieta just threw his second no hitter in a Cubs' uniform and in his career. His first no hitter was recorded in 2015 and his second during 2016 but they occurred just 11 regular season games apart. Arrieta was a journey man pitcher before joining the Cubs in 2013. He has found his home and his dominance in Chicago. After winning the national league Cy Young Award (given to the best pitcher in the national league) he is off to another historic season. Arrieta, in 2016, has a 0.87 ERA and is undefeated. He has been so good lately that sports analysts have even suggested the possibility of performance enhancing drugs since mostly due to the fact that he pitches so late into games and show little signs of being tired. There has been no proof of any wrong doing by the Cubs' ace and I have read about his intense workout schedule. With the Cubs currently in first place and on the top of many experts lists of favorites to win the World Series, Arrieta has a chance to make more history. Since June 21, 2015, Arrieta has a record of 20-1, that's more no-hitters than losses in that span, he's has given up only four home runs, and hit three home runs himself. This hat was signed during his current dominant stint and is a symbol of what his has accomplished and what he can accomplish going forward. I feel like we will talk about him as one of the greatest of all time in the end of his career.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

The Scoring Academy

To become a scorer in basketball you need to team up with The Scoring Academy. I've sent my children through their program and it has paid in dividends not only in their skills but in their confidence as well. Remember "No one is born great"

Check out their Website: thescoringacademy.com

Use this Url to Sign Up Today!
The Scoring Academy

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Built To Win

Not only do we like to share history of Chicago sports we want to help create future stories. Here is a link to our good friends at Built To Win. They help to empower baseball and softball players, coaches, and parents. They help you master the mental game. It takes a great body and mind to become a successful ball player.

Check them out at their website: http://builttowin.com/all-star-summit/?hop=samanal

Click Below to make a purchase!
Built To Win

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Phil Jackson Autographed Tie from NBA Finals

Thats right, you guess it folks! This epic tie helped bring home Chicago the first NBA championship on the 1990s, the first of the 5 others to come just in that era. This tie is legendary, as it means so much to Phil and the bulls organization. its epic blackness surrounding the blue on the tie made it a bad jinx for his tenure in New york not and it was the real reason Patrick Ewing never won a championship, and won't ever be the coach of New york either (for current news, Patrick eyeing ways to be the head coach of the Knicks). Led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the bulls had a regular season record of 61-21, under Phil Jackson. The Bulls set the single season record of 72-10 in the 1995-96 season. Jackson is one of the best coaches in NBA history. Jackson played in the NBA from 1967 until 1980. He was drafted by the New York Knicks and ending his playing career playing for the New Jersey Nets. He was a 2X NBA champion with the Knicks (1970 and 1973). Jackson was an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls under Doug Collins. After taking over the head coaching job in 1989, Phil led the bulls to six championships (1991, 92, 93, 96, 97, and 98). This is apart of the Bulls history and two three-peats during one of the best eras in NBA history. After the Bulls, Jackson took over the head coaching job in Los Angeles. With the Lakers, Jackson won three championships (2000, 01, 02) to make it his third coaching three-peat. Then he added two more Laker champions (2009 and 2010) to his resume. The guy is a winner with 2 championships as a player and 11 as a coach, he doesn't even have enough fingers for all those rings. Plus this tie is due to come back in style.

Devin "Mr. First Place" Allbright's signed Wake Board

Devin "Mr. First Place" Allbright may not be a very well known name in Chicago sports but he is an up and coming wakeboarder riding for the Illinois State University Shredbirds. He grew up spending his summers in Frankfort, Michigan, Devin fell in love with wake boarding. He quickly picked up the sport and was shredding Crystal Lake by the age of eight. When he started his college career at ISU he was approached to join a new wake boarding club run by godfathers Kyle Burr and Connor Kopp. The new club jumped onto the scene surprising many and ranking 6th in the nation in college wake boarding. Devin and Kyle became a dynamic dual, winning competitions in their respective divisions. Devin has earned five first place trophies and the nickname of "Mr. First Place". This past season, Devin couldn't compete do to a series of unfortunate injuries. This winter his troubles continued when on a snowboarding trip to Keystone, Colorado where he broke his collarbone going real big, like he always does. Whether in the water, snow, or on concrete this multi-talented athlete tares it up. Devin also dislocated his shoulder this fall during an ISU intramural softball game that he was competing in with his bros. The "Inside Heaters"are going to miss their center fielder's spider-like defense and powerful bat. Devin is trying to rehab his injuries to make a wakeboard come back this spring and do what he does, win first place a lot. In the meantime he enjoys playing with his yellow lab Maggie and shredding his skateboard around the ISU campus and on his personal backyard mini ramp. We are so excited to have one of his first place winning boards autographed. Someday this board will be worthless.

PHOTO: The ISU Shredbirds, you can see godfathers Connor Kopp (Left) and Kyle Burr (Right) in the middle and Devin Allbright on the far right holding, you guessed it, two first place trophies.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Devin Hester's Super Bowl Cleats

A piece of Chicago Bears football history just made it to our shop. We now have the cleats that were worn by the best returner in NFL history, Devin Hester in Super Bowl XLI. Hester started off the game with a kickoff returned for a touchdown. He returned it 92 yards and gave the Bears an early lead, the earliest lead in Super Bowl history. Unfortunately the Bears ended up losing the rainy game to the Indianapolis Colts lead by Peyton Manning. The cleats can be seen in the photograph below. They are black and orange Nikes. The cleats were raffled off in 2007 and were resold online. Hester's return was one of the only bright spots for the Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Hester was drafted by the Bears in the second round of the 2006 NFL draft. In his rookie season, he had six return touchdowns, including a punt return in his first game, and a 108 yard touchdown off a missed field goal. Hester played for the Bears for 7 seasons recording 18 touchdown returns. Later, while playing for the Atlanta Falcons in 2014, Hester set an NFL record with 20 career return touchdowns. Hester is the best to ever do it and we are happy to have such a historic piece in our shop. Hester will always be loved in the Windy City.

Friday, March 4, 2016

My Product Recommendation

I am not a professional basketball player but I do enjoy playing pick up games and competing in rec leagues. I have always been a big fan of basketball shoes. Usually I wear Nike brand shoes but I recently bought a pair of Adidas D Rose 6s. I bought the shoes basically because I think they look awesome and to support the Chicago kid Derrick Rose. What surprised me the most about the show was its light weight. I usually play the guard position on the court and these shoes made it easy for me to accelerate and make cuts. The traction on these shoes are top notch. There is a lot of ankle support on these shoes, I like to have high top style shoes due to past ankle sprains from my high school days. I am a huge fan of the D Rose logo thats sported on the heal of the shoe. The logo is a rose with a "D" inside of it and the "D" forms a number 1 for the jersey number he wears for the Chicago Bulls. Everyone of the D Rose shoes has some sort of design that relates to Chicago, in the model it is very simple with a single Chicago star in the front. Overall great shoes, I feel like they will last me a few years at least. They come in two basic colors the Bulls red and black and the color I have; white. Go to your nearest Footlocker and scoop a pair of your own.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

My Review on ESPN's 30 for 30: The '85 Bears

First off I didn't know much about the 1985 Chicago Bears other than the fact that they won the Super Bowl and a handful of players and coaches. I knew there the defense was one of the best there ever was and that there was a thing called the super bowl shuffle. The documentary starts out with the saving of Buddy Ryan's job in the organization. This was unknown to me I was always told what a great defensive coordinator he was. I really liked overall the amount of Coach Ryan in the film, it really showed how effective he made that defense and how much of a impact he made on his players, most notably in Mike Singletary. One of my favorite parts of the film was Jim McMahon. I knew he was the quarterback who won the Super Bowl but not much else. The film showed his kind of bad boy personality that I found entertaining but he was also tough and took a lot of hits that gained him respect. In showing this side of McMahon the film also addressed his condition and the harsh realities that result from taking so many hits throughout a professional football career. Another aspect I enjoyed was getting the see the team struggle through losing in the playoffs the season before, it setup the determination in the championship team and of course the initial decision to put "The Fridge" in at running back. All in all I enjoyed learning more about the '85 bears and would recommend any football fan to watch it. It is currently available on Netflix.

Link: ESPN 30 for 30: The '85 Bears - Ditka

How I will Promote my Blog

It is extremely vital to promote your own blog to insure you are generating traffic. If people are reading your posts and sharing them you can become popular and gain fans who will revisit your website often. All bloggers hope that they can create conversations between their fans and outsiders who may be turned onto your blog. By gaining a following writer also gain creditability among their peers. To promote my blog I will write about topics that generate a lot of conversation. By keeping up to date with new and relevant stories, I will allow myself express my opinions to keep people coming back. If i am one of the first bloggers to post on a topic, then readers will look to my website first. It is also important for me to promote programs that are relevant to my topics. By promoting others I can build a relationship with them and advertise my posts on other, more popular websites. I will also utilize websites like Alexa to measure the traffic of my website and look for new ways to promote and gain competitive advantages. Being unique in my writing and sometimes being very opinionated or controversial will help me gain followers. Lastly I will use key words and phrases in my post titles to help generate traffic from search engines. Because I know that it takes money to gain the top spots on popular search engines, I can create a email mailing list and ask if people would like newsletters promoting my website. Compiling all of these tasks together will hopefully help me gain a following.

Speed Linking

I have compiled some blog posts that I feel any Chicago sports fan would appreciate reading. If you enjoy these posts please look into the other posts from the bloggers. I hope you find these as interesting as I have.

This is a blog post from Chi City Sports on the seriousness of concussions in professional football. I saw it as powerful hearing of past Chicago Bears players being affected by concussions.

Triage of Wounded Bears

I, like all Cubs fans, can't wait the see this 2016 roster start the season. In this blog from SB Nation Chicago, Duane Pesice breaks down the first spring training game of the season.

Cub Tracks Spring Into Action

It has been hard to watch the Chicago Bulls this season. This is a post questioning if making the playoffs is even a good goal to have at this point. The bulls are currently sitting 10th in the Eastern Conference. Tyler Plesis of SB Nation breaks down the current roster and how missing a playoff birth may help the future.

Would the Bulls Missing The Playoff be a Good Thing?

I still love Derrick Rose and I want to see him be successful again. Dane Carbaugh breaks down his recent play and shows us how he has brought back some of his dominate ways of the MVP Rose we all want back.

How Derrick Rose has Become Deadly in the Lane Once Again

I am big on league rankings before the season, during, and after. It is always fun to read up on who is considered best at a certain point in time. Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report created a ranking of MLB teams going into spring training. Can you guess who he has slotted at number one?

MLB Power Rankings at Start of Spring Training

Here is another Bleacher Report list of NHL teams that got the most out of the recent trade deadline. Where do you think Allen Mitchell ranked the acquisition of Andrew Ladd?

NHL Players Who Benefited Most from Trade Deadline Deals

Top Blog in my Niche

One of my favorite blogs to read and keep up with up to date Chicago sports news is a website called chicitysports.com. They write great blogs and have interesting podcasts. They cover all the major sports teams in Chicago; Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, Fire, White Sox, and even the Icehogs (A hockey team based out of Rockford, Illinois who play in the American Hockey League). I think it is cool that they keep Chicago fans informed on what the Icehogs are doing because they feed into the Blackhawks. The only team that they are really ignoring is the Chicago Sky of the WNBA, although they are not a very popular team in the city so its kinda understandable. The podcasts on the website is pretty laid back you feel like your in a room with your buddies just talking sports. They also touch on popular culture, which is nice. The blog posts are more so reports on recent news that often reference sources. It is a great source for all Chicago sports in one spot and it is updated daily for you know it is new and fresh.

The ChiCity website is easy to navigate and has some appealing graphics but is not overwhelming by any means. I like their home screen has a list of their top stories and most recent posts. I also have the option of looking at just one of the team's pages and focusing on just their news. It reminds me of an ESPN Chicago page or a BleacherReport page being organized by teams. I think ChiCity is a great example of fans who love Chicago sports creating something that looks the be profitable. It is a blog they can and should be proud of, I'm sure it will lead to great careers in the sports entertainment business. The website is growing in popularity with over 50,000 likes on Facebook, which means more traffic than that who have visited the website. I will continue to use ChiCity as a resource for what a great blog looks like and operates.

Link:
http://www.chicitysports.com

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Current Chicago Athletes Who Can Become All-time Greats

Followup Post (promoting my list of greatest chicago athletes)

Here is a list of athletes that are currently on a Chicago professional team that may become all-time great Chicago athletes. I will list what they have already achieved in their careers.

Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks):
Jonathan Toews was drafted third overall in the 2006 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. In 2008 he was named team captain at the young age of 20 years old. Toews not only had the skill but had his head on straight and knew what he wanted, he is often referred to as "Captain Serious". In 2010, Toews led the Blackhawks to their first Stanley Cup Championship since 1961. The Blackhawks have gone on to win two more championships (2013 and 2015) under the leadership of Captain Serious to form what many are calling a dynasty. The Blackhawks are currently looking prime for a repeat this season (2016). Toews is a five-time All-Star, Conn Smythe winner in 2010, and three-time Stanley Cup champion. Toews has a long career still ahead at only 27 years old.

Alshon Jeffery (Chicago Bears): Alshon Jeffery was drafted in the second round in the 2012 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears. He had a rough rookie season due to injuries. In 2013, Jeffery broke the franchise single-game receiving yards record twice (218 and 249 yards). In doing so he became the first in franchise history to have two 200 yard receiving games. He was a pro bowler in 2014. He is second in franchise history for yards in a season (1,421 yards). Alshon is only 26 years old and if he can stay healthy then he can easily beat most of the Chicago Bears receiving records and become the best who played the position in a Bear uniform.

Kris Bryant (Chicago Cubs): In 2015 Kris Bryant was called up to the big leagues and play the hot corner for the Chicago Cubs. In his first season, Bryant had a batting average of .275, hit 26 home runs, and batting in 99 runs. His 26 home runs broke the franchise record for rookies. He was a huge part of the Cubs who reached the NLCS in 2015. He was a two-time rookie of the month winner, an All-Star, Home run derby contestant, and the NL Rookie of the Year. The sky is the limit for the young Cub.

Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls):
Derrick Rose was drafted number one overall in the 2008 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls had a 1.7% chance to win the NBA lottery that year and Derrick being from the city of Chicago it seemed like destiny. Rose won the Rookie of the Year, joining the greatest of all-time Michael Jordan and Elton Brand as the only players in franchise history to win the honor. In the 2010-2011 season, Rose led the Bulls to a 62-20 record and a number one seed. He also became the youngest player in history to win the NBA league MVP award. Everything was looking up for the young superstar until he torn his ACL during the 2011-2012 season leading to a missed season and a series of injuries where the list seems to go on forever. Many have lost faith the Rose will return to the level he once played, but he is still only 27 years old and thing are slowly turning around. If he can have a storied second half of his career he can be considered a great. As of 2016, Rose was Rookie of the year, a 3-time All-star, a first-team All NBA, and League MVP.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

My List of the Greatest Chicago Athletes

7. Mike Ditka (Chicago Bears):
Before "Da Coach" led the 85' Bears to a Super Bowl Championship, he was one hell of a Tight End for the organization. Drafted by the Bears in 1961 one, "Iron Mike" won the Rookie of the Year honors. In 1963 the bears won the World Championship. Later as a player he won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys in 1971. He finished his Hall of Fame playing career with 427 catches, 5,812 receiving yards, and 43 touchdowns. Ditka is the only person with a Super Bowl ring as a player, assistant coach (with Dallas in 1977), and as a head coach. He is Chicago football.

6. Ryne Sandberg (Chicago Cubs):
Ryne Sandberg was drafted (1981) and started his career with the Philadelphia Phillies but played for the Chicago Cubs form 1982 through 1997. "Ryno" won nine gold gloves at second base and was a great hitter for his position. He hit for .300 five times in his career and even hit 40 home runs during the 1990 season. In 1984 he won the National League MVP. He is one of the greatest second baseman to play the game and a Cubbie for life.

5. Gale Sayers (Chicago Bears):
Drafted in the 1965 NFL draft, Sayers played his whole career with the Chicago Bears. In his rookie year he set a NFL rookie record for total touchdowns (22) that still stands today. Unfortunately Sayers only played for seven seasons in the NFL, it was cut short by knee injuries. During his short career he won rookie of the year, went to four pro bowls, was a 5 time first team all-pro (winning 3 pro bowl MVPs), was a two time rushing champion, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977.

4. Stan Mikita (Chicago Blackhawks):
In 1959, Stan Mikita was brought up to the Chicago Blackhawks. He is known for being the best centre of the 1960s. In 1961 his helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. He and teammate Bobby Hull were a dominate duo during the sixties. He played for the Blackhawks for 22 seasons. He won the NHL MVP twice and was a four time season scoring leader. Some of his Blackhawk records include most goals (541), most points (1,467), and most games played (1,394).

3. Ernie Banks (Chicago Cubs):
"Mr. Cub" played in Chicago from 1953 until 1971. He played short stop and one of the greatest hitters of all time. Unfortunately he never had a chance to play in a playoff game this says more about his team than his skills. During his career Banks was a 14 time All-Star, 2 time National League MVP, Gold Glove winner, and hit 512 home runs. Banks is the greatest Cub of all time.

2. Walter Payton (Chicago Bears):
Drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1975 Walter Payton became the greatest running back in Bears history and arguably the greatest in NFL history. He was apart of the 1985 Bears who won the Super Bowl. He ended his career with 3,838 carries, 16,726 rushing yards, and 125 touchdowns. He was everything you look for in a running back; light on his feet, fast, and tough as nails. "Sweetness" was a nine time Pro Bowler (MVP in 1977), two time Offensive Player of the Year, six time First Team All Pro, and 3 time NFC MVP.

1. Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls):
Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Enough said. But heres some awards; NBA rookie of the year, 14 time NBA All Star (3 time All Star game MVP), 2 time NBA Dunk Contest Champion, 3 time NBA steals Champion, 10 time All NBA First Team, 10 time scoring champion, 5 time MVP, and 6 NBA Championships (six finals MVPs). Jordan was so good that his jersey #23 was retired not only by the Chicago Bulls but also the Miami Heat (a team he never played for).

Monday, February 29, 2016

Bartman's Headphones

This next item in the shop represents a sad swing of events for the Chicago Cubs and a life changing reaction for oe unfortunate fan. It was October 14, 2003, the Cubs were playing the Florida Marlins in the National League Championship game. The cubs were leading the series 3-0 with only five outs away from reaching the World Series for the first time in more than half a century. Thats when a ball was hit to left field heading foul but appearing to be catchable for Cubs left fielder Moises Alou. What many believed to be an easy out for the Alou was disrupted by a fan named Steve Bartman. Bartman reached out over the wall for the ball and messed up any chance Alou had of getting the out. That play was a turning point in the series for the Marlins. The play was followed by a walk, an error on a double play opportunity, multiple hits by the marlins leading to eight runs and a loss for the Cubs. The Marlins went to the World Series that year. Bartman was an easy scape goat for the Chicago fan base mostly due to his mild manner and nerdy appearance. His most famous accessory were a pair of headphones he was wearing at the time of the play. Our shop has gotten our hands on those headphones. With the Chicago Cubs being favorite to win the World Series and break a century draught this year we can only hope Bartman stays far away from Wrigley in 2016.

Pictured below is Bartman wearing the headphones and leaning over the wall to distrupt Moises Alou from catching the ball.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Signed Air Jordan Ones

We are happy to announce that we now have game worn Air Jordan I's, signed by the greatest basketball player himself. They were first worn by Michael Jordan on November 17, 1984. This was during his rookie season, in which he won rookie of the year. At the time the NBA had a strict shoe policy that forced players to wear only white shoes. Jordan had to pay a $5,000 dollar fine for every game that he wore the red, white, and black sneakers. The shoes were designed by Peter C. Moore to match the Chicago Bulls color scheme. The shoes became very popular and launched the Nike Jordan shoe brand. People started to believe that the shoes themselves game Michael an advantage on the court and Nike ran with it as a marketing plan. These classic basketball shoes sported the simple nike swoosh but later Air Jordan models had the now famous jump man logo. Every year since, Jordan releases new shoes that people line up for. Michael won six NBA Championships in Chicago and has made the Chicago Bulls one of the most popular franchises in the league and the Air Jordan the top selling basketball shoes.

Link to Air Jordan Commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMnG88vPt2s

Friday, February 12, 2016

Sosa's Corked Bat

An item that is in the possession of Chi-town Collectibles is a piece of Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa's famous corked bat. Sammy Sosa played right field for the Cubs from 1992 until 2004. He was known and loved by Chicago fans for his powerful home runs. Sosa had a signature home run skip and salute (involving kissing to fingers and pressing them to his chest and pointing into the air). He hit 545 home runs in a cubs uniform and ended his career with 609 total home runs. His greatness didn't come without controversy. Sosa played during the steroid era in baseball history. If you take a look at Sammy during his rookie year with the White Sox you can see a huge muscle gain occurred during his career, plus his head grew (a side effect of steroid use) and he had to increase the size of his batting helmet. If he didn't already have speculations surrounding him being a cheater, he confirmed it on June 4, 2003. On that summer day the Chicago Cubs played the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Sammy Sosa was up to bat in the first inning with two base runners on. He swung and made contact with the ball but his bat shattered. Broken bats aren't that uncommon in baseball but this one was different. The umpire noticed something odd about the inside of the barrel. There was cork inside. Sosa was then ejected, in front of his home team fans, for tampering with the bat. Sosa did say the it was an accident, that he had grabbed the wrong bat before walking up to the batter's box. He stated that he used the bat for batting practice to excite fans with booming home runs. Although it may be the truth its hard to believe. Sosa received an eight game suspension. Chi-town Collectibles is excited to have a piece of the historical bat even though it comes with an unethical Chicago Sports past. But you can not deny the excitement Sammy Sosa brought to the North side. He brought 60 HR seasons and battles with Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

McMahon's "Rozelle" Headband

A unique item we have in the shop is a Jim McMahon game worn headband. This is not your average headband. This headband was altered by the Chicago Bears quarterback in January of 1986, McMahon used a black sharpie the spell out the name "Rozelle". Pete Rozelle was the NFL commissioner from 1960 until 1989. But McMahon was not sporting the commissioner's name across his forehead because he was a fan of him. It was an act of defiance and spite. In the week prior, McMahon wore a headband with an Adidas logo on it during a playoff shutout win against the New York Giants. The NFL, and commissioner Rozelle, fined McMahon for violating a league policy for wearing the headband with the Adidas corporate logo. McMahon states in an interview for the ESPN 30 For 30 - The 85' Bears,"the only reason it was a big deal was because Adidas was not paying the NFL at the time." Rozelle stated in a phone call to McMahon that it gave Adidas free advertising. The next match up was against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship and McMahon decided to make a new logo for his headband and make a statement of corporate defiance. The quarterback received no fines for this headband but did get a thanks from Rozelle for the free advertisement. The Bears beat the Rams and went on to defeat the New England Patriots in Superbowl XX. The head band is a unique part of the 1985 champion Chicago Bears and a true representation of the controversial ways of Jim McMahon.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

About Me

My Name is Nolan Irelan. I am a senior at Illinois State University and I love Chicago sports. I was born and raised watching the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, and the Cubs (sorry south-siders). It all started with my father's love of Chicago Bears football. Having coached me as a youth football player, my Dad would show me highlights of Walter "Sweetness" Peyton running the football. Peyton was the definition of what a football player strives to become. The Chicago Bulls of the nineties became an obsession of mine at a young age, who didn't love Michael Jordan growing up? The Blackhawks most recent dynasty (yes, dynasty) has became a huge part of any Chicago fan's life. And who can't enjoy a summer game watching the lovable losers at Wrigley Field. I am creating this blog for a class I am currently in at ISU, where students create a fictional company and take all the steps to develop it electronically. My company is a Chicago sports memorabilia shop called "Chi-town Collectables" located in Wrigleyville. We have everything from baseball cards to game used balls and jerseys to championship rings. This blog is a place where I can share the backgrounds of Chicago players and teams as well as the items that can be found at the shop. I will share personal stories and reflect on the great history of Chicago athletics that have shaped the best sports fans in the world. I will provide authentic real life stories, statistics, and records. I want to share what I already know and research further Chicago sports.

Chicago Sports History

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