"Irrelevant"?!

On Wednesday Feb. 27, during the ESPN show Around the Horn, a show where sports columnists from the nation’s largest sports cities debate on specific subjects. a regular guest on the show and Los Angeles Times sports writer Bill Plaschke said to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti that Chicago was an "Irrelevant sports town"

It's true that a lot of Chicago's sports teams are in desperate pseudo rebuilding phases. The Bulls with the acquisitions of Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes. The Bears and their lack of anything resembling an offense. The White Sox, two years after winning the World Series missed the playoffs by 20+ games. The Cubs have hit the 100 year mark for not winning a World Series and are "celebrating" the 63rd anniversary of the last time they were even in the Series.

What Mr. Plaschke might not remember is that about four or five years ago the Denver Nuggets were one of the worst teams in the NBA. The Broncos were still trying to find a replacement for John Elway. And not too many people cared about how well the Colorado Avalanche were playing well, and were a couple years removed form winning the Stanley Cup.

But let's take a look at the bright side of Chicago sports for a moment. The Bears are a little over a year removed from being in the Super Bowl. The White Sox brought a World Series title to Chicago for the first time in 88 years. The Cubs are giving fans an actual sports related reason to attend Wrigley Field again this year.

There are also the not so major sports: the Chicago Wolves of the IHL have won 4 championships in the last 10 years. They have also never had a losing season. The newest addition to the Chicago sports family, the Rush of the Arena Football League, won the AFL championship in Arena Bowl XX and has made the playoffs in every season of their existence. The Chicago Blackhawks also gave fans a reason to cheer early in the NHL season, but have fallen back into losing. They do have a very bright future ahead of them.

Though Chicago's sports are in a state of limbo and the teams are not as feared as they used to be (or in this coming MLB season; should be.) But professional athletes still want to be come to Chicago.

Japanese baseball player Kosuke Fukudome (Cos-kay Fook-u-domay) was quoted as saying his two main choices to play Major League Baseball came down to Chicago's north and south side ball clubs and eventually landed with the Cubs.

The White Sox have been no strangers to welcoming foreign players into the clubhouse having 2 Cuban players on the current roster. Picking up a couple Japanese players in Shingo Takatsu and Tadahito Iguchi a few years ago. Pplus several players from Manager Ozzie Guillen's homeland of Venezuela.

Calling Chicago an irrelevant sports town is like saying that the sky is green. Bill Plaschke needs to check his history and make sure he wasn't talking about Cincinnati.