Chicago-pedia: Sports

Chicago Cubs fans. | AP Photos

DITKA: Canonized in 1986. Later declared deity.

SWEETNESS: Chicago Bears great Walter Payton, who ran the football with such elegance and ease, it was a sweet, sweet sight.

BUDDY: Genius defensive coordinator of ’85 Bears, Buddy Ryan.

Buddy.

PINNERS: Front-stoop baseball game played by Chicago kids in the pre-video game days. The person “at bat” whips a rubber ball into the front steps, and the fielders behind him or her try to catch it as it bounces back their way. Singles, doubles, triples and home runs are determined by where the ball lands. A catch is an out.

16-INCH: Chicago brand of softball played with a ball 16 inches in circumference and no gloves. Best when played by large, beer-drinking men (or women). Pitches often are thrown with a spinning arc. Batting stances can include running up to the ball. Broken and jammed fingers are common.

THILLENS: The way-cool baseball stadium at Devon and the sanitary canal where wide-eyed kids have gone to play Little League games since forever. The park was built in the 1930s by Mel G. Thillens, who owned and founded the Thillens check-chasing service. The Chicago Park District now runs the park under a different name.

Thillens.

WAIT ’TIL NEXT YEAR: The once-common lament of Cubs fans when it became clear the season would not end with a World Series title. The verbal white flag can signal a fan’s eternal optimism, frustrated resignation, unbridled anger, sarcastic nature or general hopelessness. Use has ebbed since the Cubs actually won a World Series, in 2016, after a century drought.

ROCKY: Not the fictional boxer, but the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, Rocky Wirtz, who also owns a piece of the Chicago Sun-Times.

WOO WOO: The nickname of Ronnie Wickers, the love-him or hate-him, fully uniformed Cubs fan who constantly chirps “woo” after everything he chants at ballgames, bars, parties, etc.

Clay Matthews.

CUBS FANS: Chads & Trixies.

BRETT FAVRE: Lousy former quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.

CLAY MATTHEWS: Former Packers player who badly needs a haircut.

AARON RODGERS: Boyfriend of Chicago Bears fan Danica Patrick.

DOUBLE DOINK: Pitiful field goal miss in 2018 when football booted by Chicago Bears kicker Cody Parkey clunked upright — and then the crossbar — hobbling the Bears.