Somehow, all of the articles celebrating the Chicago Sky’s championship seem to be utterly forgetting that the run of championships in Chicago did not begin with the 1985 Bears. It actually began four years earlier, when the Chicago Sting won the 1981 Soccer Bowl and became the champion of the now-defunct North American Soccer League, the predecessor to today’s Major League Soccer.
All that year, players like Karl-Heinz Granitza, Pato Margetic, Arno Steffenhagen and the electric Frantz Mathieu thrilled fans as the team inched closer to a title. Over 39,000 fans were in attendance for the Comiskey Park game that saw the Willy Roy-coached club advance to the championship, where they defeated the New York Cosmos after winning a shootout. More than 6,000 Chicagoans made the trek to Toronto to see the game. The Sting’s indoor team consistently outdrew the Blackhawks and Bulls the following winter, and the team repeated its outdoor championship feat in 1984.
Ultimately, the Sting fell victim to the financial woes that plagued the NASL and its successor indoor league, the Major Indoor Soccer League. But despite its brief existence, the club Lee Stern started left a legacy of winning that the ’85 Bears followed.
To ignore that legacy as we celebrate the Sky is to ignore the spark that ignited Chicago’s championship fire.
— Karen Topham, Chicago
Praise for Rep. Rush’s office
When many of us question whether our government, mired in political disputes and controversies, can actually help us with problems we face in our daily lives, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush’s office proves that our government still cares about the people it serves.
He and his office serve the 1st Congressional District of Chicago and serve it well. As a college graduate with advanced degrees, I discovered that my academic credentials did little to help me negotiate the labyrinth of bureaucracies I had to contact when my health insurance was canceled. I was scared and worried about being without medical coverage, especially in these trying times, and I felt let down by the very agencies that were designed to provide help.
Making daily calls to local and federal offices in which people working from home because of COVID-19 were unable to help untangle the web of my case, I felt frustrated as medical bills appeared in my mailbox. When a friend suggested I call a local government office for assistance, I was skeptical. Then I called Rush’s office because I live in his district on Chicago’s South Side.
I was surprised when a warm, friendly person answered my call. She listened to my problem before passing the call to someone else, and sounded concerned and willing to help. Rush’s office, from the receptionist who answered my call, to the officer who took up my case, not only offered sympathy for my failed attempts to reach a solution, but also expertise in creating a path forward in dealing with Medicare, Social Security and agencies that had seemed unable to offer assistance.
One of Dottie Hall’s first comments after hearing about my case was, “You are not alone. My office is here to help you.” Amazing. Hall spent weeks getting the specifics of my issue and speaking to top brass in the Social Security office on my behalf. And now, after months of worry on my part and many words of encouragement and expert actions on her part, she has solved my problem. She has restored my faith.
It is no accident that those who work for Rush believe, as he does, in their mission to serve those they represent. Thank you to Rep. Rush, thank you to Taylor Coward and a huge thank you to Dottie Hall for all your help. Your office is a beacon of hope in these dark times.
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— Susan Asher, Chicago
Immersive experience
I enjoyed Rick Kogan’s column “When the city went nuts for cycloramas” (Oct. 19). I’ve seen the one at Gettysburg. They’re not a relic of the past but have evolved.
Jerald Pierce’s article about “The Office Experience” (“Sit at Dwight’s desk (I’m telling Michael),” Oct. 19) is a perfect example.
— Ken Juranek, Des Plaines
All around, a bad idea
The One Central project in the South Loop neighborhood is the wrong idea at the wrong time, and I’m supposed to help pay for it? No, no, no, a million times no.
— Randall Ray, Gurnee
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