‘We share this with you, the best fans in the world:’ How Chicago sports teams have celebrated their championships since 1985
The Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, Fire and White Sox — and now the Sky — have combined for 14 professional sports championships since 1985.
Here’s a look back at how each team celebrated its titles with the people of Chicago.
Chicago Bears win Super Bowl XX: Parade on Jan. 27, 1986
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on Jan. 28, 1986:
Chicago opened its arms to its triumphant football team Monday as thousands of fans ignored frigid temperatures to honor the Super Bowl champion Bears with a ticker-tape parade along LaSalle Street and a welcome-home rally in the Daley Plaza.
Appropriately, the festivities took place in Bear weather: near zero with gusting winds lowering the wind chill factor to 32 below.
All season sports writers and some of the Bears had talked of how the team enjoyed playing in Chicago’s midwinter cold. They got a chance to prove it Monday along the parade route and at the plaza as the crowds gathered to cheer as the wind swirled around them.
More than 10 tons of shredded scrap paper had been assembled to be showered on Bears players who planned to ride in convertibles in the parade beginning in front of the Board of Trade Building, Jackson Boulevard and LaSalle Street, and going north to Washington Street and then east past City Hall to the plaza.
Chicago Bulls win 1991 NBA championship: Rally on June 14, 1991
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 15, 1991:
It definitely is not lonely at the top.
The Chicago Bulls celebrated their NBA championship Friday in Grant Park with several hundred thousand of their biggest fans in a rally that saw the tables turned on the players.
It was the enormous crowd that sweated during this event and the athletes who smiled from the stage of the Petrillo Music Shell. Instead of the fans providing the inspiration, it seemed as if most fans were inspired by the No. 1 team, uniting for an hour at least and forgetting the divisions that mark daily life.
North Side and South Side and West Side, city dweller and suburbanite, African-American and German-American and Italian-American ... Bulls fans forever or even just for a Friday.
The crowd extended from south of Jackson Boulevard to north of Monroe Street and from Columbus Drive to Lake Shore Drive. The music shell is at the southwest corner of Jackson and Columbus.
Some booed Gov. Jim Edgar and more booed Mayor Richard Daley, perhaps because the fans really wanted to hear the players.
All roared approval for coach Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, John Paxson, Horace Grant and Bill Cartwright.
Chicago Bulls win 1992 NBA championship: Rally on June 16, 1992
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 17, 1992:
The city’s gonzo “Sweet Repeat” extravaganza for the Chicago Bulls was held in spacious Grant Park and attended by tens of thousands of people, but it seemed more like a pep rally inside a high school gymnasium.
This is not a criticism.
While celebrations of the Bulls’ second straight NBA championship on Sunday mutated into something ominous and criminal, Tuesday’s official salute to the team was a more intimate, purely joyous tribute.
Players shared inside jokes that everybody in Chicago seemed to understand.
Chicago Bulls win 1993 NBA championship: Rally on June 22, 1993
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 23, 1993:
On Tuesday the Three-Peat became three-dimensional.
For months fans have huddled around their television sets — nervously willing themselves through game after game. Few among the Chicago Bulls faithful get a chance to see their heroes up close.
So the Grant Park rally has become a once-each-year opportunity for fans to vent the full force of their adulation — and, hopefully, to have some of it reflected back.
An estimated 150,000 fans, including some who camped in Grant Park overnight, crowded around the Petrillo Music Shell and into the reaches of Grant Park. When the Bulls finally marched up to the microphone, waves of cheers burst from the multitudes.
Chicago Bulls win 1996 NBA championship: Rally on June 18, 1996
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 19, 1996:
Oops, there it is.
On stage. Live.
Profane as he wanted to be during Tuesday’s Bulls celebration at Grant Park, Dennis Rodman let an expletive slip out in front of a couple hundred thousand fans and several million television viewers.
Station managers from WBBM-Ch. 2, WMAQ-Ch. 5, WLS-Ch. 7, WGN-Ch. 9 and SportsChannel must have privately uttered similar off-color remarks when Rodman’s obscenity tainted the airwaves.
“I knew we should have used the 7-second delay,” said one station’s producer.
Chicago Bulls win 1997 NBA championship: Rally on June 16, 1997
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 17, 1997:
To mix a Chicago sports metaphor, Bulls fans Monday proved themselves to be true Grabowskis.
A raging downpour? No sweat.
Mud puddles the size of swamps? The better to wallow in.
Bring on the deluge, the dirt, the huddled masses yearning for one more. Chicago proved it could party like a champion as thousands of fans braved truly rotten conditions to celebrate the Bulls’ fifth National Basketball Association championship at the traditional victory rally at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park.
Some pulled all-nighters, lurking under umbrellas or ponchos or getting soaked to the bone as they waited to dash for precious upfront seats when police finally let spectators into the park at 6 a.m.
Some made the trek from Naperville, others from New Jersey.
Some were students with time on their hands now that school is out. Others were parents out to score major mommy and daddy points by taking the kids to be part of history.
Some came to witness what they were sure was the last hurrah of a great basketball dynasty about to be ripped up by a mercurial management.
Chicago Bulls win 1998 NBA championship: Rally on June 16, 1998
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 17, 1998:
The love fest that is the Bulls’ championship rally at Grant Park is seemingly an annual summer event, right up there with Taste of Chicago and a Cubs swoon.
Which is why Tuesday morning’s version, celebrating the team’s sixth championship in eight seasons, had such a familiar feel.
Dennis Rodman used gratuitous vulgarity. Steve Kerr told a funny story.
Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson each were serenaded with fervent chants of “One more year!” by the crowd generously estimated at 300,000.
But two major differences mattered most and compelled some of those fans to begin lining up for choice viewing locations as early as 1 a.m. Monday.
The first difference, of course, was the sixth championship trophy, which Toni Kukoc was entrusted to parade onstage. Kukoc joined Ron Harper, Rodman, Pippen, Jordan and Jackson with trophies, giving the Bulls more hardware than True Value.
The other difference was the mood. Optimism lingered at last year’s rally, but a sense of finality pervaded this one.
Chicago Fire win 1998 MLS Cup: Rally on Oct. 27, 1998
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 28, 1998:
He was too young and didn’t really feel a part of the team 14 years ago, when the city last celebrated an outdoor soccer championship. Then it was the Sting of the old North American Soccer League.
But Frank Klopas certainly appreciates what has happened to him and his Chicago Fire teammates the last three days. The Fire showed off its championship trophy in front of Mayor Richard Daley and a couple hundred fans Tuesday at Daley Plaza.
For Klopas, who joined the Sting in its last season after graduating from Mather High School, this title highlights his career.
“In ‘84 I didn’t feel a part of the (Sting),” Klopas said. “I joined the team at the end of the season and they won the championship. I went to Greece and won three championships, but I have never enjoyed one like this one.”
Each player was introduced and given a banner by the mayor. Then Klopas, Zach Thornton, captain Peter Nowak and Chicago-area defender Tom Soehn thanked the fans on behalf of the team. The four presented Daley with an autographed ball from Sunday’s game, along with a T-shirt and hat.
The crowd chanted “MVP, MVP” for Nowak, who was the most valuable player in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over D.C. United, and also chanted “Bob, Bob, Bob” for Fire coach Bob Bradley.
Chicago White Sox win 2005 World Series: Rally on Oct. 28, 2005
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 29, 2005:
Most White Sox fans who endured the crush of humanity at the corner of Wacker Drive and Clark Street on Friday were more than happy to be stuck hundreds deep in an immobile crowd to catch a glimpse of their beloved world champions.
But the city’s choice of venue for the end of the ticker-tape parade left many fans feeling frustrated.
Police said the rally was very peaceful and presented no serious public safety problems. But many fans said they wished it would have been held at Grant Park or in some other open space that would have let thousands more see what was happening on stage.
“You couldn’t hear anything, and we couldn’t see anything,” said Anthony Stephens, 21, of Bridgeport, who watched the rally just west of the stage at LaSalle Street and Wacker.
The city had tentative plans to use Grant Park and the Petrillo Music Shell for the celebration on Monday, but the team pressed for the Friday date so that all of the players could be present. Some would have left the city for their homes by Monday, team officials said.
The bandshell could not be readied in time for a Friday celebration, said Cindy Gatziolis, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Special Events.
Chicago Blackhawks win 2010 Stanley Cup: Rally on June 11, 2010
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 12, 2010:
In a celebration nearly a half-century in the making, Chicago hoisted the Blackhawks on its famed big shoulders Friday and threw one heck of a party.
They sang and danced. They took pictures with cellphones. They hugged in between long swigs of sparkling wine.
And those were just the Blackhawks.
Chicago feted the club with a massive parade and rally that will go down as one of the best-attended celebrations in city history. Dressed in hockey jerseys and caps emblazoned with the team’s cherished Indian logo, fans transformed Michigan Avenue into a red sea that only a Stanley Cup championship team could part.
Chicago Blackhawks win 2013 Stanley Cup: Rally on June 28, 2013
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 29, 2013:
Welcome back to Chicago, Lord Stanley. We think you’ll notice how our Blackhawks have grown up.
Three years after a champagne-soaked extravaganza on Michigan Avenue, the city hosted a more mature — but equally, if not more, jubilant — Grant Park celebration for a crowd estimated at over 2 million people. More mature, that is, if you don’t count the expletive-laced anatomy lecture from goalkeeper Corey Crawford.
Chicago feted the club with a massive parade and rally Friday that broke the 2010 attendance record and perhaps will go down as the best-attended celebration in city history. Dressed in hockey sweaters on an 80-degree day, fans transformed Grant Park into a red sea that only a few final celebratory refrains of “Chelsea Dagger” could part.
Heeding Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call for the entire metropolitan area to enjoy a “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the Blackhawks faithful skipped work, ditched meetings and feigned illness to celebrate the team’s victory over the Boston Bruins this week. They lined the streets from the Near West Side to the lakeshore, then filled Grant Park in numbers so big they made the Taste of Chicago look like a cozy street fair.
Chicago Blackhawks win 2015 Stanley Cup: Rally on June 28, 2015
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on June 19, 2015:
A sea of red-clad hockey fans descended upon downtown Chicago on Thursday to celebrate the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, packing a parade route through the Loop, then cheering and dancing at a boisterous rally inside Soldier Field.
One by one, the players took turns kissing and lifting the trophy triumphantly above their heads as red-and-black confetti swirled around the stage. The Hawks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday in front of Chicago fans at the United Center, the third Cup win in six years and the first at home since 1938.
Braving storms and crowded trains to get there, tens of thousands cheered for hours inside Soldier Field as players expressed gratitude and quipped wise for the crowd. Officials put the total crowd estimate for the celebrations at about 2 million people, including those along the parade route who didn’t have tickets to enter the rally.
Chicago Cubs win 2016 World Series: Parade and rally on Nov. 4, 2016
This story originally ran in the Chicago Tribune on Nov. 5, 2016:
Chicago transformed into a sea — and a river — of Cubbie blue Friday as the city celebrated the Cubs’ historic, if still somewhat surreal, World Series triumph.
A massive crowd turned out for a parade and rally — dubbed “Cubstock 2016″ by manager Joe Maddon — that finally rewarded the loyalty of the team’s long-suffering fans. It was a party 108 years in the making, a three-hour bash in which players choked back tears and repeatedly paid tribute to a fan base that no longer has to wait until next year.
