Hi, I'm Tommy...Like the gun

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A little less Chicago

I've been living in Phoenix for the last 5 years now.  As most of you already know, I'm from the Chicago area.  I'm a huge Cubs fan, and a huge Bears fan.  If I see someone in my section at work wearing a Cubs/Sox/Bears/Bulls/Blackhawks hat or shirt or whatever, I normally have no problem starting up a conversation with them about where they're from in Illinois.  Talking with people comes very easy to me.  Breaking the ice is a necessity in my job.  I have no choice.  Someone sits in my section, I have to go over and greet them.  I remember when I first moved here and I was working at Friday's and I saw someone with Chicago stuff on, I couldn't wait to talk to them.  A lot of the time it would lead to long conversations about Illinois, or Arizona, or the Cubs/Bears, whatever.  I was just so excited to see someone that knew of Wheaton, IL.  I thought it was crazy that I was 1800 miles from home, and still managed to find people from the same area.  It was such a great part of my day.  It was my way of connecting with people at my job.  Even when I worked at P.F. Chang's, if we were on a wait, and I saw someone in a group that was wearing a Cubs hat, as soon as I had a table open in my section, I sat the group.  I would totally ignore the waiting list.  I didn't care.  These were my people and I wouldn't let them wait.  I was able to make a better connection with them, by one, sneaking them into my section, and two, chatting them up about being from the same area.  I still chat up people that are from Illinois, but lately, it doesn't seem the same.

 

After being here for 5 years, I hear about the Diamondbacks, the Cardinals, the Suns, ASU, and God forbid...the Coyotes.  I'm not really a huge fan of any of them, but somehow being around them and hearing about them all the time, some of them seeped into me.  By no means have I lost my loyalty to the Cubs or the Bears.  But sometimes I feel that because I don't have them around me all the time, I lose a little bit of my fanaticism.  Again, I'll be glued to the MLB package for as many Cubs games as possible, and probably sitting at CK's for every Bears game.  Lately I find that I'm behind on all of the talk that happens about MY teams.  Maybe it's because I don't live in Chicago area anymore, and I don't have ESPN 1000 dialed in all the time, or maybe it's that WGN doesn't seem relevant to my world any longer.  I don't see commercials with Chicago sports stars.  I see commercials like Dan Majerle doing Emergency Chiropractic.  And now these Phoenix commercials are the norm.  I call Phoenix my home.  Heather and I have bought our first house here, and we're not going anywhere for a long time.  Lately, if I see someone wearing a Cubs hat, I'm less likely to say something to them.  I don't know why this is.  I'll still talk to them if that conversation comes up, but now I'm less likely to initiate that talk.  I'm starting to feel a little less....Chicago.