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Sports and Recreation
America's summer pastime is a treat to watch wherever you are, but at Chicago's ivy-clad Wrigley Field, where the score and the pitchers' numbers are still changed by hand, it's simply irresistible.
Chicago offers many recreational pursuits to the active visitor. The Chicago Park District contains 7,300 acres across in 552 parks, 6 golf courses and 32 beaches. The Lake beckons swimmers, sailors and anglers.
Chicago is also home to many professional sports teams:
Chicago Cubs: National League Baseball at Wrigley Field.
Chicago White Sox: American League Baseball at US Cellular Field.
Chicago Bears: National Football League at Soldier Field.
Chicago Fire: Major League Soccer at The Village of Bridgeview.
Chicago Bulls: National Basketball Association at United Center.
Chicago Blackhawks: National Hockey League at United Center.
Staunchly blue-collar Chicago must be among the best US cities for watching sports, as Chicagoans are, for better or worse, loyally supportive of their teams. The city's most successful outfit in recent memory was the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls basketball team, winner of six NBA championships in the 1990s. Now that Jordan has left, however, Bulls fans have little to cheer about. The Bulls play in the ultramodern United Center, 1901 W Madison St, as do hockey's Blackhawks (both tel 312/559-1212). The Chicago Bears football team (tel 847/615-2327) can be seen at the 66,000-capacity Soldier's Field at 425 E McFetridge Drive, at the south end of Grant Park.
As for baseball, neither Chicago team - the Cubs or the White Sox - has won a World Series since 1917. The Chicago White Sox (tel 312/831-1SOX) play at the modern Comiskey Park at 333 W 35th St on the South Side. To fans, the real tragedy of 1994's baseball strike was that the American League Central Division-leading Sox had a chance to bring the World Series title to Chicago for the first time in almost eighty years. The Chicago Cubs (tel 312/831-CUBS), meanwhile, are more consistent - they break North-Siders' hearts every year - but their games remain well-attended thanks to marquis players like Sammy Sosa and to the atmosphere conjured up at grand old Wrigley Field, near Lincoln Park.
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