A pall hangs over Chicago this morning

And it's not just the rainy, leaden clouds that don’t just hang, but actually loom overhead. No, the clouds could thin -- as I saw out the window of the train at one point this morning on my trip to the Loop -- and the Sun could peek out. But it would be a mocking light. The gloom would remain. No light, natural or artifical, can dispel it.

Where there was once hope and promise, there is now only fear and anxiety. Sunny optimisim is replaced by stoic pessimism. We know, now, that it is only a matter of time before the entire structure collapses into a heap: Not only have the Bears lost a game, but Rex Grossman looked... inexperienced.


And Brian Urlacher is... injured. The stiff upper lips of strong men across the Chicago area are trembling, even as you read these words.

No, in Chicago, on Mondays, during the Bears' season, it is either unrestrained exuberance -- or impenetrable gloom.

Today is a day of impenetrable gloom. And did I mention that Urlacher is injured? That he left the field early? And that *gulp* today he will have an MRI? Do you know what this means?!

I do. It means this is Chicago and this is the way we are. And if you think I'm exaggerating for comic effect, please look at any of our newspapers today, or log onto one of our sports radio stations, WSCR or WMVP. The sky is surely falling, and we'd best move out of the way....

(The Grossman photo was captured from the Chicago Tribune; the Urlacher photo was captured from the Chicago Sun-Times.)
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I, of course, am wholly immune to this pessimism and merely bemused by this. Although you may doubt me if you read my update to Friday's post....