Day 8: Chicago, IL

Image of the day: A worker cutting the grass on a lot on Roosevelt Road in the South Loop.

Trip meter at start of day: 1,006.0 mi
Gas: None bought today

It may only be the NFL preseason, but Chinese food, pizza, chips, beer and Da Bears on a high definition TV still makes for a good night. My cousin Lindsaey and her boyfriend, Jim, invited five friends, my sister and me to their apartment to watch tonight's preseason Bears game against the Indianapolis Colts on their new 42" LCD TV. Before guests came, Jim, Lindsaey, my sister and I ordered Chinese food, the first I had eaten in God knows how long. Then the game started and the other guests came, and we were ready for a completely no-pressure rematch against last year's Super Bowl champions.

I've been a Bears fan all my life, but there's a major difference between following your favorite team from another part of the country and actually being in the same city. When you're far from your team's city, you don't see the team jerseys on game day, and you don't catch the references in the banter between the Channel 7 News Team's anchors. Training camp news isn't on the front page of your paper, and you don't see the defensive linemen in ads for discount furniture stores. You can read about your team in the paper, but you can't feel the excitement in the city. When you live away from your team, you are an island of fandom.

Watching football in a group is something quintessentially American, at least according to beer ads. There's always lots of food, people put on their jerseys or their good luck shirts, and everyone has an opinion on each player. One example: Lance Briggs, a linebacker who said over the summer that he would rather test the free agency market during the next off-season rather than extend his contract with the Bears, earned the jeers of almost everyone in the room whenever he was shown on camera. The group also had their pet players; whenever defensive tackle Tommie Harris was shown, my cousin and her boyfriend would both cheer, "Tommie Harris!" When I asked why, Lindsaey explained that Jim's brother liked him, and so they all liked him.

Pet players, weekly heroes and villains, highs and lows. They're all phenomena that you can't duplicate when you're thousands of miles away. The internet makes it so that you can follow a team from anywhere. But in order to feel a team and live its season, you have to be there.