Actor and living miracle of hair growth Jeremy Piven has always reportedly been a Chicago sports fan, as John Cusack’s longtime sidekick was born in New York but raised in Evanston, Illinois. Naturally, even the strongest hometown bonds can’t beat out a celebrity’s natural inclination to ride the sports bandwagon, as evidenced by Piven cheering on the Yankees in the World Series, r-fan-jeremy-piven-luke-walton-26558210.jpg” target=”_blank”>fist-bumping the Lakers at courtside, or accepting a personalized Calgary Flames jersey. But while some diehard lunatic fans see it as an affront, it’s all just a matter of a guy building, promoting and preserving his brand.

That’s why this post actually serves two purposes: 1) Chicago Blackhawks fans can celebrate their team’s incredible 2-1 Game 7 OT victory over the Detroit Red Wings last night by watching Piven’s 1998 Blackhawks commercial, in which he remembers how his father taught him to yell, “Detroit Sucks!”; and 2) Red Wings fans can take out their sorrows and frustrations over their team blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Blackhawks by calling Piven a bandwagon D-bag who once wore a denim jacket to a game while sitting behind the glass.

We’re all about being fair and balanced.

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"Buy me some Smirnoff Ice and Armani slacks, I don't care if I *mumble mumble*, bro."

Forgive me for that headline, as hyperbole usually isn’t in my wheelhouse, but holy Harry Caray, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler did a number on the classic Wrigley Field 7th inning stretch on Saturday. Our beloved J-Cutty was on hand at the Friendly Confines to throw out the first pitch and sing “Take me Out to the Ballgame” and it was just plain bad.

Cutler also spent the bottom half of the 7th inning in the booth with Bob Brenly and Len Kasper, and the entire package was just one epic disaster of awkwardness. Ultimately, it’s what I expected from the socially reluctant Cutler, who never seems like he wants to be anywhere. Hell, I thought the cherry on top was when he returned to his seat without the Cubs jersey that he was visibly struggling to button up as he entered the booth.

But hey, not everyone has to be a Cubs fan to appreciate tradition. However, would it be too much of me to ask these celebrities and Cubs fans to simply learn the lyrics to a short song that people have been singing for more than 100 years? I don’t think so. And to answer my own question, no. Cutler wasn’t the worst. Perhaps he was the most uninspired or uninterested, but there have been many far worse. And I have them to punish us all.

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With the success of the first installment of the With Leather Awesome Celebrity Baseball Fan Tracker last week, I decided that we had to explore the darker side of famous fans. And hoo boy, are there some seriously embarrassing celebrity fans out there. But in fairness to the good fans out there, a lot of them – motions upward with eyes – are just fake fans, using our beloved national pastime as a chance to extend their 15 minutes a few more seconds.

As mentioned in the previous post – updated maps forthcoming – I don’t want the burden of being the ultimate deciding factor in putting together this thorough directory of which famous d-bags and dolts love which baseball teams. So I want you to make your recommendations in the comments for celebrities that I’ve missed, and I know that there are plenty.

But I also urge you to speak out in defense of any actor, musician, politician or generally famous person who I may have slighted by labeling an embarrassing fan. With the NBA and NHL playoffs ending in a few weeks – and they’re both already over for me – we’re in for a long summer. Let’s spend it creating productive dialog, shall we?

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It feels like the U.S. Open has turned into the NBA Playoffs, what with rain causing the tennis tournament to last the better part of a month, but we’ve definitely seen our fair shares of excitement. For instance, did you catch that semifinals match between Roger Federer (3) and Novak Djokovic (1) on Saturday? Hoo boy, that was some tennis excitement. Djokovic’s come-from-behind win in the 5th set was far and away the highlight of this year’s Open, but today’s Finals matchup between Djokovic and Rafael Nadal (2), who defeated Andy Murray with much less excitement in the semifinals, will probably be the stuff of legends as well.

On the women’s side, 9th-ranked Samantha Stosur defeated Serena Williams 6-2 and 6-3 to win the Women’s Championship, and of course Williams blamed it on the officiating. Williams yelled, “Come on” during a rally and umpire Eva Asderaki docked her a point for a code violation. That’s when Williams became a little miffed.

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