Losing bet leaves Sox fan humble

A bet is a bet in Elk Grove Village, especially when baseball is concerned.

For one hour Wednesday, avid Sox fan Brian Stevens debased himself by standing at a busy Elk Grove thoroughfare, wearing Cubs paraphernalia from head to toe. At the same time, he held two signs, "Cub fans honk," and "I love the Cubs."

Stevens' personal Armageddon began at 5 p.m. along Arlington Heights Road, near Biesterfield Road.

On the first day of the Cubs' playoffs, Stevens stood at that corner for an hour in the most desperate 60 minutes of his life.

Stevens' spiral into overt acts of disgrace for a Sox fan started with a conversation at his job, Grove Family Hair Center, with a customer -- Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, a lifelong Cubs fan.

While Stevens snipped away at the hair of customers, and Johnson sat in the chair of John Annoreno, who owns the shop, the pair shot barbs at each other's beloved teams.

For months it escalated until in March the duo made a bet, which Stevens lived to regret.

"I hope my sons don't see me because they will give a very hard time," Stevens joked. "I raised them to be a Sox fan and to not like the Cubs."

The bet was simple enough. The one whose team had the lesser season would have to disgrace themselves by publicly professing love and admiration for the other's team.

In the middle of the season, when the Cubs weren't doing so well, Stevens said Johnson gave him an option get out of the wager. "I said, 'No way,'" Stevens said.

Now he wishes that the Sox had done better just to see Johnson wearing a Sox jersey.

"I would've loved to have seen that because he does not like the White Sox," Stevens said. "I don't like to use the word hate but …"

Johnson admitted that he was gloating, but the past months have been fraught with sheer terror as the Cubs floundered at times.

In these moments, he cringed at the thought of his side of the bargain, wondering if he had gone too far.

"I was scared to death," Johnson said.

If the Cubs had not been ahead now, Johnson would've had to preside over a televised village board meeting, wearing a Sox jersey and hat.

But that wasn't the worst of it. He'd also agreed to publicly profess his love for the Sox at the meeting.

"Professing my love for the White Sox?" Johnson said. "I think that would've killed me."