CHICAGO — Think about a 16 seed winning the NCAA tournament, and then ponder something even way crazier than that.
That's what's happening in the Premier League — arguably the most popular soccer circuit in the world — where Leicester City is leading the 20-team league by five points with seven games left to play.
Before the season, Leicester City was 5,000-to-1 odds to win the title — by comparison, 16-seeded teams like Hampton and Holy Cross were 1,000-to-1 underdogs to claim the NCAA crown. Sports Illustrated recently described Leicester City's rise to the top of the Premier League's standings as "arguably the wildest underdog story in the history of professional sports."
Chicago native Tom Wytrwal, who's possibly the area's biggest Leicester City fan, concurs.
"It's the ultimate Cinderella story," said Wytrwal, 28, a Garfield Ridge native. "I never would have imagined they would have been up top for most of the season."
Wytrwal earlier this season created the "Leicester City Chicago Supporters" Facebook and Twitter pages because he wanted to find other fans of the team and create watch parties at city bars. Fado Irish Pub and Restaurant in River North agreed to host the parties if Wytrwal could find enough people to join him, but it's been slim pickings so far.
"I figured there's going to be somebody else who likes them," said Wytrwal, who became a fan of Leicester City last year, when it rallied to avoid relegation (the Premier League's bottom three finishers each year are demoted to a lower league at the end of the year). "But most of my friends are Manchester United or Liverpool fans."
Wytrwal, a former Manchester City backer, fell in love with Leicester City because of its lack of big-name, high-priced players and that he always "could see their players were playing with heart."
"They're playing with all their might," Wytrwal said.
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