Lessons from voir dire… don’t upset Cubs fans

Just a quick story from a recent trial.

Here in Illinois, and probably everywhere Cubs fans reside, people thought this was the year the Cubs would go back to the World Series. That didn’t happen. Not too long after the Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs, I had a two day jury trial.

There were four attorneys, so I went second in voir dire. One of the last questions by the first attorney was something like “how many of you have suffered a tragic emotional experience?” It was my turn, and seeing a guy in a Cubs jacket in the front row, I said “Mr. X just asked about traumatic emotional experiences, and I saw you in the Cubs jacket. Mr. Y, are you going to be OK to sit through trial this week?”

Everyone laughed… except Cubs guy. He didn’t find any humor at all. But hey… that’s why we get strikes.