ChicagoBest of ChicagoChicago Around Town

Chicago's Top Viral News Stories Of The Year 2013

Chicago's Top Viral News Stories Of 2013
Joe Erbentraut

2013 was an eventful year in Chicago. As we look to 2014, we wanted to take this opportunity to look back on the year that was, including some of the incredible stories that helped make this year, for better or worse, so special. We reached out to some of the city's most respected trendsetters and influencers in music, food and drink and more to share some of their "year's best" picks, in addition to weighing in ourselves. We'll be rolling them out on the daily through New Year's Day.

To kick things off, we took a closer look at our statistics to see how some of our stories stacked up when it came to the most "viral" visits via social media like Facebook and Twitter. Below are the dozen stories that stood a cut above the rest. Combined, they have received over 845,000 Facebook "Likes" from our readers.

10. 'Windy City Nights'
Chicagoans are rarely short on visually compelling time-lapse videos of our city, but this one resonated even more deeply. Max Wilson's "Windy City Nights" time-lapse project was the result of two years of vibrant photos. The result? A flawless clip that will pull on any Windy City lover's heartstrings.
9. Blackhawks Reporters' 'Sex Slip'
Back in May, Comcast SportsNet Chicago fired their reporter Susannah Collins over her possibly Freudian on-air "sex" slip went viral only two days earlier. Of course, the Hawks went on to a tremendous amount of success as they won the Stanley Cup the following month.
8. 'NBA Jam' Was Rigged Against The Bulls
Mark Turmell, Pistons fan and the lead designer of the seminal "NBA Jam" video game, admitted in an interview with ESPN The Magazine in September that the "Jam" was rigged against the Bulls. And suddenly it all made sense.
7. Chicago's The Worst For Bedbugs
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File
Chicago earned the dubious honor of being named the nation's worst city for bedbug infestations by Orkin in January. Here's hoping someone else claims the title when the ranking is updated next month.
6. This Church Looks Exactly Like A Penis (Oops)
Google Maps
From the air, a newly constructed Christian Science church in Dixon (yes, Dixon), Ill. bears a striking resemblance to.. well.. Let's just say it probably deservedly earned the title of Dlisted's "Hot Slut of the Day" in October.
5. 'If America Cared About Shooting People, We'd Be Invading Chicago'
Ex-Chicagoan Stephen Colbert's words on "The Colbert Report" in September, amid then-escalating tensions in Syria and America's apparent blank-stare attitude toward the horrors of Chicago gun violence, struck a chord with readers.
4. South Side Sinkhole
There's something about sinkholes that seem to capture the fancy of our readers and this doozy on South Wentworth Avenue near 124th Street led to one of our most viral stories of the year. At least this one didn't swallow up any cars or people.
3. 'Everything I Love About Teaching Is Extinct'
When former Highland Park, Ill. fourth grade teacher Ellie Rubenstein took to YouTube to announce her resignation and related frustrations with her school district, the nation listened. "Raising students' test scores on standardized tests is now the only goal, and in order to achieve it the creativity, flexibility and spontinaety that create authentic learning environments have been eliminated."
2. The Passive-Aggressive Neighbor Sex Note
sex note
For two Chicago neighbors, the thin line between love and hate is apparently the paper-thin wall separating their apartments. And the result, shared with the Internet in November, was hilarious.
1. Bulls Cheerleader's Surprise Mid-Court Wedding Proposal
When Luvabull Ariana Rosado's boyfriend proposed to her, he did so after popping out of a giant inflatable Bulls costume in the midst of her crew's third-quarter performance during the Bulls-Heat game in December. And the cameras were rolling for the whole thing. Beautiful.
Honorable Mention: 9-Year-Old Blasts School Closings
Then-9-year-old Asean Johnson captivated the crowd at a protest against Chicago Public Schools' mass wave of school closures in May and became an instant Internet star.
Honorable Mention: 'Butthoven's 5th'

Michelle L'amour performs "BUTTHOVEN'S 5TH SYMPHONY" from franky vivid on Vimeo.

Chicago burlesque star Michelle L'Amour captured the heart of the Internet when her hypnotic "Butthoven's 5th Symphony" -- performed sometime, somewhere in 2012 -- went viral in October.

Related

chicagoBest of ChicagoChicago Around Town
|
Submit a tip
Close

What's Hot