By Jim Owczarski Sports Editor Published Mar 03, 2015 at 12:07 PM

Another handful of inches of snow fell and we’re all out shoveling out the driveways, sidewalks and garage entrances off an alley. What’s interesting though, is no one in Milwaukee shovels the street.

Yes, the street.

I’ve never shoveled a street in Milwaukee, meaning never moving the heavy white stuff out of a parking spot. Not once.

And, as such, I’ve never called dibs here.

I’m not alone. I don’t see any Milwaukeeans shoveling out angled parking spots or street parking spots and calling dibs on their handiwork.

You know, dibs.

See, this is a real thing that real people do – specifically 90 miles south of us in Chicago.

The plows tear through the streets of Chicago, often burying the cars parked on it (or the empty spaces) and then someone who lives on that block goes to work to shovel out their car.

And, for the effort, they make that spot "their own."

Because f$% you if you want to park on a public street in the winter time when I shoveled it.


A Chicagoan calls "dibs" on his or her shoveled out spot.

This doesn’t happen in the summer mind you. These same people will park around the block or down the way if need be. But in the winter. Nope. I dug it out so this is mine.

And it’s serious, too.

Like, I will punch you in the face for taking my garbage cans out of the street serious. Like, I will hose your car down so it becomes an ice cube serious.

Maybe dibs is a Chicago-only thing, and you have no idea what I’m talking about. 


But here’s one thing I know. If Milwaukeeans decided to call dibs, we’d go with this option rather than the plastic chair. 


This is what I envision a Milwaukeean using as their space saver.

Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.

A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.

To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.

Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.

In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.

Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.