“Don’t let anyone say that it’s just a game/ For I’ve seen other teams and it’s never the same.” Eddie Vedder about the Chicago Cubs
Well, my reading tribe, the Chicago Cubs just won the World Series — there is a landslide of joy in Mudville!!! Well done, Cubs! You’ve made Chicago and all of your fans proud.
This isn’t news to you Americans, and it may grab you international readers with all of the excitement that the news of Snookers Finals grab most of us. But if you knew the underdog story, and the absolute loyalty of this underdog’s fan base, you’d come around.
One of my early blog posts (when only my parents read) was about Wrigley Field: Wrigley Field, Chicago–100 Years Old Today. That was two years ago, when The Billy Goat Curse still had it’s grip on the Cubs. It was a powerful curse, too. But it was broken spectacularly, and in no small measure by true love and utter belief from Cubs fans. They never lost faith, they never lost hope. The Friendly Confines will make that sort of fan out of you.
It’s been a week in need of some joy here in America, and the Cubs could hardly have planned a more uplifting win: after 108 years of championship drought, 71 years of a billy goat curse, decades of being the butt of jokes, a full 7 games of World Series, and a final game of near certain win turned into a nail-biter of extra innings and torrential rain and rain delays, this is the stuff of operatic crescendo, of Hollywood movies, of tears of joy and dancing in the streets.
The Cubs have always shown good sportsmanship, and now no one can question their showmanship– I’d trade a hundred other consistently good enough teams for this jewel. *Love-Joy-Cubs*
Eddie Vedder’s song “All the Way” captures the spirit of the Cubs, the classic Wrigley Field, and all those loyal Cubs fans.
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Hi I followed from the other side of the Big Pond ’cause one of my main takeaways from a childhood in the US is to cheer with the underdogs! Plus I love Chicago and also have great memories of a fun game in Wrigley Field 🙂 So all this was good and uplifting in otherwise … tense days.
Wrigley Field is a great old place (the second oldest baseball field in the country). There is something really special about it and the Cubs. When we were first married, we had an apartment close by–could look out our window and see the lights of the stadium shining on game nights. We didn’t have much money, so going to a game was a special (and fairly rare) treat.
You’re right, “uplifting” is the word–it was a fantastically uplifting event in a tense-to-the-breaking-point week in America.
I’m usually for the under dog…happy for Chicago and their Cubs.
There was a parade in Chicago yesterday, to celebrate the Cubs. It drew 5 million people. That’s devotion. : )
Kudo’s to the Cubs! I’m not really a baseball fan, but I couldn’t help but root for them.
I’m glad you did– the universe heard you!
Great post! Great photo of the Chicago Skyline!