My Cubbies

I’ve been a cubs fan since birth, meaning that I come from a Chicago Cubs family. Some things, like being a fan of a team, you are because you’ve just always been. Hopefully, the older you get, the more you find your own reasons to remain a fan, which has been the case for me and my cubbies.

I’ll admit that my level of fandom has shifted over the years (I live in Wisconsin and don’t have cable/a sports streaming app, so I don’t get to watch all the games – usually, I don’t get to watch them unless they are playing the Brewers in Milwaukee or I go in person). As a kid, we’d (meaning my sister and I) would watch the games on WGN with my dad (because we lived in IL at the time and could). My dad, too, has been a cubs fan since birth. My dad has never been much of a reader, but one book I do remember him reading was Ryne Sandberg’s biography – his favorite player.

On January 27, 2017, I called my dad up:
Me: Dad, do you know what happened on this day in 1982?
Dad: You were born?
Me: Nope. [Note – right year – wrong month 😂]
Dad: What?
Me: Ryne Sandberg joined the Cubs.
Dad: [provides fifteen minute lecture summarizing Sandberg’s entire career]
Me: [internally – yeah, you should have seen that coming]

In case anyone further questions his fandom – our dog growing up was named after him.

Growing up, I always wanted to go and see a game at Wrigley, but my parents never took my sister and I into the city (for reasons they like to remind me of every time I go to the city now). I was in college the first time I set foot inside the city limits, and it wasn’t until a little over a decade ago that I first went to Wrigley for a game (Aug 15, 2014, to be exact). We got trounced, but I didn’t care – I was at Wrigley. Finally. And my Brewer-loving bestie joined me that first time (we’ve been to several games over the years, both at Wrigley and Miller, when our teams have played each other).

I also grew up watching the Bears and have vague memories of when they won the Super Bowl in 1986 (which they have not done since…). That was the heyday of the team – Jim McMahon, William “the refrigerator” Perry, flippin’ Walter Payton. And yes, my family had The Super Bowl Shuffle on VHS. I did have a chance to see a pre-season game at Soldier Field (and we got trounced).

So after seeing several games at Wrigley, I was eager to mark something off my bucket list that I had absolutely no control over whatsoever – to see my cubbies win the world series. Something the team hadn’t done since 1908. The curse of the billy goat held strong, and despite a couple close chances, we never quite made it.

Then came the 2016 season – the cubs made it to the world series where they would face off against Cleveland – who just happened to be my friend Brady’s team. So not only would I get to watch my team, I’d have a bit of a friendly competition (Brady offered the wager that whoever’s team lost would have to buy the winner a bottle of whiskey). We had plans to get together to watch the fourth game at a sports bar halfway between our homes – the cubs had so far lost three games, and Brady, he told me later on, had almost made a crack about how I should just bring the whiskey that night.

But the cubs won that night. And the next three. Best birthday gift ever.

(That moment when Bryant smiles right before he nabs the grounder knowing he’ll get it to Rizzo in time for the final out is also mentioned in my book Wherever Would I Be. Because why not?)

Brady picked out a local (to him) whiskey and wrapped it in cubs logos – which was kind of him. If his team had won, I absolutely would have done the same. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (For the record, the whiskey is delicious, and it comes in a hand-blown bottle.)

I haven’t kept track of how many games I’ve been to in the last ten years (and I had skipped several years because of the pandemic). But I finally got back last weekend, picking a game against the Yankees so that I could see Anthony Rizzo return to the field. It was the third game in a series against the team where we had already lost two. We got two hits in the first inning, and the Yankees scored one in the second. And then the two held each other off from scoring any more – and we won. ❤

But, honestly, I would have been filled with joy either way to get to see my team play, to see Rizzo back at Wrigley (he got the loudest cheers from the crowd of any other player, even current Cubbies), AND, for the first time ever, get to see the great Ryne Sandberg in person (as well as his recently revealed statue) – he was there for a pre-game induction ceremony welcoming two new players to the Cubs’ Hall of Fame.