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Edited on Wed Oct-15-03 09:27 AM by Plaid Adder
All right, I'm going to start out by admitting that I am not a bona fide 'Cubs fan.' Apparently in order to be a 'Cubs fan' you have to have to start when you are very young, preferably in a year when the team is in last place. That is not my story. I only moved to the Chicago area 5 years ago, and since then have always been more or less aware of the Cubs and wishing them well, especially since that time they put a gigantic mural of Sammy Sosa up on that big blank brick wall you can see when you go in on the Dan Ryan, and it caused gaper delays every morning because people were slowing down to marvel at it.
However, I didn't really start following the team until I finally got the chance to see a game. Liza's firm rents out a skybox once or twice in a season so they can invite clients out to watch the game and schmooze. (Just so you won't hate us already, I should point out she works for a very small union-side labor law firm and these clients are all union reps or officers.) I usually don't get to go, but this year a lot of the partners couldn't make it so I got to use one of the extra tickets. I was trying to remember the last time I had been to a baseball game, and I couldn't; my father used to take me to Yankees games when I was little, and I can still remember the names of some of the players at that point--Reggie Jackson, Sparky Lyle, Greg Nettles (or was it Craig?). I was surprised at how much I enjoyed watching the game. I'd heard people enthuse over Wrigley Field, but I'd never been inside it, and now I understand what the fuss is about. And even though this was a regular-season game played after they had the division title, and therefore it was played with their second-stringers so that the good guys could rest up for the big time--and even though they lost--I had a great time watching them, and one of the best things about it was the fan vibe. I am not by nature a sports fan; but I love theater and other kinds of performance, and the energy you get from a crowd that's really into what they're watching is the same anywhere.
So after we left, I was like, "Let's follow the playoffs," and Liza felt the same way, and so began our conversion.
Now, understand we have absolutely zero athletic ability between the two of us. What we do have is a lot of superfluous education. So Liza started reading the sports pages, and bringing them home for me, and in a couple days we had taught ourselves a fair amount about the team, the game, two-seam and four-seam fastballs, etc. So every night, faithfully, we plunked ourselves down to watch, and we were hooked very quickly. The game itself is exciting, of course, but there's also all the human drama. It's surprising how fast you pick up the players' individual personalities, strengths and weaknesses, and so on, especially listening to the WGN commentary (we turn the TV sound down and play the local radio instead, as the local radio team is much more excited and also better informed). If you had asked me to name three Cubs players two weeks ago I couldn't have done it, but now every member of their starting lineup is a beloved character in our favorite nighttime drama. Will Sammy finally break his hitting drought? Will Moises Alou's totally freakish batting stance catch on and become all the rage? Will the Atlanta Braves' "Kenny Lofton specialist" (I think his name was King) ever succeed in striking him out? Will Dusty ever swallow one of those toothpicks in a moment of excitement?
Last Saturday we were in the city and we were trying to figure out whether we should drive home or try to find a restuarant with a TV where they'd have the game on, and I said, "You know, we've become the kind of people we never understood what the hell was up with before." And it's true. Last night was the monthly meeting for our book club, and we had to go because Liza is one of the organizers. We parked outside the library and stayed in the car until the very last minute listening to the first inning on WGN. Finally, about 5 minutes before the group was due to start, Sammy got up and hit a double and Kenny Lofton scored. I said, "OK, they've scored in the first inning, we can go now," and off we went...only to discover that almost everyone in the book group had bagged the group for the Cubs. The remaining 6 of us sort of rushed through the discussion until I finally said, "You know, if we get started on the issue of right-wing hypocrisy, we're NEVER gonna get to that Cubs game," and we all basically packed it in and scattered.
We personally scattered to the home of one of Liza's fellow-associates, which we reached just in time for the bottom of the seventh. Everything was going great. The fans were almost insane with joy. Our hosts, who are REAL Cubs fans, were tasting victory already.
And then came the top of the eighth, otherwise known as the Inning That Wouldn't Die.
Now again, I reiterate: we only really started following the Cubs when they started playing Atlanta. But we're still sitting there watching Gonzales bobble that double-play ball and going, "Oh no! He NEVER does that!" And then WTF is this huge hit from Mordecai? Mordecai? Like HE's ever been a factor? What the hell is going on here?
"Stunned" would be the word for it, indeed. Eight fucking runs in one inning--with a lot of weird shit happening, like that fan interference play and the wild pitch.
Finally we decided we'd better hit the road before Wrigley Field let out; but we listened to the game all the way home, and then to the WGN postgame show, which was all about trying to generate positive energy despite this setback. Dusty seemed to be doing a great job of that himself in his post-game interview. I did my bit by trying to explain to Liza, who was very downcast, why the WGN guy was right, and the Cubs would win the seventh game.
What I said was: For every team or athlete out there, there is a sports narrative into which he, she, or they fit. Michelle Kwan, for instance. We have been following figure skating for years now, and it broke our hearts that Kwan, who we think is the best woman in singles skating, has never won an Olympic gold medal. But that is just her story: she has it all, she's beautiful when she's on, and at the top of her game nobody can touch her, but she just cannot put herself where she needs to be in an Olympic situation, and so she is just doomed all her life to be the one who *should* have had it. The Cubs have been part of their own "lovable losers" narrative for a long time now, and they are trying to change that. Well, I believe that they can; but that it will not be easy. Ever since they got that 3-1 lead over the Marlins, a lot of people have been taking the National League title for granted. Well, the Cubs story does not allow you to do that, and that's what last night proved. They beat Atlanta at the bitter end, and they will beat the Marlins at the bitter end, but it's going to be a nailbiter all the way because that's just what the Cubs are about this season: struggling and overcoming obstacles and finally, improbably but fittingly, making it in the end. You want to take victory for granted? Go root for the Yankees; that's their story. And losing tonight? Well, that would be the Red Sox's story. But we're in the Cubbieverse now, and everything I know about narrative says they're gonna win it. And with Kerry Wood pitching, it's even better. He basically dragged the team to victory in that first game against Atlanta--it's not enough he has to shut out the other team singlehanded, guys, he also has to hit the first home run?--and now we have ring composition. The perfect end would be for the rest of the team to pull themselves together, and realize, "Look, we were depending on Prior for the win in game 6, and we have learned from that debacle that the pitcher cannot do it all by himself. Now everyone is going around saying, 'Oh, Kerry Wood will save us.' My friends, we cannot let the pitchers carry all the weight! It is up to us to save us! Once more unto the breach! Do you want to live forever?' And out they will go, and win game 7--probably in 11 innings.
But even if they don't, we're going to follow them next season, and hopefully go to more games--where we will know not to get involved with any foul balls that may come our way.
Good luck tonight, everyone,
The Plaid Adder
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