Cubs

My husband and I recently had the good fortune to be driving down Clark Street in Chicago just as a Cub’s game ended. Thousands of fans poured out of Wrigley Field spilling across the sidewalks into the street. I know nothing about baseball, but I do recognize a happy wave of humanity when I’m engulfed by it. The bars lining Clark all had their doors wide open. The night was warm, life was good and about to get better. We didn’t mind being slowed down by this joyful throng.

Logically, Cubs’ fans have scant reason to celebrate. Their team has not won a pennant for 102 years. The Cubs also have the unenviable distinction of enjoying the longest drought in American sport history….that includes the NFL, NBA and NHL.

Their home rises out of its city neighborhood, Wrigleyville,  like a beached whale. In fact, the field was built in 1914 for a team called the Chicago Whales. The Cubs have been playing in “The Friendly Confines” since 1916.

At the current time our country is awash in rancor and disillusionment. I believe Americans could learn some valuable lessons from Cubbies fans; such as, you don’t always have to be first to be happy. You don’t even have to win very  much to be happy. Longing for the dream is almost as good as having it come true. Patience is still a virtue.

The day after our Cub encounter, we were talking with friends from Chicago. “Did the Cubs win yesterday?” I asked.

“Oh, no,” was the reply.

The quest goes on.

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2 thoughts on “Cubs”

  1. I grew up in a Cubs household. My sister had mono the summer she was 10. The only thing she could manage to do on hot afternoons was lie on the couch and watch Cubs games on WGN. She learned the rules and the statistic of all the players. When her health improved Mom frequently took us on the bus to Wrigley Field. Afternoon games are great for kids. By the time my sister was 12 she was taking the bus by herself and even introduced an elderly great uncle from Washington to the Cubs. We loved Ernie Banks and revered Jack Brickhouse. Recently we were looking for some family graves in a Chicago cemetery. We never found them, but we did find Jack Brickhouse’s mausoleum! My California sister still goes to Cubs games when they’re in San Francisco, and she still knows all the players, and I don’t think she ever thinks about winning a pennant.

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