So now the Cubs are in the NLDS, facing the St. Louis Cardinals. I'm reminded of the quote often attributed to Henry Kissinger concerning the Iran/Iraq war -- it's a pity they can't both lose.
The Cubs are a love/hate thing for me. My dad was a Cubs fan and I remember him watching the Sunday afternoon Cubs games that would run in the summertime on one of the Green Bay television stations in the mid 70s. Once we got cable television we could see the Cubs most days on WGN and it was easy to follow them. I enjoyed listening to the courtly but enthusiastic Jack Brickhouse and, later on, the always exuberant but usually sloshed Harry Caray. And their near miss in 1984 was a lot of fun.
The problem for me is, beyond the rivalry with my beloved Brewers, the whole scene around the Cubs creeps me out a bit. It's a little too precious and definitely too corporate. And the "lovable loser" shtick has always struck me as an excuse for incompetence. And while it may be venerable, Wrigley Field is a dump, with a lot of obstructed view seats. I know, because I've sat in them.
I've always been fond of Steve Goodman's song, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," which has added resonance since he was, at the time this was recorded, actually a dying Cubs fan himself:
The chorus sums it up well:
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League
I suspect this modern version of the Cubs is going to be a powerhouse for a while. After 107 years of losing, they have competent management and, it would appear, a lot of money. And they have a lot of excellent young talent. These are not the nickel and dime Cubs of yore. This is a gleaming superstructure. There's little chance of this scenario, also from Goodman's song:
Have the Cubbies run right out into the middle of the field,
Have Keith Moreland drop a routine fly
Give everybody two bags of peanuts and a frosty malt
And I'll be ready to die
Or this:
Or this:
Maybe this is the year. In the meantime, I'll be rooting for the Royals.
9 comments:
I'll become a cubs fan if they make it to the next level... Til then I'll just watch the kinfolk party without me.
With my family's Missouri heritage, I grew up following the Cardinals. One of the best highlights from my time working the scoreboard for the Twins was when I got to meet Jim Kaat in the press box how much my father and I had enjoyed rooting for he and Bob Gibson. You'd think I'd have a passing allegiance to the Royals, due to geography, but I despise them - especially since the '85 World Series. Some folks refer to that Series as the "Show Me Series" or the "I-70 Series"; it will always be the "*&$%^* Denkinger Series" for me.
Maybe I'm just a junkie for old stuff (like my 1977 Schwinn LeTour III and my 1997 GMC Sierra and my great-grand-dad's tools and my 1930 Old Town), but in my book most of the new stadiums simply can't compete with the ambience of Wrigley. Yes, update and get rid of the columns--we've improved metallurgy enough to do that--but let's remember why it's called the "Friendly Confines."
And go Cubbies--OK, I haven't been following them for a while, but at the very least, let's remember that POTUS cheers for the South Siders. If that's not a good reason to be a Cubs fan, what is?
I can see why you'd have an issue with the Royals based on that history, Crankbait. I don't have a dog in that fight, but the Cardinals have been a problem for the Brewers since '82 and it's gotten much worse since the Brew Crew moved to the National League. I like the Royals because, well, they're plucky. I could get behind the Astros and/or the Blue Jays as well. Don't like the Rangers as much.
Two points, Bubba — my issue with the sight lines at Wrigley isn't the posts — you can look around the posts. The real problem is if your seats are back in the lower deck — the overhang of the upper deck makes it impossible to see the flight of a fly ball. It's like watching a game through a tunnel. The old Comiskey Park was worse, by the way — if you have seats in the lower deck, you could barely see the game at all.
As for the Sox, that's even a greater love/hate for me. The minor league team in my hometown, the Appleton Foxes, was a White Sox farm team. As a result, I got to know some of the guys who eventually played in Chicago — I knew LaMarr Hoyt and Ron Kittle, to use just two examples, and I remember seeing Harold Baines and Goose Gossage come through town. Not surprisingly, we all had an affinity for the Sox. When I lived in Chicago, we would go to Comiskey and the new ballpark all the time, because tickets were much easier to get. And on balance, I like South Siders better than North Siders — most of my Chicago friends from college were South Siders. The problem today? The Sox are the mortal enemy of the Twins, the team I follow the most.
I love baseball, but it's full of conflicts.
Understood on those low decks--and agreed that old Comiskey was far worse. But the fix is to take the upper decks so high that.....hey, you can hardly see the game from there, either.
Me, I may be "enabling" bad baseball, but the combination of day games, brick, ivy, and being close enough to the base path to see the game--not to mention being able to walk sort of safely away from the ballpark--is a winner for me.
But the fix is to take the upper decks so high that.....hey, you can hardly see the game from there, either.
Ha! We had seats in the upper deck at the new Sox park and it was so high and steep that I thought about hiring a Sherpa.
On the bright side, the climb up there probably helped your stress test results. :^) I remember being woozy in Old Comiskey's upper deck as a kid. Can't imagine how entertaining the new one would be.
Me, I may be "enabling" bad baseball, but the combination of day games, brick, ivy, and being close enough to the base path to see the game--not to mention being able to walk sort of safely away from the ballpark--is a winner for me.
True — it's not that Wrigley Field doesn't have its charms. And I liked the Wrigleyville neighborhood a lot — I don't know if it's this way any more, but when we lived there you could find good, relatively inexpensive restaurants down Clark Street and there were some great watering holes, too. It's a lot of fun and it's an experience that we've struggled to recreate in the area around Target Field.
On the bright side, the climb up there probably helped your stress test results. :^)
No doubt about it.
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