Skip to main content

Let’s get one thing straight- I am a White Sox fan.  But on the eve of this Wildcard playoff game between the Cubs and the Pirates, I am 100% rooting for the North-siders.  I have never subscribed to the idea that in order to be a true fan of one, you must hate the other.

I don’t feel we as Chicagoans have earned the right to only root for one team.  We are much too deprived of World Series baseball to only align ourselves with a single team.  If you were to add up the amount of World Series championships that this town has enjoyed, you would shamefully not need two hands (1906, 07, 08, 17, 2005)  That’s as sad as it gets. Especially when you add up those damn Yankees championships which has happened 27 times. Think about it- 27 times.  Hell- teams that were not even on my baseball cards growing up (Marlins and Diamond Backs) have their own rings to enjoy.  The fact that it has been 109 years since the Cubs have been World Champions is reason enough to root for them.  That is such an amazing improbability. You’d think it would have happened a few times in that span even by accident.

The Cubs have always been my second favorite team.  I was there when my social studies teacher brought her TV in the classroom so we could watch Game 1 of the 1984 playoff game versus the Padres.  I was watching when Leon Durham let that ball go between his legs.  And I was @ Wrigley on October 14th 2003 when poor Mr. Bartman did something that 95% of people would do which is try to catch a ball that was coming to him.  (Nobody ever remembers what Gonzalez did two batters later?)

So I’m sure there will be some Cubs fans in my world, that will tell me to stick to the Southside and they don’t need my support.  And I respect that viewpoint, but for all the others that say there’s plenty of room on the bandwagon, thank you for welcoming me on board.

Lastly, I have forever been jealous of the Cubs fans right to own the sacred song “All The Way” written by Eddie Vedder written in 2007. He was encouraged by the greatest Cub of all- the late Ernie Banks to write a modern anthem about the beautiful game of baseball and more specifically what it’s like to be a fan of the Chicago Cubs.  Who knows, maybe this is the year to they’ll go All The Way.

Go Cubs!

Leave a Reply