Last night, a city collectively wept. It was a break from the traditional type of weeping done here. The weeping that happens when your favorite baseball team has melted down, YET again, and then trying to offer both an explanation and some closure, as well as a shroud of hope for the future, with that all too familiar phrase, “Wait until next year.”
What happened on the night of October 22nd, 2016, was a new and completely surreal feeling. The tears, streaming from my, and my neighbor’s, and thousands of other Chicagoan’s respective faces, were tears of joy. Tears that could only have formulated given the long, tragic history of the Chicago Cubs. Tears that had, in the past seventy-one years been put there due to some dark, evil “curse”. Tears that could now, finally, flow freely, due to the curse being SMASHED to smithereens.
I was fortunate enough to be inside Wrigley Field for Game 6 of the National League Championship between the Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Going into this game, the Cubs were one win away from going to the World Series. They had some legroom, since they were up in this series 3 games to 2 (meaning that the Dodgers would have to win TWO more games to advance, whereas the Cubs needed merely one). These final one/two games would be played at the Cubs home stadium, which meant there would be an incredibly raucous atmosphere no matter what.
The Dodgers had their best pitcher, Clayton Kershaw on the mound. The guy is a certified G. And everyone in the media seemed to chalk this one up as a loss for the Cubs. This series would come down to Game 7, they said. “Not so fast, fucksticks,” said the Cubs.
Right from the get-go, from the very first Cubs batter, the offense lit Kershaw’s ass right the fuck up. It happened so fast that not even the most optimistic Cubs fans could have seen it coming. This was supposed to be a “low scoring game”. Yet, just like that, the Cubs had two runs on one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball…all in the first inning! And over the next few innings, they continued the onslaught, with a pair of home-runs and some very opportunistic hits.
The message was clear: big name pitchers be damned; the Cubs were not intimidated by hype, hooplah, or history. These dudes were here to play some goddamned baseball.
On the defensive side, the Cubs pitcher, Kyle Hendricks, ran a clinic on the Dodgers. He lived up to his nickname, “The Professor”, and picked the Dodgers apart. He gave up just two hits the entire game.
Now, all of THAT, you could have gathered from a newspaper. What I’m here to share with you, is how it felt to BE there, to be part of history, to witness the Cubs going to the World Series for the first time in 71 years, and hopefully overcome the last big step as a precursor to WINNING that World Series and ending this ridiculous 108 year championship drought.
The first thing you need to know is, I dressed like a Purple Unicorn.
And the people loved it.
As you can see, everyone in that video was clearly there for me.
Keep in mind that this was taken DURING the game. Before everyone in the stadium had gotten out. Here’s what that same intersection looked like POST game:
Here’s a few highlights from inside the game (Kudos to Whitelord for the footage)
(Warning: Strong emotion)
1. Drunken delusions
2. Singing the 7th-inning stretch with Bulls legend Scottie Pippen
3. 9th Inning, Cubs are three outs away from winning the game. Here is out #1.
We enjoyed this game from the notorious Wrigley Field bleachers (the seats in the outfield), and the bleachers are iconic for a few reasons. When the Cubs were just a total shit team (most of their history), the bleachers were home to a group of people, the “bleacher bums”, who grew immune to the Cubs constant losing, and didn’t so much care about the outcome of the game as they did their intake of alcohol.
Not much has changed. People are still drunk as fuck, except now they have a reason to be invested in the game. There is so much love out there, and you legitimately feel like everyone out there is your best friend. I can safely say that my hand is swollen right now from the amount of violent high-fives I exchanged amongst these fine, classy people.
And here was the biggest moment in the game, the FINAL play, where the Cubs get a double play to end it and send them off riding into the sunset.
Yup! That’s me in the center, crying my eyes out. THESE ARE MAN TEARS BABY! TEARS OF THE SOULS OF THE DEPARTED!
There were lots of tears last night. It didn’t help when I got home and started reading the comments on the Reddit group of Cubs fans. Some of my favorites:
1. This is better than drugs
2. I’m seriously crying right now. This is one of the best moments of my life. The curse is over. I love this team. I love you all.
Let’s get a championship.
And the one that overwhelmed me and hit me like a cannonball to the gut, which made me tear up and start crying on my couch like a little bitch.
3. I have on at least two occasions been ready to end my life. The only thing that kept me here was the thought that I’d never seen the cubs in the series.
I’m here today because of this moment.
I have never been happier, and can not say how glad I am for hanging on.
And that mere mention of death has just reminded me of how many people have lived and died without ever having seen what I just did. There have been people that have lived three times as long as me, been devout Cubs fans their entire lives, and have never been given the opportunity to witness a Cubs Championship victory. I was truly blessed to have been there and witness history. And I hate using that word, “blessed”, because it sounds religious, and religion isn’t my bag, but last night was as close to a religious experience as I think I’ve ever came.
In the off chance that there is a God, or there is a Heaven, then I imagine there are millions of faces up there, throughout Cubs lore and fandom, that are smiling down on the Cubs on this day.
It’s not over. There are still four wins left separating the Cubs and eternal glory. There is a very good baseball team in Cleveland that awaits this team, and they won’t be pushovers. But the fact that we have arrived here, and that the Cubs have even just MADE it to the championship, is nothing short of a godsend.
That final series starts Tuesday. There will be two games in Cleveland, then three games here. The games in Chicago will be taking place on a FRIDAY, SATURDAY, and SUNDAY. Holy fuck.
Can you imagine the scene in Chicago? Can you imagine what would transpire here if the Cubs could win it all HERE?
I can’t. I always thought the world would end (seriously) before the Cubs won a World Series.
But if I were to attempt to cite an approximation: the biggest disaster in Chicago history was in 1871, when half of the city burned down.
A Cubs World Series victory? Heh. Expect similar results. Just you know, with a fuck-ton of drunk people.
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