We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.

October 25, 2016 7:29 AM

Cubs-Indians World Series shows what fans long have known: Life is suffering

Whichever team wins, that city will have its parade. But the fans of the losers will, in the way of their breed, find a different kind of victory. Much as they would have preferred to be drunk on joy, they’ll share their frustration, rewind memories of their fine season, commiserate, support each other and, in yet another season without a title, show much of what is most resilient, most loyal and most generous in themselves. And they’ll show it to each other.

But here’s what’s seldom said: ... every one of them simply could let go of this passion for a uniform and whoever may happen to be wearing it this season. They could find some other place to invest their time and money, seek camaraderie and fun, rather than a familiar ballpark or stadium. No one keeps us from renouncing them. But who leaves a symphony hall, teeth clenched, muttering, “We’ll get that damn New York Philharmonic next year.”

Also couple of movie trailers, in honor of the teams in the 2016 World Series: Major League (Cleveland Indians), Rookie of the Year (Chicago Cubs).

And, the Fanfare thread.

posted by ZeusHumms (99 comments total)

support each other and, in yet another season without a title, show much of what is most resilient, most loyal and most generous in themselves. And they’ll show it to each other.

Yep this is totally my impression every time I find myself in Wrigleyville, definitely no question.
posted by phunniemee at 7:33 AM on October 25, 2016 [7 favorites]

Yesterday, I completed a survey by marking my religious affiliation as "Chicago Cubs."

So that's where I'm at today.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:38 AM on October 25, 2016 [20 favorites]

As a Red Sox fan, I can say without the slightest doubt that it's better to win.
posted by touchstone033 at 7:41 AM on October 25, 2016 [14 favorites]

“Sure as God made green apples, someday, the Chicago Cubs are going to be in the World Series"
Harry Caray, Cub Fan Bud Man
posted by NoMich at 7:42 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

I remember a few years back, when the Phillies were in the World Series, how people were concerned that the city would burn down if the Phillies lost.

Oh, no. No, no no. Philadelphia fans have a reputation as sore losers, but we don't take it out on each other.

Philadelphia, like Chicago, is used to losing. When our teams make it to the final rounds of their respective sports, and proceed to shit the bed, well, we're used to it. There's disappointment, to be sure, but it's a disappointment we're used to. We feel it stronger when our teams go further, but losing is the status quo. We turn off the TV, finish our beer, go to bed, and complain the next day about what a shitshow that game was, and how the refs/umps were blowing calls, and get hyped for next season.

Whatever happens to the Cubs in this World Series, as a Phillies fan, I'm glad to see another underdog team get their shot.
posted by SansPoint at 7:50 AM on October 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

The fine people at 538 have the Cubs at 63% likely to win the World Series at this point. I don't point this out because it guarantees a single thing. In a game as random as baseball, 37% is not joke. And the Cleveland team (whom I have begun to refer to as "the Steamers" because their actual name is problematic) is a mighty fine ballclub.

No, I point this out to highlight what kind of weird, alternate universe we're living in right now. Because the Chicago Cubs aren't only in the World Series they are favored to win.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:52 AM on October 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

Just a reminder, the last year the Cubs won the world series, these notable events also happened:

• Grover Cleveland dies
• Puyi, last emperor of China ascends to the throne
• The Young Turks launch their revolt against the Ottoman Empire in Macedonia
• the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina

posted by [expletive deleted] at 7:52 AM on October 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

Steamers in 6.
posted by repoman at 7:55 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

We'll have a Fanfare post tonight for the series, too. Game 1 starts around 8 eastern, so the post will go up a bit before that.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:55 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

I couldn't vote the last time the Cubs won the Series!
posted by Windigo at 8:00 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

Baseball is about losing, too.
I'm a Giants fan but spent many a fine summer in Chicago as a child, always rooting for the Cubs.
So all told this year's postseason hasn't played out superbadly (Giants beat Mets in Wild Card game, then lost to Cubs in division series, Cubs then beat Dodgers to go to the World Series).
Karma's pretty much in balance, so baseball's got that going for it, which is nice.
posted by chavenet at 8:00 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

Later today in FanFare, Cubs/Cleveland World Series discussion post.

Tomorrow, Community Season 7 discussion post.

This weekend, movie post on Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:02 AM on October 25, 2016 [13 favorites]

Bill Murray (of course) sort of gets to what it means, and why the tears, in this short video clip (NBC).

NBC Bill Murray on Cubs World Series

Going back further, Bill Murray gives an excellent quote about what Wrigley Field means to those of us who have grown up with it in this speech in South Carolina.

Bill Murray Acceptance Speech South Carolina re Wrigley

Go Cubbies!
posted by C.A.S. at 8:05 AM on October 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

Also, just to say that baseball looks awfully healthy this autumn. The post season play has been phenomenal, on all accounts, and no matter what happens with our beloved Cubs.

As someone involved with instilling a love for baseball in the next generations, and outside America, this is very rewarding to see.

But back to the Cubs - if you haven't seen the sort of fans we have yet, how about rooting for this 90 year old season ticket holder who wants a shot of Jager after a win. Watch the linked video

Slate meet Dorothy Farrell Cubs super fan

Or this 101 year old nice lady, who wants a win for her birthday.

101 year old Cubs fan hopes her team grants her wish

Its not all celebrity Chicagoans. A stadium that has held a crowd of old ladies, young kids, out of towners, post-college bros, baseball purists, and everything in between. Although the days when tickets were cheap and easy are gone, and the corresponding Bleacher Bum culture of skiving out theatre actors and market runners playing hooky is probably not the same as the 60s and 70s given ticket prices.
posted by C.A.S. at 8:15 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

Just a reminder, the last year the Cubs won the world series, these notable events also happened:

This will be the first time they play in an integrated World Series.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:15 AM on October 25, 2016 [12 favorites]

I am amazed the Cubs are at ~ 3 to 2 favorites. I still do not understand why people are not running EVERY SINGLE TIME they get a guy on first against Lester even if it's the catcher who runs a 6.0 40. If I am managing that dude is going to have to prove he can yipplessly control the runner. It's a pressure thing and post season pressure is 100 X.

My teams are out and I really don't care much but to the extent that I do care because it's baseball I guess I am rooting for the Indians. Until Francona doesn't send the first guy against Lester on the second pitch and then I will quickly not care at all.
posted by bukvich at 8:16 AM on October 25, 2016

Mod note: One comment deleted. No disagreement with the sentiment here, but in expressing why the Cleveland team's name is a problem, please don't go in the direction of "it wouldn't be okay to say ___" where you're illustrating with other racial slurs or offensive stuff. We've also just had a thread specifically dedicated to why people object to the name, so any extended discussion of the name can go over there.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:16 AM on October 25, 2016 [7 favorites]

I think the thing that worries me the most is the prospect of rioting and widespread destruction by the victorious fans. I'm not sure why sports fans seem to think that the proper way to celebrate a long hoped for victory is by rioting and destroying property, but it seems to be the pattern, and since the Cubs haven't won the World Series since forever it seems that Chicago may well burn to the ground in the victory celebrations of the destructive fans.

And the Chicago PD isn't exactly known for deescalation and community based policing...
posted by sotonohito at 8:17 AM on October 25, 2016

Still, on balance, I'd rather the Cubs win simply because their team isn't racist.
posted by sotonohito at 8:18 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

I still do not understand why people are not running EVERY SINGLE TIME they get a guy on first against Lester

Part of it is that Lester varies his delivery time to the plate so much that a runner seldom has any idea what kind of time he has to get to second. Also, David Ross has a cannon arm with a fast pop time, so if you're running you had better be sure. Another part is that it just feels weird to runners that he never throws. As aggressive as Francona's team is on the bases, I do expect them to try this some more. However, if Lester limits their baserunners to begin with and maintains his stone-cold DGAF attitude toward men on base, it may not disrupt much of anything.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:19 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

And the Chicago PD isn't exactly known for deescalation and community based policing...

It's not a good comparison, but my memory of living on the South Side in 2005 is that there was some general hooting and church bells and celebratory police sirens. Of course, the whole situation of the Cubs and especially Wrigleyville is a different beast altogether.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 8:20 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Chief Wahoo is trash. And anyone wearing Chief Wahoo apparel is trash too.

Cubs sweep in 4. I am a lifelong Tigers fan, and I approve this message.
posted by Chrischris at 8:20 AM on October 25, 2016 [10 favorites]

I think the thing that worries me the most is the prospect of rioting and widespread destruction by the victorious fans.

That's not really Cubs fan's style. Test run after the NLCS shows its going to be OK.
posted by C.A.S. at 8:30 AM on October 25, 2016 [6 favorites]

Also, re Lester, Ross and the defence has adjusted with some special pick-up moves to gun down baserunners.
posted by C.A.S. at 8:31 AM on October 25, 2016

I think the thing that worries me the most is the prospect of rioting and widespread destruction by the victorious fans.

As a Wrigleyville-adjacent resident, I doubt that will happen. I don't remember "rioting" when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. Sure, there will be loud drunken crowds all around Clark & Addison, but if anything gets actually broken it will just just from the sheer size of the crowd, not from any intentional violence.
posted by dnash at 8:33 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

Cubs fans tilt more towards amicably drinking and singing with strangers than rioting.

This weekend, in Wrigleyville for instance, there were only six celebration-related arrests. A co-worker who was down there said the police she saw were joking and cheering and, in a few cases, even taking a shot of booze with revelers. The only people who seem to have gotten arrested were meatheads who gave cops no choice--people climbing lightposts and such. When you consider there were 300,000 people in the area Saturday night, six total arrests seems pretty reasonable, if not flat out low for that number of people.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:37 AM on October 25, 2016 [7 favorites]

I'm historically a Cleveland fan, but I'm rooting for the cubs for three reasons:

One, the Cubs and their fans are THIRSTY.
Two, I've always been meh on Cleveland's mascot and name.
Three, I don't want the Browns to feel any worse about themselves than they already do. (Though an NBA championship and a World Series win followed by a 0-16 Browns season would probably be the most Browns thing imaginable.)
posted by charred husk at 8:39 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

And the Chicago Cubs
Will beat every team in the league
And the Tampa Bay Bucs
Will make it all the way through January
And I will love you again
I will love you
Like I used to
posted by jason_steakums at 8:40 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

I admit that I've been thinking of the Cleveland team as the "Cleveland not-the-spiders", a reference to one of the other baseball franchises that called Cleveland home.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:43 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

It somehow still doesn't quite feel real to me yet, despite being there Saturday when they won the pennant. This team has been incredible to watch all year, which has been a gift itself. Anyone who has watched the Cubs at all has seen plenty of bad teams and bad management, so to see everything just going so well is a joy.

Someday we'll go all the way
posted by borkencode at 8:45 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

ESPN.com: The View From The 216: Who do you take to the World Series -- Your husband or your daughter?
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:47 AM on October 25, 2016

As a Red Sox fan, I can say without the slightest doubt that it's better to win.

I laughed at this at first (as a fellow Red Sox fan), but I do have to add - that first win, after such a long time, is sweetest of all.

BoSox have had wins since 2004, but nothing felt like 2004. Nothing.


...I will admit to a very foolish reason to be leaning towards the Cubs - and that's because John Cusack and Eddie Vedder are famous fans, along with Bill Murray, and I really want to see them freak the hell out over a win. One of my favorite moments in 2004 was when Matt Damon went on Letterman right after the Series win, dressed in full Boston regalia (I think he was even carrying a pennant). The victory parade was going to be the following day, and Letterman asked him if he was going to go and Matt excitedly said yes. "So how much are the VIP seats going for?" Letterman asked.

"Aw, no, I'm not in the VIP section," Matt said. "I'm gonna be one of those guys standing on the side of the road in the rain going 'WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH'!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:59 AM on October 25, 2016 [12 favorites]

But who leaves a symphony hall, teeth clenched, muttering, “We’ll get that damn New York Philharmonic next year.”

Clevelanders are also extremely jealous of the Cleveland Orchestra's excellent reputation, so I'm not certain that displacing sporting rivalries would dispel much of their competitive spirit.
Cleveland was so exemplary during the RNC and celebrating the NBA Finals that I'm hoping for a CLE win in part to see if they can pull off a hat trick of Major Event graciousness.
posted by Svejk at 8:59 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

Cavaliers: Okay guys let's do this! Let's put the 216 in 2016!
Monsters: We're doing our part!
[baseball team]: World Series here we come!
Brows: Wait, I thought we were putting the 0-16 in 2016?
Everyone: Oh, Browns! (Cue laugh track)

I like to imagine this sitcom. The baseball team could be their racist uncle.
posted by charred husk at 9:00 AM on October 25, 2016 [6 favorites]

As a long time fan of baseball but one without a rooting interest in any particular team, I'd say I'm more of a fan of curses than in seeing them lifted. I mean the season when the team finally breaks through and gets the series win is great, but after that the following seasons are always a little less involving once one more long standing "mythfact" is killed. The Red Sox are just another high priced ballclub to me now, the Cubs would be the same.

There is something magical in losing sometimes, not to the team's fans of course, but to the sport itself. Watching Bill Buckner muff Mookie's groundball had an aura of destiny to it that suggested a kind of purpose to the way things are, and made heartbreak seem meaningful for being so destined. The Red Sox had to lose in that light, that's the way of the universe. That makes the team and watching the sport seem more significant even as one might well know it's not true.

I mean, yeah, good luck to the Cubs, their fans need it, but I remember rooting for the Cubs in '84, watched every damn game and I was sure they were going to break the curse and win the series that year. When they didn't, I was bummed out at first, but kept that season closer to my heart than others from my youth where the teams I was rooting for did win. So, win or lose Cubs fans, try to just enjoy the series for what it is and hold the memories as special ones.
posted by gusottertrout at 9:03 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

I have a slightly different take than the other Red Sox fans in here. Winning is sweet. 2004 was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. But winning also teaches you something that you couldn't have known otherwise. I used to think all the sadness of the season ending was tied up in the Sox losing. And then they didn't lose. But the season was still over. No more baseball until spring. Former commish Giamatti knows what I'm talking about:

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. Today, October 2, a Sunday of rain and broken branches and leaf-clogged drains and slick streets, it stopped, and summer was gone.

For Chicago fans and Cleveland fans, summer lasted a little longer this year. But it's ending one way or the other. Win or lose, no more baseball for five months.
posted by one_bean at 9:11 AM on October 25, 2016 [7 favorites]

The thing that makes this year different from any other as a Cubs fan is that this year's team isn't a longshot. This year's team didn't ride a weird confluence of genuine talent, overachieving role players, and perfectly timed hot streaks and good luck. That's how it usually is when the Cubs make it to the postseason: all of the stars sort of align to give them a chance and we're all painfully aware they might not manage the same the following year. That's how most teams make it to the postseason, including--no disrespect intended--this year's Cleveland team. (Don't get me wrong: Cleveland is a great team and will be back with even a few breaks going their way, but you follow what I mean.)

This time, the Cubs have risen to the point of being a legitimately powerful and intimidating team with the organization, budget, and farm system to match. They're not a plucky upstart getting one magical shot, maybe two. They're more akin to the Cardinals of the last ten years or the Yankees of the late 90s through the 00s. They're a machine that seems poised to take shots at the championship over and over and over for the foreseeable future. Rooting for the Cubs no longer feels a lottery ticket. It's more like watching the progress of a diverse and highly rated stock portfolio. It still isn't a sure thing by any means, but it's less like wishing on a star and more like hoping a series of sensible investments pay off as expected.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:15 AM on October 25, 2016 [6 favorites]

As a Mets fan, I automatically root for the NL team in the Series unless that team is the Dodgers, so: go Cubbies! As for the main post link, it's odd: a lot of people are nuts about Thomas Boswell, and he's definitely a good writer and loves baseball, but I've never warmed to him. Roger Angell's my guy (and I still remember the thrill of picking up the December 8, 1986 issue of the New Yorker and seeing NOT SO, BOSTON with his byline). I just hope they mention the West Side Grounds when they talk about the last time the Cubs won; I love old ballparks and want them to get the respect they deserve.

Also, can we not talk about trashing the city unless it actually happens (which seems most unlikely to me)? It's not just a derail, it's a depressing derail.
posted by languagehat at 9:23 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's not a good comparison, but my memory of living on the South Side in 2005 is that there was some general hooting and church bells and celebratory police sirens.

I saw a guy stagger out of a college library and set fire to the nearest disposable paper he had to hand, which happened to be a couple of receipts. I think he cheered once or twice and then went back in to study.
posted by Copronymus at 9:27 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

I would have loved to see a 2004 Cubs - Red Sox series. Alas, what could have been.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:30 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

As a Red Sox fan, I can say without the slightest doubt that it's better to win.

As a blue jays fan from way back I can agree with that but will add that the post world series team where they cut salary and coast for a decade is much worse than before they ever won. Before it was an impossible dream but after it is supporting a can't be arsed organization.
posted by srboisvert at 9:35 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

What advertisers seem to think about people following the playoffs this year:
-Radio listeners need a new mattress and probably have a nonworking car in their driveway
-TV viewers have difficulty getting an erection and are plagued with worry about getting the best deal on their cell phone plan
-Satellite radio listeners have terrible sleep apnea but would consider investing in the right franchise opportunity
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:44 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

South Side, though.

DirtyOldTown Seconded.

Its so different this time. Every other playoff ride felt like a swooning roller coaster that could lurch off the rails on one bad pitch and be lost forever, and who knew when luck would allow us back to the dance (but probably never).

Even if this team doesn't win, they are built from the ground up with such care that they will be good for some time, and they will have many chances.

Ironically, this is the way the Cubs were in the 00s and the 30s, before our time.
posted by C.A.S. at 9:45 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

USA Today: Indians' Jason Kipnis defends Steve Bartman, thinks he should throw first pitch. Kipnis grew up down the street from Bartman. I hope he enjoys seeing the Cubs in the series.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:51 AM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

A very long time ago there was an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal about the curse of the Cleveland Indians. It was kind of funny. The writer's main point was the team's spirit was destroyed single-handedly by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series with one of the most famous defensive plays ever: the one where he caught Vic Wertz's blast to the center field wall over his shoulder while running flat-out, then stopped, twirled, and no-look threw out somebody in the infield who was running without having tagged up. New York Giants went on to win and Cleveland went into a years-long slump. I tried to find it with google and I remember one sentence but google blanks. It said (if I recall right) "only Custer could love this tribe".
posted by bukvich at 10:02 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

I like it but poor guy wants to be forgotten about, not exonerated.
posted by C.A.S. at 10:02 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

I like it but poor guy wants to be forgotten about, not exonerated.

That, and the Cubs as an organization have long since moved past trying to overcome imagined curses and are focused on simply being good at baseball.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:07 AM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series with one of the most famous defensive plays ever

The one at the Polo Grounds?
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:11 AM on October 25, 2016

I loved the Fangraphs article on why teams don't run all the time on Lester.

This might sound insane to you. After all, you know Lester has the yips, yes? Imagine you’re an actual runner, though. Especially a runner in an important game. Or, actually, imagine you’re just a person. You’re behind a door, and in the next room, there’s a sandwich, and there’s a grizzly bear. I’ve already told you that the grizzly bear won’t attack you. I’ve assured you the bear isn’t aggressive, and you aren’t going to be hurt, and you can just go have the sandwich. It’s a delicious hot sandwich. I’ve shown you a few videos of other people going in and getting sandwiches. Sometimes the bear roars. It certainly looks menacing. Acts like a mean bear. Hasn’t hurt anybody. How confident are you going to be about getting that sandwich? You know all about grizzly bears. You know about attacks by average grizzly bears. How much are you willing to believe that this particular bear is unusual? How much are you willing to believe this bear will remain unusual for however long it takes you to go retrieve a sandwich?
posted by ursus_comiter at 10:14 AM on October 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

How much are you willing to believe this bear will remain unusual for however long it takes you to go retrieve a sandwich?
posted by ursus_comiter

Infield fly rule.
posted by Etrigan at 10:20 AM on October 25, 2016 [5 favorites]

MAULS ETRIGAN
posted by ursus_comiter at 10:25 AM on October 25, 2016 [8 favorites]

The one at the Polo Grounds?

Yes. That was one element of why the play was so incredible. PG was not a baseball park and center field was 450 feet or some similar absurd number and everybody who saw the Wertz blast said it would have been way over the fence in any other park.
posted by bukvich at 10:37 AM on October 25, 2016

*mom walks into my room* -look at my yearbook from '93 #...
This dude called the cubs winning the series in 2016 for his senior quote.
posted by Etrigan at 10:41 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

If the Cubs do win, I want Kyle Schwarber to come to the plate and contribute at least one run somehow. I cannot imagine how much it would suck to be such a promising player, to miss almost the whole historic season, and then end up with a ring that you didn't really get to earn.

That said, I'd be fine with Cleveland winning too. Michael Martinez is something of a joke among Phillies fans, so I'd kind of like to see that unlikely guy win.
posted by gladly at 10:43 AM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Bukvich, dead center at the Polo Grounds was 505 feet away (!!!), while left field was 275 and right was all of 257 (again, !!!)...
posted by AJaffe at 10:50 AM on October 25, 2016

That, and the Cubs as an organization have long since moved past trying to overcome imagined curses and are focused on simply being good at baseball.

That said, I still like the goats-busters t-shirts.
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:18 AM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm leaning Indians. When the Cubs play an Ian Hunter song when they win, I'll reconsider.

yes the Indians play an inferior cover version of that song but nyahh
posted by delfin at 12:02 PM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Schwarbs confirmed starter. Batting fifth as DH.
posted by ursus_comiter at 12:15 PM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

I love this because no matter what the result, there's just one more team that can shut the hell up about their damned losing streak. What, it's a source of pride that you've managed to be a crappy team for decades? The only thing worse is the sudden smug satisfaction of the winner that they've now finally been able to win.

I know Maple Leafs fans, for example, are going to be insufferable. Just not, you know, any time soon.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 12:15 PM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

The only thing worse is the sudden smug satisfaction of the winner that they've now finally been able to win?

Combining smug satisfaction with past its best-by-date lovable loserism, I'd like to nominate the 2013 "Finally, we win the World Series at Fenway!" from Red Sox's fans at the most reprehensibly annoying sports emotion ever expressed.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:20 PM on October 25, 2016 [6 favorites]

Lovable losers don't actually love losing.
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:24 PM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

i was going to come and make some pithy comment about the Cubs and baseball and, I dunno, human capacity for yearning or something, but then i read that SCHWARBER'S DH AND NOW IM RUNNING AROUND MY APARTMENT SCREAMING
posted by floweringjudas at 12:29 PM on October 25, 2016 [8 favorites]

WELCOME BACK, SLUGGO!
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:15 PM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

What, it's a source of pride that you've managed to be a crappy team for decades?

Not in Cleveland. People hate it.
posted by jpe at 2:23 PM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

I do love me some tragic Cubs, and I do recall cheering when the Red Sox finally broke their own curse, too. But something is different this year.

The Red Sox, even that year, felt like an underdog. The 2016 Cubs, if you've been following baseball all season, feel like an unstoppable juggernaut, and that makes it trickier for me, emotionally.

Also, if this team (with most of its best players still under 25 and near-unlimited money to spend) ends up being one of those newly-rare dynasties in baseball, will Cubs fans become insufferable, too? (Because good god, SF Giants fans, get over yourselves!)

(Regardless, Theo is a freaking god and deserves his own wing in Cooperstown, already. Who else has ever done this twice?)
posted by rokusan at 2:54 PM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request
posted by NoMich at 3:05 PM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

As good as Steve Goodman was, the definitive Cubs audio isn't music.
posted by delfin at 3:20 PM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

And speaking of Major League, Charlie Sheen says PUT ME IN, COACH.
posted by delfin at 3:30 PM on October 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ok, I've put up a Fanfare post for the whole series - the idea being, that thread can be for livewatching/ discussion of the actual games, in addition to whatever's being discussed in here.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:10 PM on October 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

It is not suffering. It is 162 games where some days you lose and other days you win. Even when you lose you are still hanging out with friends, drinking a beer and enjoying the regular intervals of pitches and swings. All of it carefully narrated by the crackle of the announcer over the speaker. Of course it is nice to get a few extra games of post season play. It would be fun to see them win the championship. Dissapointment is not suffering. Suffering is real pain, deep sorrow, misery beyond mere disappointment. Suffering is looking down at the casket of a loved one knowing you will never be whole again. Suffering is the withering migraine that returns with out warning driving you into a dark quiet place where there is only pain. Suffering is depression that arrives without notice or cause leaving you weary and broken. Passing disappointments of loses and early exits in the post season will give way to the hot stove, spring training and another opening day. The measure of our lives will never be in championships; or how we struggled in our hours of indignity that come with suffering. Instead we should measure ourselves in how we enjoyed every regular season innings of our lives with our friends and family. How we learned to let our losses go and celebrate each small victory.
posted by humanfont at 4:54 PM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

My family have been Cubs fans since 1893, I am very stressed about this situation.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:40 PM on October 25, 2016 [3 favorites]

So, win or lose Cubs fans, try to just enjoy the series for what it is and hold the memories as special ones.

As a third-generation Cubs fan, let me assure you that love for and enjoyment of the Cubs cannot be shaken by losing, or winning, or stress, or curses, or jinxes, or what have you. Yes, there are emotional highs and lows and a fair amount of visceral pain, but Cubbie-devotion and the sheer ecstasy of hanging out at Wrigley Field (or hell, even seeing it on TV) are just immutable facts of existence. It's not that Cubs fans like losing, just that it's irrelevant in the grand scheme.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:59 PM on October 25, 2016 [4 favorites]

PSA: Game Time for 10/26 is 1 hour earlier.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:15 PM on October 25, 2016

Washington State baseball coach Mike Leach was asked whom he was rooting for in the World Series and his answer is a thing of beauty:

There’s some teams — the Cubs are one of them — where there’s just too many Cubs fans. They’re one of those teams that, for whatever reason — I guess it’s cause people like the way their uniforms look or something — every yuppie with a BMW or some special attachment to its computer or some designer set of jeans or something like that is a Cubs fan, and refers to it as ‘my Cubbies.’

If you say ‘my’ in front of your team, well, then that’s dubious, OK? You know, ‘my this, my that.’ Come on, now. And so you get ‘my Cubbies.’ You don’t get ‘my Indians.’ You get ‘my Cubbies,’ OK?

And I think there’s just too many out-of-the-woodwork people that like ‘em that just like ‘em cause they like the uniforms, don’t know the first thing about baseball, probably have never even attended a Cubs game, but that’s just gonna be their team since they have something to talk about over the copy machine and the cooler.

So as a result, you know, going against the whole wave of probably seven-eighths of America, I want the Indians. Me and the city of Cleveland.
posted by jpe at 5:36 AM on October 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think some of the dispersed Cubs fandom is people from Chicago moving (Think of that West Wing episode where the President says "I meet so many people who can't wait to tell me they're from Chicago and when I meet them, they're living anywhere but Chicago") and WGN having a national broadcast of Cubs games, but it is annoying. I grew up with people in Eastern NC who were fans of the Cubs and Notre Dame and, seriously, cut that shit out.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:44 AM on October 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

WSJ: The Chicago Cubs Fans Who Can’t Bear to Watch. Kind of like watching a horror movie through one's fingers from behind a sofa.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:19 AM on October 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

So many cliches to unpack in that (quite common) view.

Cubs fans = Yuppies
Cubs fans = Bandwagon
Cubs fans = The Empire (not the rebels)

Yes, North Side of Chicago has bros and yuppies. But...

There are lots of people from Chicago and its suburbs.

Chicago is a baseball town through and through. Wrigley attendance runs high year after year, with little correlation to results.

Uniforms are classic and rarely change, this is true. Day games. So much about Wrigley and the Cubs is close to a platonic ideal of baseball that yes, it picks up strays. But it also holds on to its regulars tightly.

Bleacher bum culture evolved after decades of cheap seats, out of work theatre actors, runners from the pits, workers playing hooky. Often the same people were in the same seats day after day. The crowd is a baseball crowd, knowledgable and knowing.

Do not under estimate the impact of day games. MLB should schedule the playoff games earlier at night so kids can watch. Many Cubs fans cemented their loyalty by watching as kids. We used to play baseball, come in for lunch, and boom 1:20 pm a Cubs game to watch. Ending before 4, back out for more baseball.

WGN spread the word as one of the early "superstations". Geographically, Cubs territory extends west to Iowa, south downstate until Cardinals country is hit, East until the Reds territory is hit. A big area.

And the expat community is strong. Cubs fans will jump at the chance to watch them in a visiting park when they move out West or to the East coast. My grandfather and my dad took me when I was 4. They were from Rogers Park and the West side. I was a lifelong fan but moved to DC and then London. I have two boys. They went when they were 4. They are here but play on a little league Cubs, and have known players by numbers since they were 5. So many people have been introduced to the Cubs and then moved on out into the world.

I took my cricket player English nephew to Wrigley when he was 18, on his first time travelling abroad. He really got what was special about it. Now he's at university, and we don't hear from him that often but I found out that he's been keeping up with the Cubs ever since that game. Performance, transactions, etc. He's become fairly knowledgeable about baseball.

Thus partially explains the world reach of Cubs fans.
posted by C.A.S. at 9:24 AM on October 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

So much about Wrigley and the Cubs is close to a platonic ideal of baseball that yes, it picks up strays.

There's a lot to what you say in your comment apart from this, much of it true, and I'm happy to see either of these teams win, so know that I don't say this out of a place of too much animus: the attitude of Cubs fans that their team and fans are the embodiment of baseball makes me want you to lose in game seven on a walk off balk.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:33 AM on October 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Still, it could be worse, they could be the fucking Cardinals.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:38 AM on October 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

Speaking on behalf of Providence, Rhode Island, I seem to make up 25% of the city's active Cubs fans. Of course, we're utterly inundated by BoSox fever out here, but finding other fans to enjoy the games with has been a challenge.

All four of us, BTW, have some sort of roots in Chicago.
posted by ursus_comiter at 11:56 AM on October 26, 2016

The Strange Story of Why Belize is Full of Chicago Cubs Fans
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:10 AM on October 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Scotusblog: Justice Stevens on the Cubs and the World Series

He'll be at Wrigley for game 4.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:45 AM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

The writer of "the perfect country-western song" was also the world's biggest Cubs fan.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:06 AM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Scotusblog: Justice Stevens on the Cubs and the World Series

Stevens never tires of discussing his most famous brush with baseball—the 1932 World Series between the Cubs and the New York Yankees, when Yankees great Babe Ruth hit his much-debated “called shot.”

Holy crap.
posted by Etrigan at 11:10 AM on October 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

I adore "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," and much better to be associated with Steve Goodman than David Allen Coe
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:14 AM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

DUDE... IT'S NOT *THAT* HOT A TICKET.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:13 PM on October 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

Love to see the Steve Goodman love here. Some of his ashes were spread in left field after he died.

Advertising jingle "Go Cubs Go" may be his legacy but "A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request" was his (and our) truth.

A family member was one of his best friends, I used to play one of his guitars. A great songwriter and dude.
posted by C.A.S. at 2:30 AM on October 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

ChiTrib: Aussie father and son keep the faith of Cubs fans
Amazing.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:18 AM on October 28, 2016

7:45 AM, Wrigleyville bar
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:00 AM on October 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

A friend of mine, fellow Chicagoan and Little League coach here in London, took a transatlantic flight back for one game when his brother scored a ticket. Its like Mecca.
posted by C.A.S. at 10:00 AM on October 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

Can't wait to see the update to that tweet:

"3:50 AM, Wrigleyville bar restroom"
posted by tonycpsu at 10:34 AM on October 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Gave up on fox talking heads, back to Chicago radio talking heads
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:08 PM on October 28, 2016

Apparently it is tradition to have a Chicago celebrity lead the crowd in singing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at the bottom of the 7th. And for the 3rd game of the Series, they gave Bill Murray the honor.

He sang it like Daffy Duck.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:06 PM on October 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

I wanted to note that as the kind of Cubs fan who came to it through The Blues Brothers, I really appreciated Fox's "take it to the streets" bumper before Game 3. It was a lot of entertainment. For two dollars.
posted by ob1quixote at 6:17 AM on October 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Was very afraid that if the Cubs hadn't won Game 5, they would press all the time next season, and have post season meltdowns for years to come.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:51 AM on October 31, 2016

ESPN: Have the Cubs seized road-field advantage?
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:16 AM on November 1, 2016

Medium: The 71-Year (or Three-Day) Wait: How Wrigleyville celebrated its first World Series in 71 years.

The Cubs finally won another World Series game. And while we’re little more than a decade away from the city’s last World Series title, all of Chicago breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday night.

Looks like Wrigleyville this weekend was as crowded as a mall on Black Friday.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:23 AM on November 1, 2016

MLB: Winner take all: WS Game 7 facts and figures
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:51 PM on November 1, 2016

I've reread the thread over on Fanfare about the game about ten times now. it really is an amazing liveblog of game 7.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:02 PM on November 7, 2016 [2 favorites]