Don’t let anyone say that it’s just a game
For I’ve seen other teams and it’s never the same
When you’re born in Chicago you’re blessed and you’re healed
The first time you walk into Wrigley Field
Our heroes wear pinstripes
Heroes in blue
Give us the chance to feel like heroes too
Forever we’ll win and if we should lose
We know someday we’ll go all the way
Did it really happen?
It looks like the Cubs are going to the World Series, but am I hallucinating?
Did I really see Kyle Hendricks go toe to toe with history, face the minimum, and come out unscathed?
Did I see Anthony Rizzo hit a home run? Rizzo, who is the heart and soul of this young Chicago team? Rizzo, who has grown up with the Cubs and was there when they sucked and is reaping the rewards of trusting Theo’s process?
Did I see David Ross, who has been there before with the 2013 Red Sox, smiling, not looking like a grandpa at all, excited for the possibilities of the Cubs finally getting to the next level?
Did I see Javier Baez and Jon Lester win co-MVP, representing both sides of the Cubs’ excellence – youthful exuberance and veteran leadership?
And here’s to the men and the legends we’ve known
Teaching us faith and giving us hope
United we stand and united we’ll fall
Down to our knees the day we win it all
Did I see old women wiping tears from their eyes? Did I wipe tears from my own eyes?
Did I see Bill Murray smiling like I’ve never seen him smiling before? Did I see a picture of known Cubs fan Hillary Clinton watching the Cubs clinch the pennant on her smartphone, with a look of shock and pure happiness on her face? Did I see John Cusack losing his mind in the stands?
Did I see Eddie Vedder spraying champagne on Cubs players with a look of joy on his face that I’m sure mirrored the looks on millions of Cubs fans all over the world?
Did I see generations of Cubs fans hugging each other, smiling, singing for hours, coming together in a celebration that many of us never really thought would happen in our lifetime?
Yes. I did.
And when the day comes with that last winning run
And I’m crying and covered in beer
I’ll look to the sky and know I was right
To think someday we’ll go all the way
Fan Interference 
Watch the video until the very end. You won’t regret it.
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Never did care for Pearl Jam. Actually saw them once in New York and walked out at the break to go find myself a decent corned beef sandwich.
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Here’s for you, Prof. And Lefty, too
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Good for the Cubs. They’re a well-run organization, Joe Maddon is a good guy and seems like the kind of guy who’d be perfect as a boss, regardless of the field in question, and their fans deserve to have this moment. I’ll be rooting for them in the World Series.
And now, to make it all about me, the Cubs’ making the World Series means this:
I think, too, that the Cavaliers winning the NBA championship back in June put Washington DC at the top of the list for championship droughts of towns with at least three major pro sports franchises, with no title here going back to the 1991 NFL season.
First in war, first in peace, not so much in everything else…
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I was talking to a friend of mine the other night about the Nats, and how they look on paper to be the cream of the crop every single year. And to be honest it looks to me like the Nats are the ONLY team that’s going to get anywhere near a championship for y’all any time soon. The Wizards are terrible and your football team…. well…. Well, maybe the Caps. Maybe. Who knows.
Anyway, listen, if the Cubs can make it to the World Series I guess anything is possible, right?
You have no idea what this means to me. I almost take it as an omen for my own personal life. The Cubs are succeeding. Maybe I will, too.
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Prof: just waiting for George Will’s column on the Cubs. He’s also been waiting for this all his life.
To quote him in that great Ken Burns baseball documentary: “I grew up in central Illinois where you could be either a Cubs or Cardinals fan. My friends became Cardinals fans and grew up happy and liberal. I became a Cubs fan and grew up bitter and conservative.”
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So we have the Cubs to blame for that?
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Well, yeah, but I would prefer to blame Cleveland anyway.
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I made the right decision skipping out Sunday class just to watch this game at home, truly an awesome moment. 🙂
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We appreciate your support. 🙂
Remember all of the former Braves on the Cubs’ roster, too, and genuinely good guys like Rizzo and Zobrist.
I was talking to a friend last night, this will be the first world series in years where I am fully invested in who wins. Although if the Indians do end up winning, I’ll be crushed of course, but I won’t be angry, because that Cleveland team is really awesome and super special too.
It’s great when you can feel really, really good about baseball.
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I didn’t skip class, just some gardening (’cause 8:00pm Eastern for you is 11:00am for me), but it was really great to see so many happy people not wanting to leave Wrigley after getting that particular piece of history off their backs. A former work colleague who relocated down here a decade or so ago is and remains a true Cubs tragic. She’s currently on a plane headed back across the Pacific and intent on getting tickets to at least one game. That’s real fan dedication!
I’m just pleased to see there’s still a place for starters like Kyle Hendricks who don’t throw mid-90s fastballs but can succeed with mixing it up, changing it up, and precision location. Having an outstanding defence behind sure helps, as does a closer throwing >100. Plus, the bats finally woke up – hoorah! With commiserations to nbjays (and a nephew who lives in Toronto), as well as showing my intellect-versus-muscle prejudices, I’m just as happy for Cleveland who showed it’s possible to shut down a lineup full of big boppers, even without a starting pitcher.
By the way, now that it’s down to just Chicago & Cleveland, they can do away with the travel days, right? Just take the train, like in the ‘good old days’…
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Did I hear my White Sox fans in laws gnashing their teeth?
Seriously, could someone lookup the criteria for being a lovable loser? Unless they lose game 7 because of fan interference, it looks like the Cubs are about to relinquish the title. Can I say the title now goes to the Twins? Their championship drought now sits at the quarter century mark and their starting pitching this year hit a Friday the 13th level, said pitching consisting of their formerly promising young prospects, meaning that it will be years before I can delude myself about the next crop of emerging young guns.
Can I can I….Please!
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Lovable Loser:
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At least he’s not a “lightweight”.
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Now Curt Schilling is making noises about running for the US Senate against Elizabeth Warren. That’s funny on any number of levels, the most fundamental of which seems to be that you need to have gone bankrupt at least once to run as a Reslugnican.
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While the Cubs are celebrating, the Indians, with nothing better to do (and if you’ve ever been to Cleveland you know I mean that literally), are prolly taking light workouts and getting ready to put me to sleep every half-inning, much as their town does in general. Even Howard the Duck moved to Las Vegas.
I do hope the bottom feeders who drove Theo Epstein and Terry Francona out of Beanbag Town are watching this closely.
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And hopefully pickling what’s left of their brains.
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I just have to say this somewhere. A-Rod is terrible. He is a giant suck-ass. Every question they asked him, he turned around to talk about the front office and how fantastic they are and how they turned things around. Blech. You’re there for game analysis, Centaur. If you want to talk about the front office, write something for Forbes. I really don’t care what A-Rod thinks about that, and you don’t need to be a former player to have that “insight.” It’s the most obvious “analysis” ever and he’s just blantantly ingratiating himself with the powers that be. Spare me.
I don’t know why they want to make him a thing. Last year, they spoonfed him during the broadcast, and nothing he said was nearly as insightful as Raul’s comments. I’d rather listen to him or Pierzynski any day of the week. But, they want to force A-Rod, so it’s going to be A-Rod. Urgh.
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Isn’t Pete Rose due for a six month embalming fluid change?
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