It is SUCH a great time to be living in Chicago. The entire city is going crazy over the Cubs making it to the World Series. In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Cubs haven’t made it this far since 1945. They haven’t actually won the World Series though since 1908 – 108 years ago.
Many people believe that the reason the Cubs haven’t won a World Series is because of a little thing called The Billy Goat Curse. Seriously. A man brought his goat to the World Series game in 1945 and was asked to leave because his goat was stinky. He was furious he had to leave and said, “them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” And they haven’t…
Since that curse was put on the Cubs, several freaky things have taken place, but I’ll just tell you about two. In 1969 a black cat ran out onto the field and the Cubs (who were having a great season up until that point) just went downhill after that. I mean how does that even happen?! It has to be a bad omen.
Then, in 2003 (this story breaks my heart) the Cubs were winning 3-0 when a foul ball was hit towards left field. All of the fans in that section stood up to grab the ball and one unlucky fan, Steve Bartman, interfered with the left fielder. This happened in the eighth inning of the game that would have sent the Cubs to the World Series. After the ‘Bartman’ play, the entire game and atmosphere shifted with all of the blame put on Steve. This poor kid has been in hiding ever since.
If you are interested in learning more about the Cubs, I highly recommend two documentaries I recently watched. The first one is called Confessions of a Cubs Fan – A Century of Waiting. (I am particularly biased to this one because our great friend, Andrew, is featured in it. He is the ‘Superfan’. Andrew literally quit his job to attend every home game this season and is writing a book about it.) This documentary poses the question of what will happen when the Lovable Losers become winners? Will the Cubs become a hated team if they suddenly become winners? The second documentary I watched was a 30 for 30 called Catching Hell. This one was all about the ‘Bartman’ play. I’m not even kidding – I cried a few times. I firmly believe he did what any other person sitting in that seat would have done and is completely innocent. Regardless of my opinion, it’s a phenomenal documentary.
This season, however, has been insane. The Cubs are by far the best team in baseball. My husband and our Superfan friend, Andrew, were sitting right behind the dugout when Javier Baez hit a game winning homer in the National League Division Series and came out to do a curtain call. They were so beyond geeked out to be on the front page of MLB.com.
And to make that night even better, Chris caught a ball. And… I stole it for a photo. Lol!
This past Saturday was THE game that would send the Cubs into the World Series if they won. My husband was invited to go to the game through a friend who had a hookup with free tickets from the Dodgers. The tickets were supposed to be overnighted with a Saturday morning delivery to his friend. Unfortunately, the secretary in charge of doing so overnighted the tickets with a Monday morning delivery. The level of disappointment was extremely high, but the guys didn’t let that stop them. They walked around the stadium until they were able to scalp tickets. It ended up costing a lot more than free.99, but was so worth it in the end. Chicago exploded with excitement when they won the game and made it into the World Series for the first time in forever. Although I wasn’t at the game, I was out celebrating with my friends and the rest of Chicago.
The Cubs will play Tuesday and Wednesday in Cleveland and come back to Chicago Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. My husband was given three complimentary tickets to the game on Friday and has been invited to attend batting practice right before the game starts through Draft Kings. Superfan Andrew and I are his guests and we couldn’t be more excited!
If you need fan gear, there is a great store across from the front entrance of Wrigley Field called Sports World. They shut down their online store due to the overwhelming amount of traffic they are receiving, but if you live in Chicago I’d stop by their storefront. They are receiving a ton of product today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. FYI – they do not have a fitting room. Wear something that you can easily take on and off to try on shirts in the middle of the store. I didn’t know this and was striping down to a scandalous tank in front of everyone. Haha, so embarrassing, but you’ll be happy to know they have this shirt in stock:
XO, Lauren
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