On Saturday, right before the big game, I found myself engaged in the usual tug-of-war that some sports fans find themselves in on social media. Perhaps feeling extra adrenaline awash within my Philadelphia roots, I was trying to think of ways to stick it in the face of Mets fans.
So my inner baseline heckler started accumulating, for public consumption, a list of “Places nicer than Queens, N.Y.”
Wrigleyville? Well, obviously. Staten Island? New York City’s second-largest land mass is supposedly built on a landfill. That could work. Where else?
How about the prison cell of Mets fan and former Wall Street guru Bernard Madoff? That’s sticking them where it hurts. Or maybe the water chamber of Snoop Dogg’s bong? Funny. (Probably not totally true, though.)
You see, ever since Friday morning’s papers hit the streets, it seemed like it was on. Fightin’ words were in the air. Everything from the Tribune’s “Cubs Collapse of 1969: An Oral History” to the New York Post’s psychoanalytic barbs about how “masochistic Cubs fans want to lose”—they all started to torment my soul as a Cubs fan. I doubt I was alone.
That said, for Cubs fans, trash talk isn’t really our thing. Few Chicago Cubs fans are particularly mean-spirited enough to toss verbal grenades, even after going down 0-2 against the Mets in the NLCS or being 107 years removed from a World Series title.
I can’t speak for Mets fans, or any other fans of baseball perhaps. But I do know that being a Cubs fan is about more than nine guys on a baseball diamond.
Sure, we’re (still) pumped about overcoming the St. Louis Cardinals, 2015’s best team. And our own 97-win season is a source of pride. But being a Cubs fan, whether or not you live within a stone’s throw of Wrigley Field, is like being part of a different culture.
Some of this Cubs culture comes from our own skeleton closet, full of laughable superstitions perpetrated by billy goats, fan interference and years of apparent futility.
But much comes from our Friendly Confines, a baseball neighborhood as warm and welcoming as a family cookout, sometimes as wild as the old Maxwell Street on the weekend. And some of it comes from heroes and icons, such as the late Ron Santo and Ernie Banks. One other thing—the Cubs have fans everywhere.
When our team loses, everyone from the local dry cleaner to late-night TV hosts make jokes. When we win, we get cheered on. Last week we even got a billboard cheer from the White Sox.
Though it may sound like a concession—and one that is characteristically Cubs-style—our mission goes well beyond the next game. World Series or not, Cubs people have a lot going for us. A great team, great fans and a ballpark that is the envy of most other cities and ball clubs.
Pull up a seat. Get comfortable. And bring a friend. It’s just the beginning.
Andy Frye is a RedEye special contributor.
