Take Me Out to the Ball Game
What makes someone a fan? What possible motivation could there be for someone to undergo an emotional roller coaster ride day in and day out, all for the sake of a game? There’s something innately human about making a sports team a part of your daily life. Having grown up a Chicago Cubs fan in a region that bleeds St. Louis Cardinal red, this is something I have come to know all too well.
So why was I different from everyone else? Well, being an actual baseball fan and a student of the game, I often watched every televised game available to me. It just so happened that upon reaching my father’s high school classroom at about 3:00 everyday after school, the Cubs were usually playing on WGN, and as a result, that was the team I grew to love. Watching greats like Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace at a field such as Wrigley, it would have been hard for just about anyone to root for the Cardinals.
Being a native of southern Illinois, I never made it up to Wrigley to see my beloved Cubs on their home field, but I did see them beat the Cardinals once in St. Louis. Several years ago, catcher Scott Servais put the Cubs ahead late in the game with a solo home run, one of his 63 over a lackluster 11 year career. There was something magical about that night - my first major league baseball game - that I will soon be reliving as a young adult.
In less than a week I will make my way to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. Only this time I will get off at the Addison stop on the redline train and actually go inside, as a record 3 million other fans also will have done by the end of this season. I will go early to watch multiple batting practice homers fly out onto Waveland and Sheffield Avenues. I will be one of the first 10,000 fans so I can receive a promotional baseball cap. I will watch a 300 game winner throw the opening pitch at 2:20, as well as a 500 home run hitter sprint out to rightfield. I will bring a glove in the event that any foul balls come my way into section 117, and I will enjoy every minute of my presence one of the most storied ballparks in baseball. I will sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in unison with a sellout crowd, replacing “home team” with “Cubbies,” and I will transform my promotional Cubs hat into an inside-out rally cap should we find ourselves down in the late innings. These vows, I do solemnly swear to uphold to the best of my ability, as a fan that bleeds Cubbie blue. Go Cubs!
So why was I different from everyone else? Well, being an actual baseball fan and a student of the game, I often watched every televised game available to me. It just so happened that upon reaching my father’s high school classroom at about 3:00 everyday after school, the Cubs were usually playing on WGN, and as a result, that was the team I grew to love. Watching greats like Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace at a field such as Wrigley, it would have been hard for just about anyone to root for the Cardinals.
Being a native of southern Illinois, I never made it up to Wrigley to see my beloved Cubs on their home field, but I did see them beat the Cardinals once in St. Louis. Several years ago, catcher Scott Servais put the Cubs ahead late in the game with a solo home run, one of his 63 over a lackluster 11 year career. There was something magical about that night - my first major league baseball game - that I will soon be reliving as a young adult.
In less than a week I will make my way to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. Only this time I will get off at the Addison stop on the redline train and actually go inside, as a record 3 million other fans also will have done by the end of this season. I will go early to watch multiple batting practice homers fly out onto Waveland and Sheffield Avenues. I will be one of the first 10,000 fans so I can receive a promotional baseball cap. I will watch a 300 game winner throw the opening pitch at 2:20, as well as a 500 home run hitter sprint out to rightfield. I will bring a glove in the event that any foul balls come my way into section 117, and I will enjoy every minute of my presence one of the most storied ballparks in baseball. I will sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in unison with a sellout crowd, replacing “home team” with “Cubbies,” and I will transform my promotional Cubs hat into an inside-out rally cap should we find ourselves down in the late innings. These vows, I do solemnly swear to uphold to the best of my ability, as a fan that bleeds Cubbie blue. Go Cubs!