Why I Hate the Cubs

Its not that I hate the Cubs team, the whole "lovable losers" thing is cute and I really dug the documentary "Wait 'Til Next Year." Its not that I hate the city of Chicago or Chicagoans (despite my experience with Bears fans at the Superbowl two years ago), in fact I have a lot of friends and family living there. I have no problem with the state of Illinois, its a fine place.

I'm afraid my hate from the Cubs stems from folks in Indiana.

Let me 'splain.

I went to school in Indiana at Ball State University. If you've ever attended college you know you meet a hell of a lot of people on a daily basis, and it seemed like every other person I'd met would tell me they were from "the Chicago area."

I'd say "Really? What neighborhood?"

And they'd reply "Goshen" or "Merryville" or "Valpraiso." ...

HUH?!

Guess what pal! That AIN'T Chicago! Its not even in the area of Chicago. You're from Northern Indiana, dont' try to act like you're from the big city. What, is it embarrassing to be from Northern Indiana? Does being from Laporte make you some sort of social pariah? Does admitting to being a Hoosier get your cool card revoked or something?! I got so sick and tired from everyone who lived north of Lafayette telling me they were from the "Chicago area" that my hatred of their sports teams grew and grew (the Reggie Miller/Michael Jordan had rivalry helped this along as well). I didn't even like baseball at the time but all of the Cubs hats around campus made me ill.

The you have folks from Indianapolis cheering for the Cubs which always made me suspicious. Why the Cubs? Why not the White Sox, Tigers, Reds, or Cardinals? Why not one of the teams that the Indianapolis Indians were affiliated with like the Expos or Brewers? I'll tell you why, because the Cubs are the trendy, cool Chicago team to root for. You can cheer on the Cubs but at the same time you don't look like you're a bandwagon fan because they always frickin' lose.

Fast-forward a decade or so; I'm at Dodger Stadium, my wife had bought us tickets for my birthday. The Dodgers are playing the Brewers, the score is tied in the seventh inning. Alex Cora (at that time a Dodger) steps up to bat. He and the pitcher go at it--Cora fouls of 17 straight pitches to right field. The crowd is going ape shit with every pitch. When the ball comes at Cora for the 18th time he smacks it over the fence. It was the most exciting sports play I'd ever seen live. Gagne comes on to close the game (back when Gagne was good and on the juice) during his remarkable streak of consecutive closes and my love for baseball and the Dodgers is born.

Now we're full circle. The Dodgers are playing the Cubs. If you're a Chicago transplant or long-time Cubs fan then we have no beef. But if you're a Hoosier living in the "Chicago area" or living in Indy with a mysterious connection to the Cubs, this one is for you:
GRAND SLAM BABY! DODGERS WIN GAME ONE 7-2.


p.s.
Dave Rinehart! Milo and I both caught your "Go Cubs" remark on Agoraphobia! So that Grand Slam if for you too!

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Published:
at 11:51 PM on Wednesday, October 01, 2008
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10 comments:

  1. kbmulder 3:00 AM

    When I was a summer exchange student, we used to tell people in Germany that we were from the Chicago-area because they had no idea where the heck Indiana was. Ha!!!

     
  2. kbmulder 3:00 AM

    But, let me be clear, I'm a Reds fan if anything. My roots are in Southeastern Indiana.

     
  3. adamrodkey 4:16 AM

    Man, I noticed (and hated) the same thing in Muncie; every other person you run into there is "from Chicago" meaning north of hwy 30.
    Those people suck.

     
  4. Lyman 6:29 AM

    Right on Adam.

    And good to hear from you too bro.

     
  5. Lyman 6:29 AM

    And Kathy, you are obviously exempt.

     
  6. Drew 8:36 AM

    Coming from someone whose love for a team is a result of ONE at-bat during a game, you might not want to throw stones at people for the selection of the team that they choose to support. As a long-time Cubs fan who, obviously, lives in Indy, I'll give you my reason.

    "Why not the White Sox, Tigers, Reds, or Cardinals? Why not one of the teams that the Indianapolis Indians were affiliated with like the Expos or Brewers"

    The Indy Indians have been affiliated (during our lifetime from present to past) with the Pirates, the Brewers, the Reds, the Expos, and the Reds. During that same time frame (throwing out the most recent wins by the White Sox and the Cardinals), only the Tigers (in '84), the Cardinals (in '82), and the Reds (in '76) have won the World Series. The Cardinals were in two more, the latest being '87.

    So based on that, during the timeframe where we (or fellow students at Ball State) would be forming connections to the teams, they have all been "losers".

    Then it comes down to which one creates a connection for you. The Dodgers (and not the Angels) did that for you, as a resident of L.A. There is something that makes you a Dodgers fan and not an Angels fan. Something that makes you a Lakers fan and not a Clippers fan. The same thing goes for why some people choose the Cubs over the White Sox or the Reds or the Cardinals.

    Having watched thousands of hours of Cubs games on WGN, watching Andre Dawson and Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace throughout the years, the Cubs created a connection with me that I never found with the other teams.

    So maybe your beef isn't with me, but I thought I would point out that it there are other reasons other than because the Cubs are the trendy, cool pick.

     
  7. Special K 12:38 PM

    I KNOW, right? It's like everyone in the tri-state area claims to be from the "Chicago Area" and it's like, Fool! You aren't even in the same zip code.

    But, I'm confused - I thought you could only have 4 foul balls and then it's an out or something.

    And also, why is there all this talk about the Cubs lately?

     
  8. Lyman 12:46 PM

    I think the fact that I actually LIVE in L.A. make me qualified enough to throw stones. That one at bat was six years ago and I've been a fan of my hometown team ever since.

    And thanks for bringing up the fact that all of those other teams were losers as well, that only validates my point. If all of those teams were losing, why pick the Cubs? I'll tell you why, because they are the one team that it is cool to root for even though they are losing. They sell out every single game even though they're losing, there's a team in town that won a World Series a few years ago yet the Cubs are still the bigger. For some reason, they are the only losers cool enough to root for.

    The Angels? Are you serious? Whenever I leave Angels Stadium I drive north for about 20 minutes before I pass a sign that says "Now Entering Los Angeles." I don't root for the Angels because they are in Anaheim, not in L.A. Why an I being questioned for not rooting for a team that isn't in my town?

    As far as the Clippers go their ownership sucks. They are perennial losers because of bad management decisions and nobody thinks that it is cool.

     
  9. Lyman 1:07 PM

    K, Baseball Playoffs have started and the Cubs are favored to make it to the World Series this year. They have a better team than the Dodgers but the Dodgers have been hot lately and won the first game in their series last night.

     
  10. Carrie 11:25 AM

    Why are we atill playing baseball? It's October. Baseball is a summer game- summer is over!

     

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