Brandon Wetherbee is the host of the You, Me, Them, Everybody talk show. Listen to the Bentzen Ball edition of You, Me, Them, Everybody with Gavin Holland, Ian Abramson, Haywood Turnipseed Jr, Allison Lane and Ryan Little via iTunes or Soundcloud.Â
I hope the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight in the National League Wild Card Game [1]. I haven’t been the biggest Cubs fan this season [2], but they’ve been a major part of my life since before I can remember. My first memories involve the Cubs.
As a young person I watched every Cubs game on WGN [3]. At that time the Cubs played mostly day games because they didn’t have lights installed in Wrigley Field until 8/8/88. I know this because I have a Chicago Cubs first night game pennant. Their 8/8/88 game was rained out. I remember watching the pre-game live. I rewatched some of it this year on YouTube. It holds up.
My first live professional sporting event was seeing a Cubs day game with my grandpa at Wrigley Field. I remember the bus ride to the park, the bleacher bums, the smell of beer and the bathroom trough urinals. Say what you want about 20+ males peeing shoulder to shoulder, but there was never a long wait to use the facilities [4].
After I rejected sports for music and finally fell back in love with men hitting balls with wood, it was to the Cubs I returned. My best friend and I took in a Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs double header my freshman year of college. Since we were well underage and very sober, I was able to catch a foul ball off a drunk man’s cup from very good seats. I learned two valuable life lessons that day: if you’re the most sober, you can go home with the most baseballs. And you can sneak down to really awesome seats in game 2 of a double header.
Speaking of my best friend, he kept me rooting for the Cubs [5]. Throughout our 18 year friendship we’ve gone to games, watched games at sports bars, listened to games, emailed about games. The day after I got engaged to my wife I texted him a photo of the ring from a Cubs game. He took me and many others to a Cubs game for a bachelor/bachelorette party. Now I’m also able to email my father-in-law about the Cubs.
I’ll be rooting for the Cubs tonight when they play the Pittsburgh Pirates. I may not think we’ll go all the way this year, but I’m hoping [6].
[1] I really hope the Ricketts family, the people that own the Chicago Cubs, stop giving millions of dollars to anti-choice, anti-union GOP presidential candidates. Joe and Marlene Ricketts, gave Scott Walker’s Unintimidated PAC $5 million earlier this summer. Even when they’re betting on politics and not sports the Cubs are losers.
[2] Once I found out about the Ricketts donation to Walker’s PAC I stopped watching and reading about the team. I can not support a team that is trying to make the world an uglier place.
[3] No one can watch all Cubs games on the WGN Superstation because the Cubs thought they could get a Yankees like deal and build their own television network. They were wrong. You need to win multiple World Series before you can gouge fans like the Yankees.
[4] Aspects of Wrigley Field have been remodeled. The remodel was not ready for opening day. According to USA Today, only two working bathrooms were in the main concourse this April. Deadspin users did not have many good things to say about the park.
[5] The night Jake Arrieta threw a no hitter I was doing some Cubs soul searching and read about the Foundation To Be Named Later, the foundation of Paul and Theo Epstein. Theo Epstein is the President of Baseball Operations and General Manager for the Chicago Cubs. The Foundation To Be Named Later’s mission is to improve the world through education, leadership and the healthy development of youth and families. That’s the opposite of a Scott Walker PAC.
[6] Regardless of what happens in tonight’s game, I’ll be paying attention to the Cubs’ management outside of baseball dealings. If the Ricketts family keeps donating to GOP candidates and the Cubs savior Theo Epstein leaves, I’ll happily switch allegiances to the White Sox. I may be in the minority, but I do believe a person’s right to choose and the well being of the community is more important than the sports club my grandfather, best friend and father-in-law happened to grow up loving.
