April 8, 2021: Bring it Back

I woke up early on Wednesday; I guess that’s not anything different… I wake up early every day. The difference on what would be hump day during a typical work week, was that this was the day I would be making my return to Wrigley Field. Yes, no fans in 2020 meant that I did not attend a game at Wrigley for the first time in… well, forever. I can’t even verify when. I do know it was 2019 since I stepped foot in the cathedral, so you know why I was excited this morning. I wasn’t at work, it was a beautiful day, and I was going to see the Cubs play; repeat until the end of time.

My son won some free waters for us from those Monopoly pieces at Jewel. We parked around the block from the Jewel on Southport to pick those up. Next, we stopped at D’Agostino’s for a pre-game slice. Then we made the familiar walk to the park. How many times I’ve walked down Addison heading to Wrigley… It wasn’t exactly the same; a lot less people out. There were still people trying to get $30 for a parking spot; anybody who pays for parking during a day game doesn’t know… they don’t know you have plenty of free options because the permit parking only restricts night game parking. Still, somebody will pay for it. As we get there, a guy is selling hats and jerseys out in front; $20 for this $45 hat in the park. Just as the water guy is telling us we could pay $2 for a bottle that we’d pay $8 for inside. We didn’t need the water, but my son did like one of the hats; I had to grab some cash from the ATM… probably not the safest ATM in the city sitting outside Wrigley, but I needed to pay the man his money. As I was paying a camera pointed our way… the guy grabbed the cash and told him get that camera out of my F-ing face… OK, cool. We snapped a picture in front of the stadium, like it was the first time we were entering. We didn’t have to wait to enter; we walked right in, scanning the tickets on our phones, walking through security without having to empty my pockets was nice too. We headed to our seats, before I went to grab my Old Style; we were in there.

We had seats in section 120, quite possibly my best seats ever in Wrigley. It was good because we got to witness the powerful Cubs offense up close and personal… haha. Look, that dude from the Brewers was absolutely dealing; Hendricks was holding his own too. I didn’t mind the fact that the game headed to the 7th inning with a 0-0 score, but hey, I love pitching duels, and sitting behind home plate gave an up close and personal view of that. The 7th inning brought one of the best parts of the game, the stretch. My son didn’t need any prompting for me, as he belted out the words right along with me, swaying from side to side, singing with Harry; yeah, I missed being here. The 8th inning finally brought some offense from both sides, with matching solo homers. Although Cain’s towering fly ball needed the wind to get out, Pederson’s was a no doubter; OK, here we go. The Cubs couldn’t complete this magical day and walk it off in the bottom of the 9th. I was glad they made it interesting in the bottom of the 10th, after Cain’s 2nd homer of the game gave the Brewers a 3-run lead. But the W wasn’t meant to be; we’ll have to wait to sing that other song.

Maybe I should be more pissed off that the Cubs offense continues to stink; I’m not though… not today. Nothing was going to overcome my joy of being back in Wrigley today, plus hey, maybe we do need to give the pitching some credit, at least in this one; that dude Woodruff looked great out there for the Brewers. Hendricks looked good; that was a good sign. After two series, the Cubs sit at 500; I imagine this will be a familiar place for most of the season, but I’m already thinking about the next time I’m going back. I need to check my son’s school schedule, and see what days he has off; I’m sure I can sneak in a weeknight game for cheap before the summer comes… Until then, we start with the Pirates on Thursday morning. Even if our offense can only be half as good as the Reds were against the Bucs, we’ll be good. Go Cubs!