August 20, 2021: The New Cubs

We got to see the new Cubs in action on Friday afternoon at Wrigley against the Royals. Ortega, Schwindel, Happ, Wisdom, Heyward, Duffy, Bote, Romine… sure, we’ve seen some of these guys before, but others… we were trying to keep up; what a difference a month makes. What wasn’t new, was the fact that it doesn’t get much better than Friday afternoon baseball in the summer at the cathedral.

I love that it is the only game going on in the majors at that time. Any baseball fan not doing anything on a Friday afternoon can tune in, more so when there was WGN, but with streaming, can find a way to watch the Cubs in front of the faithful. That’s another good thing about sucking, besides the tickets being a lot cheaper; the bandwagon just got a whole lot lighter. Now, I’m not against folks liking my teams; the more the merrier right? But there are a certain core group of fans that will live and die with this team; the people that are still showing up, besides of course some tourists and fans of the other team wanting to see a game in the coolest park in the majors, are dying with this team right now. It still doesn’t stop us from showing up at the park. The stadium isn’t as full, which certainly has its benefits as well. We get to enjoy our team; the Cubs will always be OUR team… regardless how good or bad they are. Those who only like us when we’re good, are gone; those who are in it through the thick and thin, are still there; we’re still here.

The game turned out to be a loss, but we could have predicted that. A short two game winning streak ended with the Royals hitting 5 solo home runs on this beautiful day. What made it more cool this time around was the practice runs that the Blue Angels were making, you know, the jets flying around the city getting ready for the Air and Water show. It was so cool to see them fly over Wrigley in the first half of the game. We also got the national anthem with the braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave note; my son likes him better than the Hawks guy now. Of course being there with him was the best part of the afternoon.

We started in our seats, down the left field line, in the 200 section; $10 a ticket… can’t beat that. We went outside to play catch, then came back in, and sat in the last row of the 200 section we were sitting in initially. We then walked around again, played some more catch, and headed to the bleachers. We always try to get into the bleachers later in the game; we made it there without issue in the 7th inning of this one. We then made our way behind home plate for the last inning. I asked my son where he liked sitting the best; his answer… the bleachers. We got a kick out of the people screaming “Becky” in the right field bleachers, and also the cheers “left field sucks”, and of course, the beer cup snake. It’s a different vibe out there for sure; I like it… my son is hooked already too… haha.

We saw a few folks with White Sox gear. We saw some Brewers stuff, and one idiot dressed in a Cardinals Molina jersey. The Royals fan don’t bother me, but those other jagoffs do. Anyways… these folks, the Cubs loss, the fact that we suck… none of it could ruin today. You cannot go wrong heading to Wrigley on a Friday afternoon. The names on the backs of the jerseys may have changed, but the team name remains the same. Regardless of the jagaloons running this team, I will always cheer for them; that will never change. I’m glad we got to see one more game. It wasn’t Jake on the mound like I had hoped earlier in the year, but it was still a great time at the ballpark. Until next year…