Kenosha isn’t Illinois, but it’s not out of the area, either . . . but I’ll answer anyway.

When my dad was a kid, the Cubs were the closest team. I wasn’t encouraged or discouraged from following them, but they were always on TV. And, I had a teacher in grade school that was also a Cubs fan—that must have been a big part of it, too, because of four children, I’m the only one that really follows them – and I have a brother that lives 2 miles west of Clark on Addison . . . .

My dad is from Chicago (and I have uncles and aunts in Villa Park and Wheaton)—but he moved to Southwestern VA before I was born. My dad grew up a dirty Sox fan. My older brother (prob. because of WGN and Sandberg) decided to be a Cubs fan, and all of us followed suit. My father went along for the ride, taking us to Wrigley whenever we visited Chicago, until he woke up one day and realized he was a Cubs fan himself.

My dad grew up in Chicago and went to Lane Tech, and raised me on stories of him skipping school in the afternoon to go sit in the bleachers (you could get in free back then after the 7th inning). However, my mom’s family was from Atlanta and they won me early on, but the summer after my Junior year of high school, my dad took me on a trip up to Wrigley and his old neighborhood, etc… and seeing Wrigley and hearing my dad talk about it won me over for good.

My brother now lives in the north ‘burbs so I have a good excuse to go see a game at least once a year or so.

WGN all the way. Cable became common in the early 80’s in the central Iowa area and 2:20 every Friday were the Cubs at Wrigley (home games of course). The ‘84 team hooked a lot of us and of course the announcer with the big glasses. I’ve posted this before but bears repeating, in the summer months at Wrigley I would bet 60% of the crowd is from outside the Chicago market and is there because of WGN and the early addiction we all had with the cubs. Marketing genius, a cash cow was born.

most of my mother’s extended family lived in Missouri. That’s where all the family reunions took place every other summer. This meant all my uncles were Cardinal fans…and they would all make a big trip to St. Louis for a Cardinal series during the reunion. I always wanted to go with them, but it was a “guys only” thing…and I hated them for it. Naturally, I wore them down by begging and begging and eventually they let me go for 1 game when i was 9. June 8, 1984…my first Cubs game….they lost 5-4….I decided to root for the Cubs because of how much my Uncles rooted against them. They thought it was funny, but that summer was the beginning of my love affair with Ryne Sandberg and the Chicago Cubs, and the first layer of scar tissue on my soul.

I became a Cubs fan because of 1, 3, and 4:

1. WGN of course…we didn’t have cable, living out in the sticks, but my Great-Grandparents did, and I would watch the games with my Great-Grandpa. Best memories ever.
3. I always loved baseball, and would watch the Cubs and Brewers with my Great-Grandpa and Grandpa. They taught me to appreciate the game and “even though the Cubs weren’t very good, they always had a chance…”.
4. The Brewers didn’t come into existence until 1970, so, there wasn’t a huge fan-following for them in Green Bay…the closest natural rival was the Twins or Tigers…neither of which are very close when you’re 8. So, we watched and listened to the Cubs.

Growing up in Southwestern Iowa, my first favorite sports team was the Bears. Not exactly sure how I chose them, especially considering my Dad is a Packers fan. At some point, I reached the logical conclusion that I should root for all Chicago teams. Yes, that even included the White Sox until I moved to Chicago and met some White Sox fans.

and my love for the Cubs centered around WGN and the fact that I could watch more Cubs games than any other team; even in small-town ND!

i live in northern manitoba canada. eight hours north of winnipeg for anyone who knows where that is. we were blessed with an awesome cable package for a small town. my earliest cubs memory is coming home from school in 1984 and watching the end of the cubs game with my dad. i was eight years old at the time and hooked ever since. then in 1985 my family visited wrigley field and the cubs continue to be my obsession.

When I was a little kid, we had a family friend that was a HUGE Cubs fan, and she “brainwashed” (as my mom would say) me into being a Cubs fan. I always said that I was a Cubs fan, but didn’t really begin watching games until Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, interestingly enough. I fully planned to jump onto the bandwagon, but have become a full-time, 100% obsessed fan ever since.

I know we have fans here outside of North America (for this purpose, include the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America as part of North America).

If you live in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, Australia or New Zealand, or somewhere else outside North America I didn’t mention, post your exact location here… for the BCB reader who lives farthest from Wrigley Field (I’ll Googlemap it to make sure), I’ll send you a couple of cool prizes.

I’m from Southeast Idaho and my grandparents would spend their winters in Mesa, Arizona. From when I was 6 or 7 until I was 18 I would go with my family during spring break to visit my grandparents in Mesa. We would always go to at least a couple of Cubs games. One year I even met Harry and have a picture of him autographing a baseball (which I still have).

After I went to college I would still kind of follow the Cubs we didn’t have WGN there so that made it tough. My big Cubs moment, as I call it, was in 2003 when my mom won a contest to meet Dusty Baker. We flew to a game in August and went on the field before the game started and met Dusty and he signed a few bats and a hat. We watched the game and I was hooked (Matt Clement pitched against the Mets, and I think we lost).

I don’t need to tell the rest of that year’s story, with once exception. The “Bartman” game was on my 21st birthday and I had a mid-term test the next day.

Two years later I found out about MLB.tv I’ve been watching and following the Cubs religiously since then.

in the summer of 94. Prior to that you could call me a Cardinals fan I guess, but a nine-year-old cheering on his dad’s team is hardly a fan. Played little league in 95, and lo and behold I was put on the Cubs team; the start of a lifelong obsession. In fact, the Cubs hat I proudly wear now and have sitting on my couch when I’m not is the same hat I was given by that little league team.

Cool side note: while other little league teams were billed simply as the Marlins, or the Mets, we were the Chicago Cubs due to our location. Always wore that like a badge of honor.

Long line of Cubs blood.

4. Other.

When I started little league baseball a loooooooooong time ago, I told my Mom that I needed a baseball cap. So she dug up the only cap I had, which was a red, white, and blue Disney hat, with Mickey Mouse prominently featured in the logo area. I told her that I was not going to wear that to practice. What did she think I was, a little kid or something? I must have been at least eight or nine! ;o) So, being the good mother that she was, she carefully removed ol’ Mickey, leaving me with a red, white, and blue hat with an odd “logo” on the front. As soon as I got to my first practice, one of the kids asked me if that was an Expos hat.

YES! It sure is an Expos hat, thanks for playing. Whew! Subterfuge accomplished! I then went home and watched a couple of Cubs/Expos games, and became a huge Andre Dawson fan. Once he came to the Cubs, my allegiance became permanently aligned with the Cubs, where it should have been from the very beginning.

Great thread. :D

Dave

Entire family but me and my brother are from Chicago/Northern Illinois. Having not lived there is somewhat deceptive though; we’ve visited so many times when I was growing up, and even had season tickets in ‘89 when we lived in Milwaukee. Technically I’m not from Chicago, but even after 16 years in Atlanta and 13 years of various other locales I don’t consider myself as having a hometown. Chicago has always been the constant so-to-speak, and WGN did play a major part in that it was always there.

In Madison, WI. First son was a kid in the early 80’s, and Harry, Steve, Ryno and Andre got him. Then a road trip to Wrigley when he was about 7 turned into an annual, then more frequent father-son ritual. Been along for the Cubs ride ever since. I’m an old Brooklyn Dodger fan from the 1950’s, then a Mets fan in the 60’s and indifferent in the 70’s.

a huge Cub fan. He passed his love of the Cubs on to his children and grandchildren. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

My Dad emigrated from England to Batavia, Illinois in 69, and I came over as a teenager to visit him for a vacation the next summer. Baseball was completely new to both of us (My first sport was and I guess still is cricket), but we both got the Cubs bug via WGN (tv and radio).

First visit to Wrigley was a wild 16-14 loss to the Pirates, complete with Billy Williams grand slam (I think Roberto Clemente hit one for the other team too, but I’d have to look it up). I was hooked.

Next year I came over to live and we got to a few games at Wrigley and followed avidly on WGN. By late 72 I decided to head back to England and my dad ended up in Princeton, New Jersey. I visited him there plenty of times but never got back to Chicago. We both carried on caring about the Cubs though.

In the seventies there was next to no information available to me. Dad would send me press cuttings with his letters, which took about a week via airmail. I discovered AFN (Forces Radio) and tuned in to a desperately weak signal hoping they would be broadcasting a Cubs game. Many a Saturday night I sat perpetually fine-tuning the radio tying to hold onto an elusive ballgame commentary and score updates through the static.

With the internet things got so much better. Now I could not only get all the scores, but read what people were thinking about the Cubs too. Channel 5 in England started broadcasting an MLB game once a week. I was starting to become connected again.

Then mlb.com introduced their audio and tv services. I know it’s (rightly) maligned for some of its idiocies, but to be able to listen to Pat and Ron from my sofa in London, or watch a Cubs game on WGN via my computer screen is something I still find rather astonishing. Not to rub it in or anything, but being so far away I don’t get any games blacked out either. And of course there is BleedCubbieBlue which IS the Cub fans community as far as some of us distant fans are concerned.

That’s not quite the end of the story though. I’ve decided now’s the time to make a sentimental visit back to Chicago. It’s a shame my dad is no longer around to share a Wrigley beer with, but I’ll raise a glass to him all the same. I’ve booked the trip, I’ll be in town for the late May early June home stand with the Dodgers and Rockies. I’ve got tickets to a couple of the games already. Bleachers are sold out though. I’d love to be able to get hold of a bleachers ticket for one game so I can visit with Al and thank him personally for this site and the part its played in helping this Cubs fan to keep the faith.

...and your broom on Thurs!

I think dragonsfanatic would probably be our farthest away reader.

I do have a friend who lives in Australia that sometimes stops by here. She’s not really a big fan but when she visited me a few years ago she fell in love with Wrigley and we met Kerry Wood and Mark Prior at the Italian Village.

Also her sister is the head nurse at a diabetes clinic in Australia and she and the people here love Santo for all he’s done.

How many native Chicagoans root for some other MLB team, not the Cubs nor Sox, and why?

grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and I think to annoy her brother, who was a Milwaukee Braves fan, she decided to root for the Cubs. She passed it on to my sister and me, and the three of us are all still CRAZY Cubs fans (in Cedar Rapids, Iowa). It never really took on my dad or my brothers!

If you saw Cubs Forever, Iván De Jesús said how his family could watch him play for the Cubs when cable in San Juan started broadcasting WGN in the 70’s. There were a lot of NY fans back then because of the huge Puerto Rican community in that city. There were also a lot of Pirates fan in the island thanks to Clemente. But after he died and cable brought other team’s games, fans diversified. Many of us were hooked on the Cubs through WGN, like De Jesús’s family was.

Orioles were the closest team but they were rarely on tv, and they were awful, so it was either WGN or TBS, and for some reason i couldn’t stand the Braves, in the 90’s, probably because they were so good. So i think it was the fact that i could watch the games on WGN, the fact that Harry Caray was amazing, and the fact that they were always the underdogs. Gracie, Ryno, and the Hawk didn’t hurt either.

By birth (Evanston) and genetics (Mom), I’m a citizen of Cubs’ nation. By later moves, I’m a citizen of both the Braves’ and Rockies’ nations. Truthfully, I root for all three.

My Mom was born and raised in Chicago (Albany Park) and attended Roosevelt HS. She always liked to brag that she had attended a Cubs WS game (in 1938), and she loved to tell stories about Jack Brickhouse’s broadcasts. And yes, when we got cable, the TV was on WGN every day by the time I got home from school. She was the ultimate die-hard, lifelong Cubs fan—even though her mother-in-law was a Cardinals fan from MO.

I still have family in Chicago who are Cub fans, though there is one black sheep (Sox fan) in the bunch. I root for the Cubs in hopes that they will win a WS before my Mom’s 10th yahrzeit—or mine!

...but I grew up on the South side surrounded by Sox fans. My parents and grandparents loved the Cubs. I came home from school quite often with my Grandpa waiting to tell me the score or watch the end of the game. Great city to grow up in.

Was a young Phillies fan, but was more of a Johnny Callison fan. Callison gets traded to the Cubs in 1970, I was 11 at the time, did not develop a loyalty to the Phillies at this time, my loyalty was to Callison, Hence a CUBS fan.
I am sure some would scoff at the way I became a fan, but at the time I was young and it was the right thing to do, Would not change my decision for all the money in the world.

When I was in Kindergarten in 1981 at Garfield Elementary in Spokane, WA a classmate brought his uncle to show-and-tell.

His uncle was a rookie major league baseball player from Spokane playing for the Phillies. Obviously, as a young baseball fan, I thought this professional baseball player walked on water, and vowed to be a Phillies fan for life. I bugged by classmate (and new best friend) about his uncle and the Phillies for about a week.

A week later my friend told me his uncle was traded to the Cubs. My allegiance changed immediately. I kept up with Sandberg as much as I could until my technophobic Dad finally broke down and got us cable in ‘87. After that I watched every Cubs game possible. Harry won me over with his first 7th inning stretch, and the way he (mis)pronounced Mike Pagliarilo among others.

Almost 30 years later my condition is terminal.

Born in Melrose Park in Cook County, then moved to San Diego when I was almost 8. My extended family is mostly from Illinois, so I’ve always had ties leading back to the Second City. Even after I moved to SD, I took a good number of vacations to Melrose Park during the summers. I visit about 2-3 times every year, and plan on relocating whenever I’m done with school, or go on to grad school in Illinois.

Yeah, I’m not that interesting.

I’m 15 and i’ve always been a diehard cubs fan. My mom is from Wilmette and my dad lived in the city for 15 years. My dad loved Ryno and the players from that era. I think for me WGN has helped because I live in Ohio and all I get is the Indians and Reds. Well, buying MLB baseball Extra Inning also helps. The cubs are my obsession now and I can’t miss a day without watching or checking my cubs information.

My dad was born and raised on Western Ave. a few blocks from Wrigley. So of course, he persuaded me and my brother to be Cubs fans. It really wasn’t until we moved back to Chicago in 87 that I really started to get into baseball. I was 7 and can remember my dad and uncle talking about “Awesome Dawson” and remember trying to copy his batting stance when we played baseball. Even though they sucked that year, it’s my favorite season because it’s when I really fell in love with the Cubs for my own reasons, not my dad’s. Dawson is and will always be my favorite big leaguer, followed very closely by Ryno. And of course, Harry is a huge reason why I love the Cubs.

Born in Kankakee, Illinois but moved to Pennsylvania when I was 3. My dad grew up in Wilmington, Illinois so he raised me right. I have relatives still in Coal City so I still have my connections. Thank God I didn’t go to Three Rivers to watch the Pirates though. I actually attended a few games at Wrigley when I was 1-2 but don’t remember them. I’m a 2 all the way!

......I did until I was 15 and was uprooted to Southern California, although I still have majority of relatives in Chicago land area. I’ve been back and forth from OC and Phoenix now for 6 years and have family and in-laws in Ca and Phoenix. But the reason for my reply to this question is that my Brother – in – Law and many of his family was (still roots for them when they’re not playing Cubs) a big Cub fan before the DBacks came to the Valley of the sun mainly because of the availability of the Cubs on WGN. There was no baseball here before then and with WGN, you could watch every single game back then and without reading through any of the posts whithin this fanpost, I imagine that will be the biggest reason for people who have never lived in Chicagoland area, for being Cub fans.

I was born in Chicago and grew up in Kankakee (about 60 miles south for those of you not familiar with the Chicago area). When I was five years old, my parents were going to buy my older brother a new baseball cap, and since he was a White Sux, er, Sox fan, he wanted a Sox hat. My mother said I could have his old hat which was a Cubs hat. At that moment, I decided I’d root for the Cubs (setting the stage for many an argument between my brother and I). I loved Ernie Banks early on, and at my first major league game, got Ernie’s autograph at a game the Cubs lost 9-2. That scorecard, with Ernie’s signature on it, hangs in a beautiful frame in my room in the basement. It is my most valuable possession. I can’t hang it at work because I’m too afraid someone will steal it.

When the Cubs won the division in ‘84, the game wasn’t on TV in Colorado (I lived in Grand Junction, on the Utah border, at the time). However, KOA, the big AM station in Denver, rebroadcast WGN radio’s broadcast of the game in Pittsburgh live. The only way I could hear it was to sit in my driveway, and listen on the car radio. My wife came out to ask me how it was going during the 9th inning, and I was in tears. That night, I got calls from my brother and two other people who said that as soon as they’d heard the news, they thought of me. When we win the Series, I guarantee that there will be people all over the country who will think of me because I have never wavered in my love for the Cubs, except for when they let Maddux go, but let’s not ruin a good story ;-).

I tell people that being a Cub fan is a higher order of existence (and I am right). I just want to see them win the World Series once before I die.

Grew up in rural Nebrasaka in the 90s and started watching Cubs games on WGN for no apparent reason one summer. I’ve been a Cubs fan ever since. I’ve never been to Wrigley (or Chicago for that matter), although I hope to change that this summer. None of my family is from Chicago either.

I’ve now lived 3 years in St Louis, and lived for 3 years in Cincinnati before that and I can say that Cardinals fans are much more annoying than Reds fans. All over the radio here when the Cubs come to town its “Cubs suck, Cubs suck, Cubs suck.” Thankfully I never heard that kind of crap on the radio in Cincinnati. For this reason I find it fairly easy to cheer for the Reds when they aren’t playing the Cubs (ie – when I went to non-Cubs games at the GAB), while I can’t make myself cheer for the Cards, no matter what.

Looking forward to the Cubs coming here this weekend! Go Cubs!!

Throughout elementary and middle school in the early-to-late-80’s… I would get home as fast as possible to catch the end of the home games on WGN. Obviously in Texas we had the Astros and Rangers… but I never once had the desire to gravitate toward them (in fact, the only games I ever saw at the Astrodome were when the Cubs were there).

So yes… add me to the superstation devotees.

Upon reaching adulthood… I purposely chose to move to Chicago, in no small part because of the ability to attend games at Wrigley.

So a big thanks to WGN, Arne, Harry, and Stoney for hooking me on for life.

It was WGN and the Cubs for me! It wasn’t then-WTBS and the Braves or then-WOR and the Mets. The Cubs played all those weekday afternoon games, when I had the TV to myself, in the 1980’s without competition from other teams. The Braves and Mets played mostly night games during the week, and I had to fight with other family members to watch those teams.

I have lived in Oklahoma my whole life, growing up here you were either a Cards or Rangers fan because they are the closest; Braves or CUBS fan because they were on tv the most. I was born in the summer of 1984 and my mom stayed home to take care of me and thats when she became a cubs fan. As long as I can remember I have watched the Cubs on WGN. My first game at Wrigley was when I was 10 years old, we sat in the bleachers, and the Cubs lost…BUT even though I have watched the Cubs my whole life, I became a diehard fan in 2003 the year they first truely broke my heart! After that year I have been addicted, and I LOVE IT!!!

My dad grew up in Missouri and he chose the Cubs over the Cardinals and the Royal, and ever since I was little I have loved the Cubs, and I grew up watching them on WGN, Ryne Sandberg hitting home runs and Mark Grace are my two favorite player.

Edinburgh, Scotland (don’t think that’ll be winning any prizes, but I haven’t seen any other Scottish folk on here)

I guess I fall under number 3 above, with a hint of 2. My Uncle moved to Chicago in the early 80’s, found himself a cubs fan wife and has remained there ever since. My family visited in the early 90’s and he was kind enough to take us to Wrigley Field for a game. I would have been close to 10 years old and had absolutely NO IDEA what was going on during the game (you really have to seek out Baseball in Scotland to see any), but it clearly planted a seed in my head.

From that point on the obsession has grown, but i’m still longing for the day when I get to return to Wrigley and see the Cubbies again in the flesh.

Here’s my story…

As a kid, I always loved baseball, and by default, here in North Florida, you are born a Braves fan. All my family were Bravos, and when I came home from school each day, my grandpa made it a habit to come in from the fields or whichever broken down tractor he was working on, and we would sit down with a bowl of cracklins and glass of milk and watch the Cubs day games on WGN while no one else was around. Soon, we took our secret public, and we enjoyed many years of friendly family rivalries with the other members of the family. I never realized how deep this passion consumed us though. At first, it was a day baseball game that we watched, but it also united the two of us with a special bond that only he and I had. When he died of Alzheimers, ironically, one of the last things he said to me was that he would still keep watching Cubs games, but he would have a better seat than me from now on.

After his death, the Cubs and WGN were a lasting tribute to him, and our time together. In mid-October 2003, I went to a bar, and sat all alone on the end in solitude, and ordered two beers. One for me, and one for the empty chair next to me. Then, we know what happened the last few innings. I felt like my heart was ripped from my chest, and I just knew my grandpa was going to get kicked out of heaven for shouting obscenities.

And, I cried. Just a little, a small tear trickled out of the corner of my eye without me even knowing it. Not because the Cubs lost, but because I missed him, and I knew he was with me still.

Weird, though. I cried too when I went to Wrigley for the first time with my wife, now a converted Cubs fan. She cried too when I told her this same story of why the place was so special. Papa and I always wanted to go to Wrigley, but we were too poor, and it was too far away. So he told me, one day I would go with someone I loved, but it probably wouldn’t be him.

He was right.

So, that’s my story, in a nutshell, from little ol’ Lake City, Florida.

I know it. I mean, it’s not a confidence thing, it’s a pure feeling I can’t describe. And with all the stories like mine, and past Cubs who are watching from St. Peter’s Bleachers, it will be a celebration that rocks Heaven and so many places here on earth.

I mean, here’s how bad it is: each year I write on the executive planner calendar in the CEO’s office that I will be off the last week of October tentatively, simply because I know I won’t feel like, nor be able to perform at work if the Cubs were to win it.

Here’s the short version:

I grew up in southwest Michigan (Bridgman & St. Joseph) back when there were only 5 TV stations to watch on VHF. Our black and white TV didn’t get UHF channels. All of our TV media came from Chicago, so our choices were channels 2, 5, 7, 9 (WGN) and 11. Heck, I thought I lived in Illinois until I was about five.

Like most kids in my neighborhood growing up in the early 1960s, I came home from school and watched the Cubs during the afternoons, humming along between innings to the Hamms Beer ads with the cartoon bear they used to pitch it… “Hamms Beer, refreshing Hamms Beer…”

I was truly hooked though, in the late 60s when Leo “The Lip” was hired to manage and my Cubness was cemented in 1969. From Opening Day through mid-August, the Cubs got me through one of the toughest years of my life personally. And as the Cubs sank in the standings, my depression grew.

I cried when Ray Raynor erased his chalkboard Eastern Division standings and wiped away his own tears on his morning kids program as congratulated the Mets after clinching the division and eliminating the Cubs in late September. I’ve never forgotten that. One of the saddest moments in my life…until I took my family to the 2003 NLCS game 6, promising them that we would see history that night. Well, we did.

THAT was the saddest.

But that’s the thing about being a Cubs fan. There’s always the promise of NEXT year. And NEXT year is HERE.

Well I have WGN to blame for my addiction. I grew up in a small town east of Albuquerque (Pop 2000). Growing up prior to going to school mom used to watch alot of WGN. I remember older sitcoms like Perry Mason and stuff coming out and the the news at noon. After that the Cubbies would come on, so that was my first exposure to baseball on TV. Later on when I was old enough to go to school, since this was before expansion teams like the Rockies and D-Backs most kids I knew were either Dodgers fans (At the time we had a Dodgers AAA team in ABQ) or Braves fans. And they were Braves fans because their dads were usually Braves fans, and their dads were Braves fans only because during that time they were winning thier division all the time. My best friend during high school loved the Astros…and I got razzed alot for being a Cubs fan. As I grew older I continued following the Cubs and once I made it to college became close friends with some other Cubs fans 2 from Chicago and 3 from Millwaukee. When I was dating my wife, I learned that she really enjoyed baseball but never followed one team in particular, she mostly just enjoyed watching Baseball in person. Well 7 years later, she never misses a Cubs game on TV, and even listens to the radio broadcasts on XM when I have them on at home. Since getting out of college over the last 4 years we have made a trip to Chicago every year to see the Cubs and visit the City. In addition, this is our 5th year of spending a week plus in Mesa (3rd week of March without fail) for spring training. The only thing that keeps us sane between Sprin Training and the latter part of the season when we make our Chicago trip, is the 2 series when Iowa comes to play in Albuquerque. I have season tickets for the AAA team here in Albuquerque and never miss a series when Iowa is in town, I even piss off all the locals here, I wear a Mike Fontenot Iowa Cubs Jersey to the games. Good Times!

Born in Southern California. Moved north in 1st grade. In my mini protest of the move, I was a young Dodger fan to spite my father’s new team, the Giants. With that LA connection and the discovery that Bill Buckner went to Napa High School, I became a huge Bill Bucks fan. When the Cubs acquired Buckner (and Cey) in my formidable baseball years, along with the incredible history of the Cubs, it was a no brainer. When I played for Kane County in ‘93, I spent every off day in and around Wrigleyville. I now have two sons who “Bleed Cubbie Blue.” If ever in Napa, CA and you run across the license plate DCUBS WN, you’ve found me. Cheers!

In 1989 my family (from Iowa City) took a trip to see the Cubs play the Mets with a family friend who were from New York at the time. I had a casual interest at such a young age, but fell in love with it then. I didn’t have cable at our house, so I didn’t see many games. Baseball fell out of favor with me, for a bit, but then when I was 15 I started listening again to the games on the radio. Pat and Ron and my summer jobs (either working garden care or delivery of sub sandwiches) were made bearable by the Cubs. Since then the passion has only grown! I’m living in New York, but moving back to Iowa City this summer to begin the long MD-PhD training process. I’m excited to get to see (and hear) more games!

sign an autograph for me at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. It was sometime in the late spring of ‘70. Had to have been May because I think Riverfront opened in June or July. I just remember him being a really nice guy and that the Cubs lost. Couldn’t get anyone else to sign (from either team) and I started rooting for him and the Cubs immediately afterwards.

I’ve had such a good time reading all the posts, I’ve run out of lunchtime to post my own.

I grew up in the Ravenswood neighborhood just north of Wrigley. Walked to games. Wore a Cubs hat everywhere I went, even to sleep. That’s a lost item I wish I could have back.

Saw a lot of SRO games as a kid. My mom would write notes to get me out of school for opening day. Somewhere in a pile of dust in a news archive is video of me on the local news (6?) at a game (opening day maybe) in the 70s showing my glove and my friend Claude mocking me – showing that my glove was missing laces, still hoping to catch a ball. Like a Cub fan, always hoping.

Life changes. I lived outside of Miami in 84 and cried on the porch in the rain after watching it all unfold on WGN. I’ve lived outside of Philadelphia for almost 20 years now. People wonder what the W flag is about (a Bush supporter?) hanging on my house and my car in odd patterns (is the Wife away/home?). I wonder why there are all these Phillies fans running around. I’m the stranger in a strange land, but they seem strange to me. I’ve lived outside a number places. WGN and BCB help me live inside Wrigley and my hometown of Chicago.

Thanks.

but I was the first one ever born in the South when my parents moved. My Dad was a vendor at Wrigley, Old Comiskey, and The Stadium in the early 60’s, and he used to share the stories with me. My early memories are really of minor league ball, as I grew up in Memphis, and we had some great Expos back in the day (Rock Raines, Charlie Lea, Tim Wallach), and then later Bo Jackson as a Royals affiliate. When I finally started really getting into MLB, it was a no-brainer for me. My first Cubs game was 1984, and WGN got me through my early years. Now, I live in Knoxville, TN and I have one to two “long” weekends every year that require tickets to Wrigley. My first game last year was Aram’s walk-off over the Brewers, so needless to say I can pick ‘em.

I grew up in the suburbs and would watch the Cubs on WGN after school every day. Once or twice a year my dad would take me to Wrigley Field. When I was 13 we moved 283 miles south of Clark & Addison to Mt. Vernon in southern Illinois. The people were generally friendly and welcoming. But I was appalled at the way I was treated when my Cub loyalty was discovered. The Cardinal people were ruthless in their taunting. I was galvanized, there was no way that I could ever join their side!

That was 33 years ago and I still live in Mt. Vernon. I’ve found a circle of Cub friends down here and when we are together we rejoice in our little southern Illinois Cubdom. I travel to Wrigley several times a year and often take my wife and kids. The kids proudly wear their Cub gear to school and endure the harassment of the Cardinal fans like little troopers.

Having had these many years to witness and reflect on the attitude of Cardinal fans, I’ve come to the conclusion that they all suffer from Freud’s definition of “penis envy.” Everyone knows that Chicago is the capital of the midwest. It surpasses St. Louis in almost every category of comparison, ie, museums, higher education, transportation, commerce, industry, population and so on. The one area that St. Louis has been more successful is major league baseball. The Cardinal’s success is their only weapon to combat Chicago’s superiority. It is their big penis and they wield it arrogantly.

Just my theory.

don’t you think?

...and the congregation calls back, “Hi, Rob”

If there’s a twelve step program to stop being a Cubs fan, I don’t want it. I like the kool-aid.

If my perception of self, team and hometown will change when they win it all, I’ll deal with that. That’s a problem I’d like to have.

I thrill at the imagining of what it will be like when that final glorious out is called. A lifetime of waiting. Generations of waiting. Is this the “Tantric sex” of baseball, of fandom? Even if Nirvana does not await us, I think it’ll feel pretty good.

Thanks, AL, for giving us all a place to gather.

but my brother, who was seven years older, would not allow me to be an L.A. fan so he “brainwashed” me into being a Cubs fan. My dad wanted me to play little league and the park league needed a manager so my dad said he would manage only if the team was named the “Cubs”. The park agreed to the name change and the Cubs won the championship the next 3 years until I moved up to the next level.

Whenever the Cubs came to L.A. to play the Dodgers it was a family event. Had to put up with all the fickle Dodger fans from elementary school through college but survived. My best friend is a Dodger fan and even he would like to see the Cubs finally win the W.S. just because he knows how much it would mean to me.

I live in Tucson now and there are plenty of Cubs fans here. People at work know I save enough vacation time so come October I’ll be able to go to Chicago to see the Cubs in the W.S.

When I was really young, like 5 or 6, my grandmother used to watch me at her house from time to time. One of my earliest memories of her was watching Cubs games on WGN with her. My first real live Cubs game was in 1991. We sat in the nosebleed section and tried to start the wave. I can remember her making fun of Paul Assenmacher’s last name.

In 1982, the AAA Iowa Oaks switched from the White Sox affilliate to the Cubs AAA affiliate (Iowa Cubs), thus anchoring Cubs propaganda in my head. I watched Greg Maddux pitch here (87 I think) and I was hooked.

My Grandmother Margaret died last year at the age of 90. Standing next to her on her death bed in the hospital she wanted to know the Cubs score. The game was on the TV in her hospital room.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her we were losing.

I got taken to a Cubs game on my first day in the U.S. as the beginning of a 6 month road trip in 1988….. Being an ex-cricket player I fell in love with the rythmn of baseball and its slow, developing tension over 9 innings.
All across the states that year we followed the Cubs season (not one to remember) even stopping at a friendly house in Arkansas to watch the first (aborted) game under the lights…
When I got home (London at that time) I used to get the bus all the way into the centre of the city to the only newstand that sold the USA Today baseball weekly and got videos sent from Switzerland of all places with one game a week taped off the armed forces network I think. (They were always WGN broadcasts….I miss Harry!)
From then I moved to Auckland, New Zealand and now follow the games on MLB.Com (no blackouts here but I feel for you guys)....
I read BCB every day but seldom post….baseball has always been a bit of a solitary pastime for me and if you try talking about it to Kiwis they tend to look at you as if you require immediate medication.
What with the time difference and all I manage to watch or listen to every game though and still manage to fit it in around work although the Cubs have contributed to my almost endless capacity to procrastinate! (Easy when you are trying to write)
I got an e-mail during the 2003 playoffs actually from a writer working on Redeye who interviewed me about how it felt following the games from so far away (I sent him a photo which has me inexplicably holding a bag of porridge and a banana…I’m sure it made sense at the time…)
Last time I got to Chicago was on my honeymoon in 2005 when I managed to get to see 6 games (My wife likes to tell that tale as though she was long suffering but she was wearing a Cubs cap on our first date so what do you expect?)
Still watching and listening and always appreciate Al and all the posters at BCB for keeping me up to date on how the mood is amongst the fans…(always look for Al in the crowd when any homers get hit into left field too!)
Cheers…....

I turned ten years old in 1987. Also that year, mom and dad got cable.

A long story short… My life at this time consisted of family, social, and even emotional problems. It was a very sad, lonely period of my life. However, I found some hope in the weirdest of places. We got this new channel, called WGN. Almost daily, it would play Chicago Cub games. It was weird because i lived in southeast Missouri, which is 100% cardinal country. Exploiting the enemy maybe?

Anyway, as everything was falling apart in my life, I found hope in one man. Andre Dawson. His story marveled me. He felt betrayed by the Expos, his knees were shot, (I was having horrible knee issues also at the time), he dedicated the season to a beloved family member that passed away, and so much more. He played the game, not for money, or greed, or to be famous… he played it for ALL of the RIGHT reasons. Not only did he play it, but man… there was something so magical about him that season.

Regardless of how the Cubs did, he was a monster. No matter what came his way, he was going to dominate. Even when Eric Show tried to take him out, he got up, and with a messed up face, charged through the crowds of players… nothing was going to stop him.

I find it hard, thinking of the right words to describe how this season, and how Andre Dawson helped shape me as a person. As proof, two years ago, my wife gave brith to my son. I named him Dawson…

Everybody needs a hero in their life. The reason for that is because when things get bad, thinking about how they made the right decisions, helps US to want to make the right decisions also Even if we don’t want too at times…

I became a Cub fan during this season. I don’t think I was the only person who fell in love with the Hawk. I also fell in love with a group of people, Cub fans… who I belonged with. With the Cubbie Faithful, all of the problems at home and in life didn’t matter. We were a happy family. Even if the Cubs lost, we had something to cheer for that season. We had the Hawk.

Anyway, I tried my best to describe something magical. Finding a needle in a haystack would be easier.

My mom is from Chicago and we lived there for a year when I was a kid. My first Cubs memory was when I was five and my mom was celebrating the Cubs clinching the 84 NL East. Since then I’ve been stuck as a Cubs fan and idolized Ryne Sandberg. In fact, I have a collection of about 30-40 baseball cards of Ryno that have survived moving around as a military brat.

Growing up mostly in the south, I had the “privledge” of growing up around Braves fans when they were dominant in the 90s. Many razzed me about rooting for a team that hasn’t been in the Series in a while but it never detered me. I would have my day in 2003 when the Cubs beat the Braves in the NLDS.

The best man at my wedding whos been a close friend for years is a Yankees fan. Even though he won’t admit it, he is a closet Cub fan.

My dad played minor league ball before his war, was deemed too old afterwards, so I had baseball lessons since earliest memory. Then the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn and my dad took me to a game, Cubs at Dodgers. The Cubs had my favorite baseball card hero Bobby Thompson playing right field. Pretty dumb, eh?

The only religion in my family growing up was baseball. My dad has been a Braves fan since they were in Milwuakee, so he suffered long before their run of great baseball in the 90’s. My older brother loved pitching, and Nolan Ryan, so he’s an Astros fan. I forgive him, for he knows not what he does.

I started watching the Cubs on WGN in the early 80’s, and as you all know, there’s no turning back once the bug hits!

Love the team, love this blog, GO CUBS!

I’ve been a Cub Fan for all of my 42 years and for the last 7 of them have spent my time working at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. Only because of the internet can I follow them as closely as I do but can’t listen or watch since our bandwidth is too low. I grew up in Northwest Indiana, in a family of Cub fans since 1900 and either went to Wrigley or watched on WGN or even WNDU in South Bend. Now we don’t get any games because the little tv we do get broadcasts only east coast or west coast games (how typical).
If anyone wants to see what my wife and I do down here at the bottom of the planet (including an occasional Cubs post) check out my blog at http://bigblueglobe.blogspot.com

Got cable when I was in 5th grade. Live in SE Texas (Astros not available on local channels). Grew up playing and played through HS. When I was elementary, by the time I got off the bus and walked home, it was usually in the 7th. Love affair started in Mid-80s. I loved the 89 team—Walton, Smith, Grace, . . .

I was born/grew up/& still live in Colorado but my mom’s from Chicago & she still has family back there so I grew up a Cubs fan cuzz the Rockies didn’t come along until ‘93. My very first Major League Baseball game I’ve ever gone to was a Cubs game in Wrigley back in 1985, since then I’ve been to 3 Cubs games in Wrigley.

for a fan who is no longer with us. I met “Mike” and his wife at a Spring Training game in Yuma, AZ, in 1986. (The Padres trained in Yuma until 1994.) The Cubs made the drive over to that bleak outpost for the weekend, so I was in town for a pair of games. I picked up a comversation with him…..his accent sounded like he was from Chicago… but, by the next day, when we chatted again, we got around to other topics, outside of just the game at hand.

Mike tells me - “I’m not from Chicago, I’m a native of Buffalo.” I had no idea the accents of upstate NY and Chicago were similar. (I’ve met others from Buffalo since then, and the similar nasal inflection is quite remarkable…except for the added “ssss” to words that end with “S” - and you KNOW what I mean by that.)

So, I asked Mike - Why a Cubs fan? You grew up in Buffalo. He tells me - “Well, I pitched in the Cubs farm system - the low, low minors for two years in the late 50s, in my late teens. I realized I didn’t have a curve ball….so I left the game, and moved to Alaska.” He was not cut by the Cubs - but he thought he’d languish forever in the minors, so he thought it best to move on. At the time we met, Mike was about 15 years older than me, but he looked much younger than his actual age. (He played baseball, softball, and hockey well into his 60s. However, heart disease was rampant in his family.)

He became very, very successful in his chosen field in the brand-new state, and stayed a Cubs fan till the end. A former farm-hand…grateful for the chance to turn pro by the Cubs, stayed loyal to the team.

Mike was also a huge, huge Bears fan.

He passed away just prior to the Bears last Super Bowl—way too young.

It’s time for this team to grab a World Series for all of the fans like Mike, who never wavered in their loyalty— I think they’ll know.

I grew up in NC and live there now, but my wife and I moved to Chicago for a year after college just to do it. We lived about 8 blocks from Wrigley, went to a bunch of games, made friends with a lot of hardcore Cub fans, including one who was a beer vendor, and the rest is history. Plus, I’ve always been attracted to the underdog anyway, so it was meant to be.

... because I think most of you know my history as a fan, or much of it.

I grew up in the north suburbs, my dad took me to my first game when I was not quite 7 in 1963… then I started watching them every day after school on WGN, and was hooked.

It really is just that simple for a lot of people from my generation, and from a couple of generations after.

I’m from Tampa, Fl and have lived there for the majority of my life minus the last few years of college that I’ve spent at Florida St. My dad lived in Chicago when he was really young and just starting up little league ball. Since his interest in baseball started while he lived there, he picked the cubs as his team, rooting for the likes of ernie banks, ron santo, and all of the other Cubs heroes from that time. When i was born, I was nearly as instantaneous of a Cubs fan as you can get, as I was instantly placed into little Chicago Cubs pajamas. Over the years, it became a habit to hurry home after school in order to catch as much of the Cubs day game that day. I grew up watching Ryne Sandberg in his later years (my favorite player), Mark Grace (my dad’s favorite of that generation), and of course Sammy Sosa who I would continually argue with friends in my young days that he was in fact better then Ken Griffey Jr. Over the last few years my dad has slowly adopted the Tampa Bay Rays as his team, as he has lived in Tampa for the majority of his life. He says the Cubs are still a close 2nd, but when I asked him who he will be rooting for when we go to the Trop to see the Cubbies play the Rays in mid-June, he replied that he would have to go for the home team. I consider the Rays as my 2nd team, and I don’t think they will ever overtake the Cubs in my heart, so come June I will continue to support my favorite baseball team by wearing cubbie blue and hoping for it to finally be that year.