Yesterday at Sloan Park, the normally Cubs clothed crowd was garbed in green, celebrating the death day of a 4th-Century Englishman who was enslaved by Irish raiders, only to escape back to Britain, become a Catholic, and return to Ireland as a missionary. The crowd also honored St. Patrick by drinking copious amounts of beer while dressed as leprechauns.
As I was born an English-Ukrainian-Italian who thought he was German until last year's ancestry.com investigation, I've always called St. Paddy's Day what it's become in the United States: "National Amateur Drunk Day." As a professional drunk myself, I usually make a point of staying home on March 17 since an unfortunate incident many years ago when I broke my thumb. But on this St. Paddy's, I broke my rule and went out because the Cubs were playing, displaying my non-Irish heritage proudly by drinking Sierra Nevada beer out of a green can.
Others both Irish and obviously not-Irish took it all a step further with costumes and accoutrements that ranged from sexy to funny to creepy. Enjoy the pics!
Incidentally, it's definitely "St. Paddy's" if you want to abbreviate it, not "St. Patty's." Here's why.