Being a Cubs fan never felt so good.
I don’t know how to write this.
I don’t know how to put into words what I am feeling as a third-generation Cubs fan who got his fandom from his dad, who got it from his mom.
The Cubs are a family affair. Loving the Cubs has been passed down from generation from generation, because for 108 years it was too painful to cheer for them by yourself.
My dad never got to see the Cubs win the World Series, and neither did my grandma. Neither did thousands upon thousands of fans that sat through games played by Ernie Banks, Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Greg Maddux, Sammy Sosa, and many more.
This was for them. For every single one of them that isn’t here with us to witness this.
This season, this team, all the wins, all the smiles, all the moments — it made the pain of that 108 number subside.
As a man of superstition and of very old-school baseball ritual, I knew there was substance to the fact there are 108 seams on a baseball and that it takes 108 outs in four wins to clinch the World Series, unless you go to extras, of course.
Baseball is such a spiritual game, and you don’t question things like that. One omen is enough to run with for me, give me two different 108 figures that I could loosely tie to the Cubs winning the World Series, I’m running with it.
And after Rajai Davis tied the game at 6 in the bottom of the eighth inning, I could’ve given you 108 reasons that the Cubs weren’t going to win Game 7.
Why did Joe Madden pull Kyle Hendricks? Why did he pull Jon Lester? Why is Aroldis Chapman still in there? Is Joe an Indians fan? Is this feeling in my gut going to be with me forever?
And then the rain started to fall, and it seemed impossibly fitting for the moment — 108 years of Cubs fans that left us too soon to see this happen, shedding tears on the field in Cleveland.
But then the rain stopped. And Kyle Schwarber got on base to start to 10th, and I felt that mojo again. And so did Anthony Rizzo. And then Ben Zobrist got the most significant hit in the game of baseball in the past 108 years.
Generations of Cubs fans, rejoice. Hug your sister, brother, mother, father, and anyone else in Cubbie blue you can find. You don’t know when this will happen again.
