By Joseph Lane
Last week, a 108-year-long wait came to a most incredible end. On Nov. 2, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. In the process, the team and their fans proved to the world why sports are so much more than silly little games.
In the time since the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series, mankind has seen two World Wars, the commercialization of air travel, the invention of the internet, and the creation, disappearance, and return of Twinkies. Oh, and the introduction of sliced bread. Needless to say, a lot has happened.
The Cubs winning the World Series, however, is not a single story of all that has happened in the world over the past century but rather millions of little stories of individuals and families who have stood by this team and who have staked a large portion of their emotional stability on its success.
Baseball has always been personally important to me. Growing up, roughly two weeks of every summer were spent road tripping across the country with my family to visit Major League Baseball stadiums. During the hundreds of hours I spent in the back seat of our car, I fostered an appreciation for my family, this country, baseball, and all the stories that go along with those things. But more importantly, I began to realize how they were all connected in the glorious appreciation of something simple.
There are few greater stories in sports than that of die-hard Cubs fans. While the emotion on the field when Kris Bryant threw the final out to Anthony Rizzo was truly amazing, it was the elation that took place off the field that makes this event so incredible.
On Nov. 2, the internet was flooded with videos of fans celebrating the dramatic victory. Perhaps the most heart-warming of these videos were those that showed the elderly rejoicing; 80- and 85-year-old men and women jumping out of their seats and having one fleeting moment to be their 12-year-old selves again. One brief chance to be the little boys and girls who held their parents’ hands as they crossed the storied threshold into Wrigley Field on opening day and heard yet again, “This is the year.”
The Cubs winning the World Series isn’t about trophies. It’s about the 60-something-year-old man who listened to the game at his father’s grave because he promised they would witness it together, it’s about the kids who will grow up doubting everyone who tells them the Cubs “weren’t always this good,” and it’s about the new found meaning of the expression, “Wait till next year.”
I could argue that the Cubs are my third favorite MLB team (behind my lovable Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox — my adoration for which stems from the presence of family in the town). But I don’t love this victory because of an obsession with the Cubs. I love this victory because it is one of the greatest stories ever told; a story that spans generations and groups of people indiscriminately.
Say what you will about sports — baseball in particular — but if this Cub victory has taught us anything, it’s that sports do matter. It may be a silly thing to spend your time and money on. But what isn’t silly about sports is that it has been the foundation of some of the most incredible stories this world has ever seen.
Last week, we all had the distinct pleasure of witnessing something that generations of people never had the chance to. Even if you don’t believe sports deserve your time of day, you cannot deny a good story when you see one.