Anyone can root for a winner
28/07/16 05:42
First a simple fact from my history. I grew up in Montana, lived in Chicago for 4 years, then moved to North Dakota and from there to Idaho and finally to South Dakota. That means that of my 63 years of living, I’ve only had four years of residency in a state that has a resident major league baseball team. Still, I understand the regional effect and appeal of baseball. Living in the Dakotas for nearly half of my life, I’ve heard so many Minnesota Twins stories that I can tell a bunch of them myself. I try to be polite and not to attack. After all, I sort of shared their excitement when the Twins, new to Minnesota in 1961, made it to the World Series in 1965 and demonstrated the home team advantage until game 7, when Sandy Koufax and he Dodger shut them out 2-0. Losing, however, only increased the Twins’ appeal. After all, they were typical midwestern humble. Very good, but not calling themselves the best. In ’67, the pennant race was close, with only two games left to play the Twins were out front by one, but the Red Sox won both of their games and ended up clinching the title. Still a 91-71 season isn’t bad and after all the Sox hadn’t had a tenant since 1946.
Those Twins were a truly mediocre team in the 1970s, but things changed in the 1980’s. I blame the Metrodome. What mother says to her kids, “Why don’t you go inside and play baseball?” It’s unnatural. But by 1987, the Twins were World Series Champions setting a record for the fewest regular season victories by a World Series champion. That record stood until 2006, when the Cardinals went 83-78 during the regular season. In 1987 and again in 1991 the Twins lost three away games and won four home games to seal the World Series. That old home field advantage really works for them.
In 2006, on a close vote in the Minnesota House, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the bill authorizing a new stadium for the Twins. Named Target Field, they finally moved back outdoors where baseball belongs.
But I didn’t mean to write a blog about the Minnesota Twins. I’m just saying that when you look at the team and the ardent fans, they suffer from having been too successful. The humility which is a natural part of the culture of the midwest is simply absent. They have won too many times and been too successful to truly reflect the dogged, hard working persistence of our people.
Still they remain the region’s most popular team while the obvious alternative has been a part of the midwest all along. Unlike the Twins, who started out in Kansas City, moved to Washington DC and ended up in Minnesota, there is a midwestern team that has always stayed in the midwest. Starting out in the National Association in 1870 and a charter member of the National League, our Chicago Cubs did begin with an unfortunate name. Once they shed the White Stockings moniker, however, they’ve represented true midwestern values: Stay put. Try hard, Don’t make too big a deal of yourself.
Anyone can cheer for a winner. That’s easy. It takes real loyalty to stick with a team that occasionally has an off season, or an off year, or, in the case of the Cubs, an off century. 1978, the year we moved from Chicago to North Dakota, the Cubs finished in the middle of the division at 79 wins to 83 losses. It was a typical year.
But this year is different. I don’t want to jinx things, but I’m not inherently superstitious in the first place. And the Cubs did win a very important game last night. Three home runs, including and Addison Russell grand slam, resulted in a rout of the White Sox. Not only did they win the important cross town game, It is nearly the end of July and they are still out in front in their division. I suppose you have to be a fan to sit through 5 1/3 scoreless innings to get to the good stuff, but it was a grand night for the Cubs.
Wrigley Field is an appropriate-sized ballpark. They sort of ruined it with all of the lights, but it still is a great place to play the game. Add a crowd of over 40,000 and you’ve got the makings of an exciting evening of sport.
Any baseball fan knows that it takes more than a great season to make a championship team. A lot can happen in the postseason, something the Cubs know as well as any other team, even with their limited postseason experience. But August is the month of hope for baseball fans and with a records like the ones the Cubs are taking into this August, you can’t blame us for our excitement. After all, we’ve all fantasized about a Cubs World Series victory in our lifetime. It has, to be sure, been a while since those back-to-back victories in 1907 and 1908. OK, to are honest they haven’t even made it to the series in my lifetime. 1945 was before I was born. Still, I’m not likely to have much to say about the Detroit Tigers, but that’s a different story entirely.
To the extent that sports is a metaphor for life, I’m sticking with my team. Playing the game is as important as winning. I know the old quote, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” But that’s a football quote in the first place, and I think it’s wrong in the second place. The game requires winners and losers. If the losers quit, there is no game.
In real life the road can be long and hard and the rewards few and far between. There are all kinds of times when short-term successes become quickly meaningless. The ability to hang in when the going gets tough is critical to a meaningful life.
So I’m sticking with the Cubs.
And you do have to admit, last night was sweet.
Those Twins were a truly mediocre team in the 1970s, but things changed in the 1980’s. I blame the Metrodome. What mother says to her kids, “Why don’t you go inside and play baseball?” It’s unnatural. But by 1987, the Twins were World Series Champions setting a record for the fewest regular season victories by a World Series champion. That record stood until 2006, when the Cardinals went 83-78 during the regular season. In 1987 and again in 1991 the Twins lost three away games and won four home games to seal the World Series. That old home field advantage really works for them.
In 2006, on a close vote in the Minnesota House, Governor Tim Pawlenty signed the bill authorizing a new stadium for the Twins. Named Target Field, they finally moved back outdoors where baseball belongs.
But I didn’t mean to write a blog about the Minnesota Twins. I’m just saying that when you look at the team and the ardent fans, they suffer from having been too successful. The humility which is a natural part of the culture of the midwest is simply absent. They have won too many times and been too successful to truly reflect the dogged, hard working persistence of our people.
Still they remain the region’s most popular team while the obvious alternative has been a part of the midwest all along. Unlike the Twins, who started out in Kansas City, moved to Washington DC and ended up in Minnesota, there is a midwestern team that has always stayed in the midwest. Starting out in the National Association in 1870 and a charter member of the National League, our Chicago Cubs did begin with an unfortunate name. Once they shed the White Stockings moniker, however, they’ve represented true midwestern values: Stay put. Try hard, Don’t make too big a deal of yourself.
Anyone can cheer for a winner. That’s easy. It takes real loyalty to stick with a team that occasionally has an off season, or an off year, or, in the case of the Cubs, an off century. 1978, the year we moved from Chicago to North Dakota, the Cubs finished in the middle of the division at 79 wins to 83 losses. It was a typical year.
But this year is different. I don’t want to jinx things, but I’m not inherently superstitious in the first place. And the Cubs did win a very important game last night. Three home runs, including and Addison Russell grand slam, resulted in a rout of the White Sox. Not only did they win the important cross town game, It is nearly the end of July and they are still out in front in their division. I suppose you have to be a fan to sit through 5 1/3 scoreless innings to get to the good stuff, but it was a grand night for the Cubs.
Wrigley Field is an appropriate-sized ballpark. They sort of ruined it with all of the lights, but it still is a great place to play the game. Add a crowd of over 40,000 and you’ve got the makings of an exciting evening of sport.
Any baseball fan knows that it takes more than a great season to make a championship team. A lot can happen in the postseason, something the Cubs know as well as any other team, even with their limited postseason experience. But August is the month of hope for baseball fans and with a records like the ones the Cubs are taking into this August, you can’t blame us for our excitement. After all, we’ve all fantasized about a Cubs World Series victory in our lifetime. It has, to be sure, been a while since those back-to-back victories in 1907 and 1908. OK, to are honest they haven’t even made it to the series in my lifetime. 1945 was before I was born. Still, I’m not likely to have much to say about the Detroit Tigers, but that’s a different story entirely.
To the extent that sports is a metaphor for life, I’m sticking with my team. Playing the game is as important as winning. I know the old quote, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” But that’s a football quote in the first place, and I think it’s wrong in the second place. The game requires winners and losers. If the losers quit, there is no game.
In real life the road can be long and hard and the rewards few and far between. There are all kinds of times when short-term successes become quickly meaningless. The ability to hang in when the going gets tough is critical to a meaningful life.
So I’m sticking with the Cubs.
And you do have to admit, last night was sweet.