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JWB, 2011
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I didn’t realize
how stark those half-dozen words would appear until I typed them. I have spent my life moving between
exultation and bitterness, sometimes in the same day, sometimes in my Leon
Durham or Steve Bartman memories in the space of a few seconds.
I rode high with
Ron Santo’s heel clicks in 1969 and fell to the ground with Don Young’s missed
catch that same summer, symbols of the aura of great men and goats that
surrounds my men in blue.
And now Ron Santo
is gone, another one of the tens of thousands of fans who were born, lived
their lives and then died, never once seeing the team they love defend the
honor of Chicago in the baseball championship of the world.
In 1984, up two
games to none in a five-games series against the San Diego Padres, the Cubs let
the national league west champion back into the series, losing 7-1 in Game 3
and allowing a Steve Garvey homerun in the bottom of the ninth to tie the
series. Then, leading 3-2 in the
seventh of Game 5, with the eventual Cy Young winner, Rick Sutcliffe, on the
mound . . . The Error.
Cubs lose, 6-3.
They installed
lights at Wrigley in 1989. The
Cubs went on to win 93 games and the Eastern Division championship. They won the first two games at home
against the Giants, held leads in each of the next three games, managing to
lose all three.
Just before the
season started in 1998, Harry Caray died.
He would have loved the new flame-throwing rookie, Kerry Wood, a name
Harry could have actually pronounced.
The Cubs finish 90-73 and win a one-game wild card game against the
Giants at Wrigley.
Too much work. The team scores four runs in the series
against Atlanta and spends the next two years in the cellar.
Five years later,
2003, and the magic is back. Five
out of six from St. Louis in September when it actually mattered. Dominant ball against the upstart
Marlins. Five outs away from the
World Serious.
Great men and
goats. Exhilaration and
bitterness.
Which is a lot of
words to get to the Picture of the Week.
Cruising along the
Fort Lauderdale intracoastal waterway yesterday on the Carrie B with my wife
and eldest daughter, one particular feature at one of the many lavish
waterfront estates caught my eye.
With the glare of
the water and the bright blue sky, I couldn’t trust myself until I got home and
downloaded the pictures, but I thought I had seen a Cubs flag beneath the stars
and stripes up on the beautiful home’s flagpole.
I was right, some
fabulously wealthy Cubs fan, was proudly proclaiming loyalty as the team gets
ready to defend the honor of Chicago in a new season.
But look more
closely. The flag is flying upside
down.
In another month or
so, I’ll be on the deck of a Chicago Architecture Foundation tour boat,
narrating the glories of the Chicago River. I will speak nonstop for an hour-and-a-half, describing
between 70 and 80 buildings during that time.
Every one of those
great buildings, except one, has been built since the Cubs last won the World
Series. In some places structures
have been designed, built, torn down and new buildings erected during that
time. In a few cases the cycle has
occurred several times.
A century is a long
time. The flag is flying
upside down.
Go Cubs.
Posts
3 comments:
Do you know the dates/times you'll be leading the tour? I've been wanting to go on it for a while and there'd be no better guide! :)
Hey, Hemant. I'm busy all summer long. It really comes down to when you have some free time. It would definitely be great to see your (now world-famous) face once again!
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