Root Root Root for the Home Team

Wrigley Field is a hotly contested issue right now. The Cubs are struggling with the city of Chicago for several different points, including the ability to advertise and a proposal for significant building renovations. Alternative playing venues have discussed, including a Schaumburg team offering to give their playing field to the Cubs for the remainder of the season, as well as an offer from the mayor of Rosemont to build a new stadium in the Chicago suburbs.

For only the second time in several years, I had the chance to go back to Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs take on the Rockies this past week. The drive down to the city at 5 o’clock was painfully slow, and parking was a pain in the butt, but once we made it to the park, I had that moment that all baseball fans know so well: walking through the tunnel until it opens up on the expanse of the field.

It was a beautiful night for baseball, and the Cubs did as we expected: lost. Yet the atmosphere was more electric than a sub-par team should expect from their home fans. Walking around the concourse, I was struck by the sheer number of Cubs hats, t-shirts, and smiles adorned on so many fans, a fairly significant crowd for a Tuesday night game.

As a college student who spends 10 months of the year outside of the Chicago area, it was a pretty special opportunity to spend some time at a landmark I so idolize. Getting Cubs baseball on TV is a rare treat in mid/southern Indiana, and getting the chance to get it at its source was particularly wonderful.

You would be hard pressed to find a more dedicated and passionate Cubs fan out there than I am. Yet, if it was possible, I became even more enthusiastic about my team after I went to school. Being surrounded by people from all around the country and world, it can be difficult to find any real connection to where you are from. Sports teams are one of the ways to connect with the city that you call home. While my interest in the Bears has never been particularly rabid, this past season I found myself keeping up with the Monsters of the Midway far more than ever before. It wasn't because of some new-found appreciation for Jay Cutler. It was because the Chicago Bears represented my home town, and offered me the opportunity to connect with my friends and family who may live in different places, but will always love sweet home Chicago.

Now that the Cubs are considering moving to the suburbs, going to Cubs games would be far easier. Instead of an hour long Odyssey with limited parking and a relatively small ballpark comparatively, we could have a twenty minute trip to a new mega-stadium, built to match the size and commitment of the Chicago fan base.

If the move happened, though, home would be a little different. Going to a Cubs game would be easier, but it would also require a whole new collection of memories. The pair of seats down the first base line where I caught the ball tossed by the Montreal Expos First Base Coach with my dad wouldn't be there anymore. The seats near the right field foul pole where I saw the Cubs and Padres get into a fight wouldn't exist. The place where, as a small boy, I imagined playing, umpiring, managing, broadcasting, whatever it may be, it would all have to move, to change.

In a college student’s life, there is plenty of change. Sometimes it is nice to know that, no matter how far away you go, you can always come back to watch the home town team play ball.