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.

May 13: The Hero We Have

It has been impossible to avoid hearing about the news coming out of Cleveland this past week. Three women had been held captive in a house for almost a decade, unbeknownst to the surrounding neighborhood. Only this week, when a neighbor heard a girl trying to escape, did anyone have any idea what was going on.

The man who heard Amanda Berry was Charles Ramsey, a 43 year old African American man, who lived next door. Almost overnight, he became one of the most recognizable men in America, at least for the remainder of his 15 minutes of fame. He has been touted as the hero of the case, having done what was right and what was necessary in a time of need for a young woman he didn’t know.

As any YouTube search of this man will tell you, there is far more going on in this character than the title “hero” can clearly state. First of all, the man is clearly brasher than what many believe to be the common model of hero. His humorous spin on a horrible situation includes a description of the captor’s genital endowment, as well as a menu for the interaction he had had with his monster of a neighbor. His colorful antics have led to a viral video campaign, both of his initial interview and subsequent “remixed” editions.

Within days of his “heroic” actions, however, the news media was having a field day with this man. A record of his past with run-ins with the law have surfaced, forcing the man to answer questions on a public scale that otherwise could have remained private. His description of his meal during the time of the incident, McDonalds, has been scrutinized for whether or not he was looking for some sort of public relations interaction with the corporation. His face now even appears tattooed on the leg of a man in Cleveland who was so moved by Ramsey’s actions.

With one decision, this man not only put himself into position to do what is right in one given moment, but also set himself up for intense media surveillance for however long the public sees fit. In many ways, this has overshadowed the real issue at hand. Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight are now able to return home to their families after their terrible ordeal. Ariel Castro, the man who kidnapped and raped these three women, is finally revealed for the heinous excuse for humanity that he is. And the world is just a little better off knowing that this one case has been brought to a close.

Yet the story is continually muddled. The public wants a hero, wants to be able to put up a protagonist against the horror that was Ariel Castro. For every bad guy, there must be a good guy. And in that moment, Charles Ramsey was a good guy. He did what was needed of him in the moment. In no way shape or form does that require him to become a celebrity, though, and it is up to the public not to be too disappointed when he doesn’t take off his glasses and reveal a cape and super powers.

It doesn’t take a hero to be heroic. It takes a good man, doing the right thing. Something more people should strive to do more often.