October 17th: Fly The W

My alarm goes off at 7:30 AM, signaling the end of my second night in a row with fewer than four hours of sleep. The night before, the Cubs and Cardinals clashed in a first-round playoff game. I wasn’t going to miss a single pitch, even from the other side of the globe.

It has been seven seasons since the Cubs last made the playoffs, and that one didn’t have nearly the energy and engagement that this one has. For the first time in recent memory, the Cubs are exciting and actually good. All summer long, fans and sportswriters have been buzzing with the idea that, after years of suffering, Chicago fans are finally going to have something to cheer about during the month of October.

Of course, this comes when I am out of the country for a year. My city is bonding together in support of the team I love, and I am missing it.

I am an incredibly proud Chicagoan. Chicago is my home, the source of my sports fandom, my cultural identity, and so much more. Yet, over the last five years, I’ve spent almost 75% of my time away from my hometown, from sumers at camp to years at school. That is what makes my relationship with the Cubs so much more than just a baseball fan watching some games. I am a resident in exile, longing for home in any way that I can.

So I stay up to watch. At three in the morning, my room feels like the only light in Jerusalem, my silent cheers sprinting their way across the globe to spur on my boys in blue. I live-tweet my way through the games, joining the fan bases as they attempt to get in on the action in any way possible. I haven’t left the house without my Cubs hat on since the playoffs began, and my sports superstitions are reaching a point of borderline lunacy. Thanks to technology, I’ve been able to stay tuned in much better than I could have years ago. I watch the games on my computer live, with only a moment or two of delay. I’m right there for every pitch, watching with all of those fans in America and abroad.

Better yet, I know I’m not the only believer living in the Cubs-Diaspora. Walking down the streets in Jerusalem, I have been high-fived and cheered on several occasions, fans far away from home sharing in the glory of a late autumn “Go Cubs Go!”

I know that, as my life goes on in the direction it’s going, I will spend much of my time away from the city I call home. No matter where I live, though, I’ll alway have my Cubs to celebrate, to struggle with, and to give me that little piece of where I belong. This season, the Cubs have been my tether, and I am going to be glued to the screen for every pitch. Let’s fly the W.

If you enjoy the work of the Zoot Perspective, please visit my GoFundMe page, to help support me on my journey. Thank you very much.

For more content from ZPMedia, visit www.zootperspective.com.

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.

All-star Selection

I am a huge baseball fan. I watch as many games as I can. I check all of the box scores online the day after. I follow almost every player and every stat.

One of the most fun things about baseball is the All-star game. Voting for the players that perform each and every day simply excites me. I love logging on and voting over and over again for my favorites. This year, I was an avid fan of my favorite player, Josh Hamilton. I voted the 25 vote maximum for him, as well as many of his peers.

Selection Sunday brings two very different emotions. The first is excitement. I can't wait to hear which players won the vote, and which were selected by their peers. The second emotion, though, is often one of confusion. People don't understand why player A got in and player B got "snubbed".

I can understand when people are strong advocates for certain players who SHOULD have made the team but didn't. What I don't like is when TV shows, editorial articles, and fans question why certain players DID make the team.

Case in point: Omar Infante is a utility player for the Atlanta Braves. He was selected to the All-Star team for the first time. When he was called by the General Manager of the Braves to be told he was selected, he thought he had been traded and thought that it was a cruel joke to have made the team. Once he believed it though, he was thrilled. Why is it, then, that ESPN should take that joy away from him by telling him he really isn't good enough to have made the team? Why is it acceptable to tell a man that all the work he has done has finally payed off and now it is called into quesiton?

Let the guy have his day. Don't take away one man's excitement just because there may have been a better candidate. Joey Votto, the Reds' first baseman was really snubbed. He should have made the team. He didn't. And although it is great to chatter over who should have gotten the nod, it isn't right to take away someone's pride just because of a game. Let's not forget that baseball, and really all sports, are just that, a game. This game is supposed to be for fun, not for tearing each other apart.

During the game and Home Run Derby beforehand, I hope everybody, fan, player, and even Umpire, simply enjoys the festivities,rather than wasting the fun by slamming certain players.