How I Becmae a South Side Cub Fan

One of the questions I get asked a lot is just how come I became a Cub’s fan living on the south side. While there are many reasons for this I will relate two stories from my childhood involving both fans of the teams.

A Sox Story
I was twelve and I hadn’t been to many games at Comiskey. My Uncle’s and Dad were Cub fans so when I went to a ballgame it was at Wrigley. However, somehow my Uncle John had procured some free tickets to a Sox game so along with him my Uncle Dan and this guy Phil from White Hen all went out to Sox Park.

The game itself was not really memorable. As a matter of fact I don’t even remember who won but I know the Sox had played the Angels. I remember this as I was jacked up to see Rod Carew the great hitting first baseman of the Angels. The game went by and as usual my Uncle’s figured that they should grab a beer and wait it out while the traffic died down.

Now, I know you are asking how did I get into a bar being twelve. Well, by the time I was twelve I was a bar veteran. I had spent a ton of time in the Wrigley haunts with my Uncles so this was nothing new. (Remember this was the early 80’s when people could actually make their own decisions.) However being at that young age I had made one fatal mistake. I wore a Cubs hat to the game. I am not sure why I did this but I did it.

We headed to McCuddy’s (a legendary south side institution where Babe Ruth himself used to frequent during his playing days) to kill some time and have a couple of cold ones. (Mind you I was still drinking pop back then.) I walked in and immediately was scowled at by the drunken losers at the bar because of my hat. So, as I walked by them they flipped the hat off of my head and started to do a drunken, half stomping, half dance over my now un-wearable hat. Again I was twelve years old and these “men” were easily in their mid-thirties. My Uncle’s looked on in disgust and as we headed out I swore to never root for a team with such a low class of fan.

A Cubs Story
I was ten years old. At this point I was falling in love with the Cubs. (Someone should have staged an intervention.) Bill Buckner, Bruce Sutter, and Ivan DeJesus were my heroes. However in 1979 the Cubs were not exactly having a great year. They were sub .500 and fading fast. Again my Uncle’s Dan and John accompanied me to a game. It was the Cubs and Phillies.

The Cubs routinely in the late 70’s would just get killed by the Phillies and as the game started it appeared the Cubs were on their way again to get beat. They got down five runs and it looked as if all hope was lost. However, in the late innings the Cubs started to come back and then low and behold in the bottom of the ninth the Cubs scored two runs to win it. The place went bonkers (all 8,000 Cub fans who were there) and my Uncle’s both decided that after a win like that they had to grab a cold one.

So, we headed to the Sports Corner located right outside the ballpark. The place was packed and the jubilant Cub fans were whopping it up. Music was blaring, drinks were flowing and it was a great scene for a young man like me to witness. Than something that would rock my ten-year-old ass happened.

Two girls got on top of the bar and started dancing. The drunken males inside the bar started chanting, “Take it off, Take it off” so after a little humming and hawing both girls took off their tops and continued dancing on the bar. I remember my Uncle John asking my Uncle Dan if Nick should see this. His prophetic response was, “He’s going to see it eventually.” So I stood there and my eyes got as big as saucers as I saw for the first time in my life the female forum.

And so, when people ask me how I became a Cub fan I ask you this. After having such opposite experiences at both ballparks, how could you expect me to be anything other than what I am?