I’m a true Cubs fan. In 2003, when they made the run through the playoffs, I found my pocketbook getting a little slim. I was flying to all these games back and forth and still doing my schedule.
I landed one time at 4 in the morning after one of those games and then had to do a practice session. It was Martinsville. It was quite the experience. Sammy Sosa hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game up. It was as if angels were landing in the outfield. People were just going nuts.
To be up three games on one on the Marlins and not go to the World Series, that was a rough one.
It is confusing. I’m from Las Vegas and I grew up there without a sports team locally to root for. My family is from Chicago, they’re from the western suburbs. . . . So, anyhow, when I came home from elementary school, both my parents worked, I turned the TV on and there was WGN. The Cubs were always playing afternoon games because they had no lights. So here I am, elementary school kid watching WGN with my Cubs.
I picked it up a little bit from my mother. But my uncle was the big sports fan. He loved the Bulls, he loved the Cubs, he’s the one who took me to Triple-A games in Vegas. Just got the bug from that.
So many years of not going to the actual park but being a fan on TV. I went to the park for the first time in 2000. I was 21, 22 years old. I went to a night game that got rained out, but I did get to walk up into the bleachers. I got to the game two hours before, right when the gates opened. I got to walk up in there and see Wrigley Field for the first time from the bleachers.
I had a tear in my eye. It was a moment in one’s life to go to Wrigley for the first time after being a lifelong Cubs fans.
We sat with the Bleacher Creatures the last time we went to Wrigley. It was the Thursday before the Pocono race last August. It’s pretty easy to remember because we won the race.
The good-luck charm was going before the race. [The Cubs] lost. But it was just going to Wrigley. We look for anything for good luck.
We found out the hard way that you have to get there really early if you want to get a seat. My wife Eva and I were able to sit for a while, but we found it more fun just hanging with our group and standing at the back. We all took turns making beer runs, and there were many runs made.
Sitting in the bleachers at the Cubs game was more than just going to watch a game. It was a real event. A happening.
I’ve done the first pitch. That was in 2002. It was incredible. I stood on the mound and soaked it all in. It felt like five minutes, but it was probably only 30 seconds long.
I actually shook off the sign from the catcher. I just kind of shook him off and then I ‘wung’ a fastball in there. It was a little high, a little outside, but the crowd kind of went, ‘O-o-o-o.’ They didn’t expect to see any heat like that. But I gave her a good whirl.
With all the history behind the seventh-inning stretch and singing that song, I sure didn’t want to mess it up. But the neat thing about it was I’ve been a fan so long I knew exactly what I was doing. There’s no telling how many times I’ve been there singing along with whoever they had singing that day. So I knew all the words by heart.
It was such a thrill when I did it that there wasn’t really any apprehension. I just made sure I didn’t goof up.
Yeah, I saw the clip of Jeff (Gordon) butchering it. I’ll bet that, if you asked him, he’d list that whole episode with him referring to it as Wrigley Stadium as one of the most embarrassing situations he’s ever experienced.
It’s not just Jeff who has blundered. They could probably make a whole DVD or two on those who have really made a mess of singing during the seventh-inning stretch.
We’ll miss them in Joliet. We’re too busy. But my 30th birthday’s this year and it falls on Monday after Pocono. It’s kind of funny how Pocono always fits in.
I’ll probably have a dozen people flying in from Las Vegas or North Carlonia to meet us up there and we’re going to celebrate. We’ll be there in full force for my 30th birthday. I think we have a suite lined up.
I did like the Bulls when (Michael) Jordan was there and all the championships. But you find me more times than not rooting for my Bears. I just have something for Chicago teams.
I live in the Carolinas now and have the Carolina Panthers to root for. But when they played each other in the playoffs a couple of years ago, I was definitely on the Bears’ side.
The City and the people in Chicago are true sports fans. You don’t see that much in some of the other cities. But it’s a way of life in Chicago and you have to truly go there and experience it and feel the atmosphere, whether it’s around Wrigley or it’s a game for the Bears.
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smyslenski@tribune.com