2015 and the “Long-Suffering” Cubs Fans

[I will, in a few days, post my thoughts on the Cubs’ 2015 season – and next year.  For now, a few thoughts on the Cubs fans’ 2015 season.]

With the Cubs having lost the NLDS to the Mets, we will now see, once again, all kinds of articles about long-suffering Cubs fans.  I explained why I am not a “long-suffering” Cubs fan nine years ago both in this blog and in a letter to the editor that was printed in the Chicago Tribune on October 4, 2006.  (A copy of that letter is attached at the end of this post.)

Let me update that letter a little.  As I said then, I am not a long-suffering Cubs fan because I don’t suffer.  The Cubs may not have won the last game of the year, but we won a lot before that.

More importantly, my kids still come home to go to Cubs games with my wife and me.  In September of 2006, I got on the waiting list for season tickets.  It took five years, but in December of 2011, my name came up.  It was not the best time to start buying season tickets, but we did. 

And so, this season, our daughter and I waited through a five hour and one minute game to see the Cubs beat the Pirates in the twelfth inning.  As she said, the last minute made up for the first 300.  Our son and his fiancé saw Kris Bryant hit two home runs, including a grand slam, on the Fourth of July, to beat Marlins.

Our kids were able to go with us to the wonderful NLDS games against the Cardinals, and they went to NLCS games, too.  We saw Ryno, Kerry, and Fergie throw out first pitches, all wearing Ernie Banks jerseys.  We heard Wayne Messmer do the National Anthem.  And Ernie and Ron sing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” on the videoboard.

The season may not have ended as we hoped, but it was a good one, and we were there as a family.  Which is what being a Cubs fan is all about.  And that’s why we are not long-suffering.

 

UPDATE (10/23/15 9:25 am): An edited version of this post appears in the Voice of the People in today's Chicago Tribune.  You can find an electronic version of it here.