beast of the east
Active member
BAck in 2015 I attended a conference in Chicago in October. The days just happened to overlap with the Mets Cubs Championship series.
I was free evenings and by myself, so when the Mets arrived in Chicago up 2-0, I figured I would buy tickets more cheaply. The week before, the cheapest seats I could find on Subhub were 450 for outside the stadium on the roof of one of the apartment buildings. By game 3 they started to fall.
Not knowing that Stubhub has different cutoff times in different cities, I missed the cutoff in Chicago for when sales are stopped. So I missed game 3 in person.
When the Mets won game 3, I was determined not to make that mistake for game 4, and thankfully, ticket prices continued to fall. I picked up a good seat to the right of home plate for about 200, though it had an obstruction.
Cub fans came out in force and loudly cheered their team. Unfortunately for them the Mets unloaded again early, stayed on top, and with a 6th inning outburst, just about put the game away.
The Cubs and their fans, who had not won a world series series since 1908 had every right to be livid at their playoff collapse. There were a few thousand Met fans at Wrigley, many of whom flooded in that morning, including some college kids who cut classes and bought plane tix. Some 30 something Met fans in front of me celebrated a little too loudly, and a kid in front of me, about 25 or so, blew up after these douchebag MEt fans celebrated a bit too much. But that was isolated.
In the 7th I had to use the rest room and walking over to a sink, a very large Cubs fan called out to me (I was in a Mets T-shirt). "Hey you! Yea, you, with the Mets t-shirt! Come here, I want to ask you something" Now, I could have put my head down and tried to run, but on a piss and soapy water soaked floor, didn't think it a smart idea. So instead I said sheepishly, "Yea, sure." This walking mountain (he was about 6-7 and 350) said to me, "LEt me ask you a question? Are you from NY, or from Chicago?" Now my brain started to race like the IBM super computer, Watson, and I tried to run what the possible outcomes would be from my response to this giant Cubs fan, angry from losing, and twice my size. The most likely: From Chicago, and I'm a traitor. From NY, I'm a hated enemy from the big city. I imagined myself bloody and beaten and soaked in a heap of urine and soapy water on the floor.
I decided to go with the truth and take my chance.with the truth, and see how it went. "I'm from NY," I whispered, and prepared for the worst. The huge guys bellowed, "You're from NEW YORK? NEW YORK!!? " "Umm, yea," "Wow! A fan that follows his team! I loved it! I love it. First time in Chicago?" I smiled and said "no, I've been here before." He put one of his huge mitts on my shoulder and said, "Well, enjoy our city and enjoy the game", and walked away talking to himself "Fans who travel with their team. I love it!"
Now in the 8th inning, Met fans began to mass along the first base line as the crowd thinned. The Mets were awesome. When they won, they celebrated on the moun for a couple of minutes, then came to the rails and celebrated with the fans for much longer before exiting into the dugout.
But then I noticed, that Cub fans had not left their seats. At least half remained, and started applauding their loser Cubs, who now failed to make the Fall Classic for the 107th time in a row. Cubs manager Joe Maddon also did an amazing thing. Soon, the Cubs poured out of the dugout and lined the third base line, waving to the fans and applauding them. The crowd roared and now were to a person on their feet.
These were the nasty cub fans, the Bleacher Bums, who had a reputation for tossing opponents homerun balls back onto the field. The enemy. Yet, that day they were the classiest bunch in thanking their loser Cubs who missed once again to make the World Series.
I thought it was awesome.
You guys might think, "Yea, well that team won 97 games, ad .599 winning percentage." ANd I'd say, yes, and finished in 3rd place in their division out of 5 teams.
Out team finished at 21-12, with a .636 winning percentage.
Our own Panther, preached balance and perspective earlier in the season. Perhaps you may not be ready to do the same after last night's collapse. However, in 2015, it didn't take Cub fans 5 minutes after their season ended to stay and want to thank their guys, their million dollar athletes, for giving them a great run.
Not asking or telling anyone to think like this, but it's a different perspective and a lesson worth learning.
I was free evenings and by myself, so when the Mets arrived in Chicago up 2-0, I figured I would buy tickets more cheaply. The week before, the cheapest seats I could find on Subhub were 450 for outside the stadium on the roof of one of the apartment buildings. By game 3 they started to fall.
Not knowing that Stubhub has different cutoff times in different cities, I missed the cutoff in Chicago for when sales are stopped. So I missed game 3 in person.
When the Mets won game 3, I was determined not to make that mistake for game 4, and thankfully, ticket prices continued to fall. I picked up a good seat to the right of home plate for about 200, though it had an obstruction.
Cub fans came out in force and loudly cheered their team. Unfortunately for them the Mets unloaded again early, stayed on top, and with a 6th inning outburst, just about put the game away.
The Cubs and their fans, who had not won a world series series since 1908 had every right to be livid at their playoff collapse. There were a few thousand Met fans at Wrigley, many of whom flooded in that morning, including some college kids who cut classes and bought plane tix. Some 30 something Met fans in front of me celebrated a little too loudly, and a kid in front of me, about 25 or so, blew up after these douchebag MEt fans celebrated a bit too much. But that was isolated.
In the 7th I had to use the rest room and walking over to a sink, a very large Cubs fan called out to me (I was in a Mets T-shirt). "Hey you! Yea, you, with the Mets t-shirt! Come here, I want to ask you something" Now, I could have put my head down and tried to run, but on a piss and soapy water soaked floor, didn't think it a smart idea. So instead I said sheepishly, "Yea, sure." This walking mountain (he was about 6-7 and 350) said to me, "LEt me ask you a question? Are you from NY, or from Chicago?" Now my brain started to race like the IBM super computer, Watson, and I tried to run what the possible outcomes would be from my response to this giant Cubs fan, angry from losing, and twice my size. The most likely: From Chicago, and I'm a traitor. From NY, I'm a hated enemy from the big city. I imagined myself bloody and beaten and soaked in a heap of urine and soapy water on the floor.
I decided to go with the truth and take my chance.with the truth, and see how it went. "I'm from NY," I whispered, and prepared for the worst. The huge guys bellowed, "You're from NEW YORK? NEW YORK!!? " "Umm, yea," "Wow! A fan that follows his team! I loved it! I love it. First time in Chicago?" I smiled and said "no, I've been here before." He put one of his huge mitts on my shoulder and said, "Well, enjoy our city and enjoy the game", and walked away talking to himself "Fans who travel with their team. I love it!"
Now in the 8th inning, Met fans began to mass along the first base line as the crowd thinned. The Mets were awesome. When they won, they celebrated on the moun for a couple of minutes, then came to the rails and celebrated with the fans for much longer before exiting into the dugout.
But then I noticed, that Cub fans had not left their seats. At least half remained, and started applauding their loser Cubs, who now failed to make the Fall Classic for the 107th time in a row. Cubs manager Joe Maddon also did an amazing thing. Soon, the Cubs poured out of the dugout and lined the third base line, waving to the fans and applauding them. The crowd roared and now were to a person on their feet.
These were the nasty cub fans, the Bleacher Bums, who had a reputation for tossing opponents homerun balls back onto the field. The enemy. Yet, that day they were the classiest bunch in thanking their loser Cubs who missed once again to make the World Series.
I thought it was awesome.
You guys might think, "Yea, well that team won 97 games, ad .599 winning percentage." ANd I'd say, yes, and finished in 3rd place in their division out of 5 teams.
Out team finished at 21-12, with a .636 winning percentage.
Our own Panther, preached balance and perspective earlier in the season. Perhaps you may not be ready to do the same after last night's collapse. However, in 2015, it didn't take Cub fans 5 minutes after their season ended to stay and want to thank their guys, their million dollar athletes, for giving them a great run.
Not asking or telling anyone to think like this, but it's a different perspective and a lesson worth learning.
