I grew up an hour north of Chicago.
Although my family has never been big on sports -- I swear every time I watch the Super Bowl, the team I'm rooting for loses -- I've loved the Cubs since childhood.
Being a Cubs fan has never been easy. My relationship with the team has resulted in heartbreak after heartbreak as I watched their games growing up.
I knew the Cubs had been doing well this season (Facebook always gave me those winning score updates), so much so that I felt comfortable buying a Cubs shirt -- and wearing it!
The moment I discovered that the Cubs would be going to the World Series, I was ecstatic. This team that I've been supporting for the past 18 years (maybe a little less; it did take me a few years to understand that baseball is a thing that exists) has an actual chance of being winners! The only other team to ever bring me such joy has been the Chicago Blackhawks. No offense to our on-more-than-one-occasion-champion hockey team, but the Cubs attending the World Series seems so much more significant.
I watched every World Series game for this post-season religiously. I think everyone who watched the games can agree that they were a religious experience. Never in my life has anything ever caused me to have so many strong emotions -- unbelievable joy, heartbreaking devastation, everything in between.
I never understood why people feel the need to scream at the television screen while watching sports. They know the players can't hear them, and yet there they go, screaming their heads off. However, watching game seven, I completely understand the irrational urge to scream your head off at a piece of technology (They. Wouldn't. Stop. Dropping. The. Ball.).
That final game was so ridiculously close that it's difficult to describe exactly how I was feeling. Nail biting. Hair tearing. Expletive spitting.
It wasn't until Rizzo caught the ball in that final, winning play, that I really grasped what had happened.
The Cubs. Won. The World Series.
108 years.
Cubs fans everywhere screamed and cheered.
Personally, I cried tears of joy.
Here's to the World Series Champions: The Cubs. Here's to breaking a curse. Here's to 108 years. Here's to next year.
