My mother does not care about sports, but even she wanted the Cubs to win the World Series. They haven’t won in almost 108 years, and she thought it would only be fair. But why did random people want the Cubs to win? It speaks to the way that humans desire fairness in all things, even if they have no interest in sports. It’s why, if there’s a game playing, my aunt will always sport whoever is down in points or is the underdog. Because we have little interest in the actual game, and only nominal party loyalty (I am a supporter of the New York Yankees only because my grandfather has their logo between the dates on his tombstone), we can say, “wouldn’t it be cool if they won?” But what do we even know about the Cubs’s past, or chances, or how the curse was started? I didn’t even know there was a goat involved before I started writing this article.
They had the longest postseason drought of any of the four major North American professional sports leagues (The National Football League, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball) at 108 seasons, not winning the World Series since 1908. The Cubs lost some of their star players a little after that, so it was not surprising that they weren’t winning for a while.
However, in 1945, the team was “cursed” by Mr. Billy Sianis, who was kicked out of Wrigley Field. The reason? His pet goat, whom he had brought, was emitting a terrible odor, and bothering the other fans. Sianas cursed the team to never be in the World Series again. The curse worked, as the Cubs had never been in the World Series in the 71 years since.
They have hit many roadblocks on their way to winning a pennant, most notably in 2003, when a fan named Steve Bartman accidentally stopped them from winning a game that would have won them the National League pennant and sent them to the World Series. Bartman reached for a foul ball and interfered with Cubs outfielder Moises Alou, who was in position to make a crucial out. It prolonged the inning and allowed the Marlins to make a comeback win. They lost the next game as well, Steve Bartman was blamed and had to be placed under police protection in order to not be harmed by angry Chicago fans. The extent to which people care about baseball, and sports in general can be a little surprising to people maybe use another word like ‘to people who aren’t interested in sports. But I have a theory as to why it matters so much, and why it would be so satisfying if the Cubs were to win the World Series.
The point of fiction and the point of sports fulfill the same place in human society; they are both things to get passionate about, and care about the participants as well as the outcomes. The Cubs had a great story, no doubt. But i the emotional payout of a World Series trophy has given them the perfect ending. The happy ending of a good story is something that humans crave. The Cubs winning fulfills an emotional reaction for people that don’t care about sports, and helps them to understand why people do care about sports, which can be mystifying at times. The Cubs winning makes people invested in sports that wouldn’t usually care about them, and that’s a very effective way to bring people together.