Enjoy Watching A Sport That You Don't Care About

     
When I was eight years old, my dad took me to an I-Cubs game, a rare sporting event in my childhood. The I-Cubs are an AAA team that is the testing ground for the major league team, the Chicago Cubs. During the third inning, I turned to my dad and asked him when the game was going to start. That, in nutshell, describes my relationship with baseball.

            When I was twelve, I decided to join little league. I didn’t really know anything about baseball, but the concept was simple: hit the ball and run around the bases. Basically it was kickball with more danger. The first meeting was at a public park with dozens of kids. Granted, the neighborhood wasn’t too nice and I did notice that the grounds and fencing were a little shabby. What I didn’t notice was a drug deal happening on the corner as we were dividing up into teams. Needless to say, I didn’t get to go back. My baseball career ended before it had even started.

            This year, for his birthday, my friend, Cree wanted to go to a baseball game. I don’t really have a favorite team, because I am not a fan of the sport. But, if I was forced to name a team to root for, I would probably say the Cubs, because they are the closest team to where I live. Cree and I allowed three and a half hours for travel, but arrived in four due to construction. We did not buy tickets in advance, figuring that we could buy them at the gate. My thought was that it was a Thursday afternoon game, therefore it shouldn’t be too busy. Cree, who worked at the University of Iowa ticket office throughout college, supposed that there would still be plenty left over, as well. While we didn’t know what was a good seat, Cree thought that the ticket office cashier would be able to give us some insight as to where to sit.

     As we got closer to the stadium, we realized that we didn’t know where we were going to park. Then we started to see people holding up signs to park in their lot, driveway, yard, etc. Three blocks away from Wrigley Field, we found a guy holding up a sign for fifteen dollars; the cheapest that we had seen. He let us park in his driveway and told us that we had an hour after the game was over to move our car. Then he asked us for twenty dollars.

           We didn’t exactly know where Wrigley was, so we just followed the sound and eventually the crowd. Once we found it, the game had already started. They were playing division rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers. As we approached the box office, we could see that it was the bottom of the first, and the Cubs were already down 2-1. As it turned out, the cheap seats were all sold out. I had no problem upgrading to the next level, thinking of the day as a birthday celebration with Cree. Because we had a long drive, we headed for the bathrooms as soon as we entered the stadium. As we walked out, I saw that the score was now tied at two apiece. By the time that we sat in our seats, the Cubs were down 2-4. Because we had been racing the clock, it wasn’t until I was in my seat that I was able to start absorbing the game day experience.

       As a non-fan, I hoped that the scoring kept moving at such a pace. I think that I get bored with baseball because, in addition to the fact that the scores tend to be low, there isn’t much of a constant team flow. When I watch baseball, it seems like a competition between a pitcher and batter, while the other guys stand around and wait for a chance to do something. Sports like basketball and football have constant motion with all of the players moving. Even soccer, which tends to have similar scores as baseball, stays in motion for the whole game. But my intention was not to bash the sport, but to enjoy the experience of being at my first professional sporting event.

I was surprised to see that most of the seats were full. It made me wonder what so many people were doing away from work on a Thursday afternoon. What I later found out was that there weren’t even lights installed to play night games in Wrigley until 1988. That explained why there were so many people at a day game. To this day, most games are played during the day. Not only were the people there, but they were active participants in the game. They were constantly cheering, yelling and clapping.

I must say that I spent more time watching the people attending the game than those that were playing it. Occasionally, I would get sucked into the action with a stolen base or foul ball. I jumped to my feet and applauded when I saw a homerun single in the bottom of the second inning. As I was standing, Cree handed me some money and a stranger’s driver’s license. I passed it along down the line and watched it until it ended up with the beer man. It struck me as odd that in such a big city as Chicago, people trusted others enough to pass along such items. The beer was $7 a cup. I had a harder time paying for a beer for both of us than I did for the upgraded ticket cost.

The game was halted in the bottom of the fourth inning when a ball ricocheted off the tip of a bat and hit the umpire in the groin. Play was stopped as he rocked back and forth, cupping his hands between his legs. The crowd gave out a loud groan each time a replay was shown on one of the TVs that were posted throughout the stadium. The umpire got a well deserved standing ovation as he waved to the crowd and continued the game. By that time, the game Cubs were winning 6-4.

The high scoring inevitably slowed and I started to pay more attention to the stadium itself. I never made a mental connection between Wrigley Field and Wrigley gum until I started to do some research for this posting. I did recognize the ivy covered walls, but I didn’t realize that they were the only such walls in all of Major League Baseball. Then my eyes wandered up to the giant scoreboard looming over the field, and I noticed a square disappear, only to be replaced by another. I pointed it out to Cree and he told me that this is another unique aspect of Wrigley. The scoreboard was not digitized. In fact, there are several people that stand inside the scoreboard changing numbers for the current game as well as updating the scores on other games. This is not only a rare aspect to the stadium, but it also can not be changed. Apparently, Wrigley Fields’ landmark status prevents it from getting many upgrades.

During the bottom of the 6^th, Cree bought more beer, and the scoring picked up again. At the end of the 7^th, the Cubs were winning 9-5. With the game seemingly won, there were a few pockets of people that started to leave. The group of guys sitting behind me was offended by this.

“There’s still a few more innings left, ladies.” One of them yelled. It reminded me of something told me about Cubs fans. I was told that the Cubs were never good long enough to have bandwagon fans, so if somebody said that they were a Cubs fan, chances are that they were truly loyal to the team. Despite the fact that sport of baseball doesn’t pique my interest too much, it was quite exciting being at a game. This was a stadium where little had changed in the last century filled with people rooting for a team that was fifteen games behind the division leader. This is what created such a great atmosphere; the passion for an event. A game. A team. On a random Thursday afternoon.

How about you? Have you been to a game recently? Is there a stadium/arena/court that you have fond memories of?