Giving Up Baseball for Life

Last night, if my hair wasn’t already white, it would have turned white. The nail-biting seventh game of the World Series nearly did me in. I don’t do sports, but I do do the Cubs. It started back in the ’80s when Jason introduced me to baseball. He’s been a life-long Twins fan, and he can quote their statistics like he’s a sports almanac (as well as trivia about most any team or popular sport). But besides Kirby Puckett, I never really got hooked on the Twins. But the Cubs? I knew all the players. I have a pink Cubs hat, covered in Cubs pins. On 8/8/88 when they put up the lights for the first night game, we watched the monumental game (a controversial addition because die-hard fans didn’t want to adulterate and commercialize the old stadium). I have a Cubs jacket. I remember Cubs games. If anyone mentions Harry Carey, I not only know who you’re talking about, but I can hear his voice echoing in my head singing at the Seventh-Inning Stretch. And last night, I decided, once I lived through the ordeal, that once every 108 years is enough for me. I also realized that I don’t even like sports. I don’t want to watch them, I don’t want to follow them. It’s too stressful. I just don’t want my team to lose the World Series. The process was not enjoyable. Sadly, I couldn’t have fun along the way because it was too precarious. Now that they’ve won, I don’t need to ever look again. I’m putting my hat and coat back in the closet. It’s too much stress to worry about.

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​I went back through old photo albums to see some of the games we attended. We have pictures of friends we went to games with, and we have photos of the players on the field, and even pictures of Harry, but I didn’t get any of Jason and me at a Cubs game. I did find one of Jason at a Twins v. White Sox game down at the old Comiskey Park before they demolished and rebuilt it. And I have a picture of the famous Wrigley score board after a win. And there is one of me at a Rockies game. But I wish I had one of us at Wrigley. We could go back sometime and get a new one. But then again, I guess I can’t—because after last night, I gave up baseball for life.

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