THE BILLY GOAT, THE BLACK CAT, AND BARTMAN

Since the Cubbies are starting their playoff series tomorrow, I thought it would be a good time to make this post, which talks about our Cubs history/ information for all you new (bandwagon) fans out there. Haha, just kidding about the bandwagoners, any fans are welcome here, so no offense. Now during the upcoming playoffs you will hear these following words uttered a million times... the Billy Goat, the Black Cat, Bartman, Gatorade Glove, 1908, so get used to it playas. After talking with a few of my friends, I found out that a lot of people did not know the real stories behind these phrases, so I just wanted to take a few minutes of your time, and explain them all here. These Cubbies stories are pretty interesting regardless of if you are a Cubs fan or not, so definitely check them out. Here goes:

• The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908. Yes, we are coming up on a 100 years here, so you can see why everyone is always a little nutty around Chicago when the Cubs make the postseason. We had a rally for the Cubs just making the playoffs for Christs sake.
  
• Now a lot of people believe that the Cubs have never won another World Series since then because of a curse. The "Curse of Billy The Goat Sianis" or as we Cubs fans call it "The Billy Goat Curse". Everyone in the world has heard of this so called "curse", but a lot of people I talk to do not actually know the history behind the curse, so let me break it down for you :

  As the story goes, Billy Sianis, a Greek immigrant (from Paleopyrgos, Greece), who owned a nearby tavern (the now-famous Billy Goat Tavern), had two $7.20 box seat tickets to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers, and decided to bring along his pet goat, Murphy (or Sinovia according to some references), which Sianis had restored to health when the goat had fallen off a truck and subsequently limped into his tavern. The goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it which read "We got Detroit's goat". Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field and even paraded about on the playing field before the game before ushers intervened and led them off the field. After a heated argument, both Sianis and the goat were permitted to stay in the stadium occupying the box seat for which he had tickets. At this point, Andy Frain (head of Wrigley Field's hired security company at the time), waved the goat's box-seat ticket in the air and proclaimed "If he eats the ticket that would solve everything." However, the goat did not. Before the game was over, Sianis and the goat were ejected from the stadium at the command of Cubs owner Philip Knight Wrigley due to the animal's objectionable odor. Sianis was outraged at the ejection and allegedly placed a curse upon the Cubs that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series at Wrigley Field again because the Cubs organization had insulted his goat, and subsequently left the U.S. to vacation in his home in Greece. The Cubs lost Game 4 and eventually the 1945 World Series, prompting Sianis to write to Wrigley from Greece, saying, "Who stinks now?" Following a third-place finish in the National League in 1946, the Cubs would finish in the league's second division for the next 20 consecutive years. This streak finally ended in 1967, the year after Leo Durocher became the club's manager. Since that time, the supposedly cursed Cubs have not won a National League pennant or played in a World Series – the longest pennant drought in Major League history. Sianis died in 1970(All from Wikipedia). Pretty rowdy right? Now if you have read my Cubs posts before, you will know that I too am a believer of this dreadful curse, kinda. Sorry, but I can't help it after everything we have been through since I was a kid, so bite me. Anyways, hopefully we can put an end to all these curse stories after this year, so pray with me now!

• Here is another crazy story from the 1969 Cubs team. In 1969 the Cubs had an amazing squad which included Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, Fergie Jenkins, and Billy Williams, all of whom are hall of fame talent. The Cubs were rolling on everyone that year, and at one point had amounted a 8.5 game lead in the division. The race got interesting by September though, and the Cubs went to NY for a huge series, when it happened... THE BLACK CAT NIGHT. Midway through that important game, Mets fans released a black cat, and it ran right towards Ron Santo who was waiting at the on deck circle. The black cat then just stared at Santo for a while with a haunting glare. After that it ran into the Cubs dugout, where it just stared down the Cubs players. The Cat just walked around, back and forth, and in circles for a while as the whole stadium just watched in amazement. The Cubs went on to lose that game and then collapsed that September. Another classic and crazy Cubs story huh? Get used to it guys, because we're the CUBS damnit!
• Yup, there's more, ready? In 1984 the Cubs were in the NLCS, and were up in the series 2 games to 0. They were also up 3-2 going into the bottom of the 7th in a decisive game 5. In that inning a ball rolled right under Leon Durham's glove, similar to the Bill Buckner play in the 86 WS. The runner scored and the Padres went on to win the game 6-3 as well as make it to the the World Series that year. That error is also known as the Gatorade Glove Play, because there was some Gatorade spilled on his glove in the dugout right before he came out to play the field. What are the odds of that happening?? People believe this is another incident attributed to the curse or that this is a separate curse in itself. The saga continues...
• Now if you are a Cubs fan, and if you are around my age, I am 29 now, so your late 20's, you know about the BARTMAN Incident. Heck, even if you aren't a cubs fan, I am sure you have heard about Bartman and the infamous foul ball that night at Wrigley. It was October 14, 2003 and the Cubs were playing the Marlins in Game 6 of the NLCS. The Cubs had an amazing team that year, spearheaded by their three young guns, Prior, Wood, and Zambrano. We were 5 outs away from making it to the World Series, from finally doing the unthinkable, breaking the curse, and then it happened! It was the top of the eight, and Mark Prior was pitching a 3 hit shutout when Luis Castillo came up to the plate. Bartman was sitting in the now infamous box seat (aisle 4, row 8, seat 113), when Castillo hit a pop up foul shot right towards Bartman and the left field wall. Alou broke for the ball and made a great play for it, but Bartman got to the ball first, and it was all downhill after that. Alou started shouting and pointing towards Bartman, as he slammed his glove in frustration asking for interference from the umps, but to no avail. In Alou's defense, it did look like he would've made the play if Bartman had not been there, at least I think so. Well, the rest is pretty much history. The Cubs went on to give up 8 runs in that inning, and to lose the series in 7 games bringing back all the bad memories of these so called curses. Now one thing a lot of people forget about the Bartman incident is that when the next hitter was up, Alex Gonzalez, our shortstop at the time, blew a fairly routine double play ball which would have ended the inning. This botched double play, opened up the floodgates, and I feel now, was the real reason for our demise. Also, now that I look back on it, most people probably would have done what Bartman did. He was just a fan trying to grab a foul ball, all of us have done it before at a game, so I don't think you can blame him for us losing the entire series or even that game. You can tell just by looking at Bartman, that he is one of those nerdy, hardcore Cubs fans. He is one of those fans that listens to the local radio station during the game, and writes down the box scores on every play. It is actually well known that Bartman is a huge Cubs fan himself, so I am sure there was no malicious intent on his part either. The poor guy even donates all the money he makes from that incident to the Ron Santo Diabetes Fund, so you have to feel for the guy. Hey I'll admit it, I too f'd up. My buddy Anil worked with Bartman at Hewitt at the time, so I actually went on their website directory and sent the guy hate mail calling him a moron and some other not so nice obscenities too. The poor guy literally got run out of town, and now travels with bodyguards because of fans like us. Poor Bartman. I think I just said poor and Bartman together like 8 times now, so I'm sure you get the drift. Unfortunately for him, he will always be remembered as apart of one of the biggest moments in Cubs history, and his face now goes hand in hand with the words CURSE in Chicago. Anyways, that sums up the curses, but there's more, so keep reading.
• I am praying that we can REVERSE THE CURSE, and bring home a WORLD SERIES to Chicago. We have a solid squad this year (the best in my lifetime) and a great manager, so hopefully we can make this happen. The only thing that scares me, is that everyone is jumping on the Cubs bandwagon right now, or rooting for us because of our curse story. Although I am happy for the cheers, I think that is a jinx! Can you blame me, I'm a Cubs fan remember?
• Here are just some other little tidbits that people might not know. If you sit in the bleachers and the opposing team hits a home run, you are supposed to throw that ball back into the outfield. Yes, even if it is the record breaking home run ball hit by Barry Bonds, or a HR hit by your favorite player, or whatever the case may be, you toss it back. If you don't, every bleacher bum will boo, heckle, and probably pour their beer on your head, so just throw back the damn ball!
  
• Another interesting fact is that the Wrigley Field was actually the first home of the Bears back in the day. They played there from 1921-1970, and a lot of great football players battled there, during that time. I just thought that was pretty cool.
  
• Ever wonder what Eamus Catuli means on the Wrigley rooftop? I got this definition from the Web that explains pretty dead on what it means. On one of those rooftops across the street from Wrigley, there is a sign that says Eamus Catuli with some cryptic numbers next to it. "Eamus Catuli" is presumably Latin for "Go Cubs!" The cryptic numbers, before Saturday read "AC 145895" and it means The Year of the Cubs then the number of years since the Cubs' last division title (14), pennant (58), and World Series (95). That's right - the Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908! Wow... Now, those numbers read "AC 005895" - We hope soon it will read "AC 000000"!!!!
• Lastly if you are wondering what the words are to our catchy Cubs theme song that you hear on the radio and basically everywhere now, it goes:
  

  Baseball season's underway
  Well you better get ready for a brand new day.
  Hey, Chicago, what do you say
  The Cubs are gonna win today.

  They're singing ...
  Go, Cubs, go
  Go, Cubs, go

  Hey, Chicago, what do you say
  The Cubs are gonna win today.

  Go, Cubs, go
  Go, Cubs, go

  Hey, Chicago, what do you say
  The Cubs are gonna win today.

  They got the power, they got the speed
  To be the best in the National League
  Well this is the year and Cubs are real
  So come on down to Wrigley Field

  We're singing now ...

  Go, Cubs, go
  Go, Cubs, go
  Hey, Chicago, what do you say
  The Cubs are gonna win today.

  Go, Cubs, go
  Go, Cubs, go
  Hey, Chicago, what do you say
  The Cubs are gonna win today.

  Baseball time is here again
  You can catch it all on WGN
  So stamp you feet and clap your hands
  Chicago Cubs got the greatest fans.

  You're singing now ...

  Go, Cubs, go
  Go, Cubs, go
  Hey, Chicago, what do you say
  The Cubs are gonna win today.

  Go, Cubs, go
  Go, Cubs, go
  Hey, Chicago, what do you say
  The Cubs are gonna win today.

If you have any stories that you want to know more about, or can think of anything I missed, definitely let me know. GO CUBS GO! IT'S GONNA HAPPEN!!!