The Cubs Win It All (Finally)

The Cubs winning the World Series may be the biggest sporting event to happen in Westminster students’ lives, bar none. It had not happened in 108 years, which makes it something our parents’ parents have not witnessed. While the greater St. Louis area considers their arch-rivals winning it all to be a terrible event, there are Cubs fans living among us. Two lifelong Cubs fans in Westminster’s staff are Mr. DeJong in the math department and Rev. Davis in the Bible department.

November 2nd will always live in Cubs fans hearts as the day the curse was broken, but for these two teachers, it was the peak moment in their lifelong love of the team who finally pulled it off. Both teachers favorite Cubs moment of all time was the throw from Kris Bryant to end the game.

This championship, according to Rabbi Davis, means that “hope never dies, that anyone who is brought low can be raised up again.” It’s the ultimate underdog story. Despite 103 wins, the enormity of the pressure of both being labeled baseball’s best and of being baseball’s historic losers never got to the Cubs. All that goes before factoring in the fact that they had to win three straight games after getting out to an early 3-1 series deficit. Rabbi believes this is why the manager, Joe Maddon, was key, noting how Maddon “is a crazy man, but he loosened up the club to get maximum effort out of them.” He went on to talk about the youth of the players, saying “being so young, they didn’t understand the magnitude of what they were accomplishing.”

Theo Epstein, president of baseball operations for the Cubbies, pioneered the end of the curse, for which Rabbi had waited over forty years. Mr. DeJong remembers going to a game every year at Wrigley with his brothers and dad. Cheering on the Cubs for all those years despite their near constant losing took loyalty, and both teachers have lots of it. “You love a team, you love them for them, not the record. There’s nobility in sticking it out faithfully,” says Rabbi.

The final out brought tears to Rabbi’s eyes. Mr. DeJong shouted in glee. The raw emotion in such a historic moment was immense, and last Friday Cubbie nation was out in full force, as 5 million people came to see their beloved team parade around Chicago, as fans told heartfelt stories of how the World Series meant the world to them. The players gave speeches, as Rabbi’s favorite, 39 year old David Ross, who played in his final game in game 7, yelled out “Look what the boys brought me!” as he held the World Series trophy for the roaring crowd to see.

Nothing beats winning, and the Cubs certainly earned some of that. President Theo Epstein asked the crowd in his closing speech, “How many years has it been since the Cubs won it all?” The answer, Cubs fans, is zero.