Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty)
I have been a Cubs my entire life. I “went” to Wrigley for the first time in utero when my mother was seven months pregnant, and yes, she even sat in the bleachers. The parental wisdom of that move aside, it is safe to say being a Cubs fan was in my blood, and I have been hooked ever since.
Like any long-suffering Cubs fan, I watched this season with a healthy dose of pessimism.
Yes, they had the best record in the MLB for the majority of the season, but I told myself to remain calm and prepare for the inevitable. When the inevitable never came to pass, I watched the Cubs advance throughout the playoffs with the aid of the same dose of pessimism and an ever-present bottle of Old Style near by. And I squirmed, cursed, begged and pleaded with anyone who would listen as they treacherously reached the coveted Game 7 of the World Series.
Although I am located in the Midwest and could have gone to any of the previous games in either Chicago or Cleveland, I selfishly wanted to wait for the big one. The one where the Cubs had a chance of going all the way. And while they took their time getting there, I finally had my chance last evening.
Game 7.
The game my late grandfather, our family’s Cubs patriarch, swore to me would one day come.
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The game my mother and I said we would attend regardless of the cost or location.
The game my wife lovingly agreed to let me attend knowing doing so might mean our vacation to Italy may well have to be replaced by a trip to Olive Garden instead.
But when the time came to purchase my ticket on Stubhub, I could not bring myself to do it. I was sitting in my office with the ticket in my shopping bag, but I knew I could not finalize my purchase.
In doing so, I would have had to email my team to let them know I was leaving for the day and would be out the following day as well. And since I have been proudly flying my W flag in my office throughout the playoffs, it would be pretty tough to disguise where I was headed.
Not only that, but the news media has been awash with stories of how tickets to this World Series were the most expensive in recent memory. So in addition to leaving my team early to chase a childhood dream, they would know I just spent more on a night of baseball than some of them earn in a month.
And while I work for a very understanding and sympathetic boss, I am sure canceling my afternoon meetings with her might have taken me out of contention for the employee of the month award.
So I made the painful decision to let the timer on my ticket expire, and I turned back to answering what was another routine email during another routine day at the office.
After work, I watched the greatest game in Cubs’ history, and I would have loved nothing more than to celebrate the win live in Cleveland. But after drying a few tears from my eyes and somehow unwinding enough to get a couple hours of sleep, I joined my team in the morning for some small talk about the game.
It was certainly not the beer shower I would have received celebrating in stands with my fellow fans, but I will take it. While I cannot put a price on this piece of Cubs’ history, I have learned to value my employees’ respect a bit more.
Stephen R. Williams is in-house counsel with a multi-facility hospital network in the Midwest. His column focuses on a little talked about area of the in-house life, management. You can reach Stephen at [email protected].