Sacerdotus - "Come now, let us reason together." Isaiah 1:18

Thursday, November 3, 2016

'Billy Goat Curse Over:' Chicago Cubs Win World Series 2016!

The Chicago Cubs have just won the World Series!  This win is significant and historical. The Cubs have not won a World Series in 108 years. To put it in perspective, the last time the Cubs won was in 1908. In this year, Babe Ruth, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, Amelia Earhart were still alive; some, even children! Moreover, the Titanic did not even sail yet. In other words, this was a very long time go that the Cubs held a World Series trophy. Moreover, they won after coming back from a 3-1 situation where the Indians were just one game away from winning.




After a century, the Cubs finally made it to the series facing the Cleveland Indians who themselves have not won since 1948. Many attribute the winning drought to the "Billy-Goat Curse." The story goes that William Sianis, who was called "Billy Goat" was stopped from entering Wrigley Field in 1945 for Game 4 of the series. The reason he was prevented entry was because of his goat who he named Murphy.  Fans complained of the goat's stench and the fact that they did not want to sit next to one. Sianis, had purchased a ticket for the goat!  Afterbeing prevented entry, Sianis told the people present, "You are going to lose the World Sires and ya'll ain't gonna ever win another World Series again."  Afterthis, the Cubs never won again.  Some have even believed that the curse continued with a black cat that ran in front of the dugout where the Cubs were sitting in the 1969 season when the Cubs did not make it to the playoffs. Furthermore, Cubs fan Steve Bartman has also been blamed for alledgedly continuing the curse after in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, he deflected the ball while trying to catch it which prevented left fielder Moises Alou from catching it.  This led to a disastrous loss.








In keeping with a fun sense of superstition, the Cubs even tried to "get rid" of the curse by inviting the nephew of William Sianis to bring a goat which was descended from Murphy, the goat. They even invited a Greek Orthodox priest to bless the dugout with holy water. Well, it seems, the curse was finally broken on November 3, 2016. The Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in the 10th inning 8 to 7. Chicago was winning the game most of the time until former Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman was put in to close the game in the 7th inning. He had poor control which led to a tying home run by Rajai Davis of the Indians. This led to extreme panic and stress among the Cubs and their fans. In fact, pitcher Aroldis Chapman started crying in the dugout possibly feeling guilty that he ruined the Cubs' chance to finally win the World Series. However, this was not the case.  The Cubs would come back after a 17-minute rain delay and win the game after Ben Zobrist hit an RBI double and Miguel Montero singled a run home.  The game ended at 12:47 AM with a throw to first base.  Immediately, the Cubs ran on the field in celebration  Cubs fans present in Progessive Field erupted with cheers and back home in Chicago, the fans there went to the streets to celebrate. Ben Zobrist was named the series' MVP and was given a convertible car.

Many are crediting, General Manager Theo Epstein for putting together this great team. Ironically, he helped break another famous curse, "The Curse of the Bambino" which was believed to have been placed on the Boston Red Sox after they sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1918. After this transaction, they never won a World Series only coming up short in 1986 against the New York Mets. In 2004, the Red Sox finally "broke" this alleged curse and brought back a World Series win after 86 years. The Sox would repeat a win in 2007.  However, credit must be given to the players and manager Joe Maddon, who did an excellent job managing the game even when he made some mistakes.

As a Yankee fan, I congratulate the Cubs on their win. They truly earned it and deserve it. 108 years was just way too long.  Many people passed on waiting to see the Cubs win. Those of us who witnessed it today are extremely fortunate. In related news regarding superstitious ideas, some believe the movie "Back To The Future" with Michael J. Fox starring as Marty McFly predicted the win.. sort of. The movie shows a scene where Fox's character Marty goes to the future and sees a marqee board stating that the Cubs won the World Series. The year is 2015. Moreover, even more accurate "predictions" come from a year book and a tweet. In a 1993 year book, student Michael Lee wrote that the Cubs would win the World Series in 2016. Twitter user, "RaysFanGio" tweeted in 2014 that the World Series would have a faceoff between the Cubs and Indians and that the game would be tied and run into extra innings!








In any event, we all know that the great talent of the Cubs is what led them to win. Curses and other things of that nature are non-existent and used to give some drama to sporting events. I must say that this year's World Series was amazing and will go down as one the best. Usually, World Series without the New York Yankees are a bore, but this one was worth the admission price, so to speak. The Cleveland Indians did a great job as well and are not "losers." This team fought hard and earned their spot. They did not quit and performed nicely on the field. They deserve an applause.  Chicago is now an active party scene with people flocking the streets celebrating. This is one celebration that will last possibly months!  Here are some tweets showing the course of events:


















































































































Source:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/believe-it-cubs-win-first-world-series-since-1908-in-epic-game-7-044802379.html

http://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/world-series-game7-indians-cubs?mod=e2tw

http://abc7chicago.com/sports/world-series-2016-cubs-force-game-7-vs-indians-winner-to-make-history/1585078/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/10/25/chicago-cubs-billy-goat-curse-explained/92715898/

 https://www.cnet.com/news/chicago-cubs-cleveland-indians-world-series-1908-tech-triumphs/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/neil-degrasse-tyson-chicago-cubs_us_581a963fe4b0c43e6c1e0848

https://twitter.com/i/moments/794048619624022017

https://twitter.com/i/moments/793929502900396032

https://twitter.com/i/moments/794050243088117760





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