Cubs Fans Deserved Their Historic World Series Win

I’ve had time to sit and think.

The Chicago Cubs are the 2016 World Series Champions.

World. Series. Champions. What does that mean? How can I capture what I was feeling as Kris Bryant, with a huge grin on his face, fielded the final ground ball of the Cubs’ storybook ending? Obviously, I cannot write about this experience in your typical, “Hey, the Cubs did something good” story. It is definitely a news article, but it surely felt like more than that.

I am not a Cubs fan. I have never even been to Chicago (though it seems like a nice place) for any more more than a cancelled flight, causing me to spend one lone night the Windy City. Despite this, as the clock kept ticking later and later--midnight, 12:15, 12:45 (just minutes before the final out)--I felt something within me that I rarely ever feel: euphoria.

It is obviously in the nature of a sports fan to almost feel the intensity of moments like these within themselves. But for me, and I don’t know whom else (but I figure a lot of you), I wanted nothing more than the Cubs to be able to end their drought. This is the drought that made them the laughingstock of baseball:

Oh you’re a Cubs fan? Did your great-grandfather even get to see a World Series championship? Ha ha ha.

But, all in all, Cubs fans stuck with their team. They clung to the idea of a championship, knowing that--eventually--it would happen.

There were rough moments.

Blaming Steve Bartman for the 2003 NLCS loss was absurd. Even if Moises Alou did make that play, there was still no guarantee they would have gone on to beat the Yankees in the World Series. You cannot blame Bartman for the costly error Alex Gonzalez made, either.

Bartman aside, though, I see a lot of good.

Today in English class, we discussed the traits that make someone admirable.

What are the characteristics of someone you admire?

And you know what? I admire Cubs fans. I admire the 80 year olds that just got to celebrate their team’s first world championship. I admire the fans that were born, grew up their entire lives as Cubs fans, and unfortunately passed before they could see the team hoist the trophy. I admire their ability to stick with their team, both in the good and in the bad.

Chicago fans deserved this victory.

This is why, despite my best attempts to remain impartial as a journalist, I wanted to see the Cubs win the World Series. And this is why, when I woke up this morning after less than six hours of sleep, I was happy, excited and still in shock.

The Chicago Cubs are the 2016 World Series Champions.

--Devan Fink

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