Greetings Folks! and welcome to the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field!!!!!!!
For the record, this is Brian; I got the honor of writing this episode's installment of our blog, hoping to bring you the true, untold, in-depth story behind this weekend's events. Well actually, I'm just going to go on and on about the game, but that's the meat of the story anyway, haha.
This weekend was Labor Day weekend, for which I think our plans were a little extra cool---the Philadelphia Phillies were in Chicago, and in a 4 game series against Chicago's beloved Cubs. As most should know, Wrigley Field remains as one of the oldest major league ballparks in America, and is a must see by itself. We trekked up to the north side of Chicago via the El, and got a few looks at the station and sidewalks (for further explanation, consult pictures of our gameday attire included below). However, we safely arrived in Wrigleyville, and went directly to the Cubby Bear for beers and brunch. Good food (a good chicken tender sandwich), good beers, and a lot of Cubbie fans setting themselves up for disappointment.
We headed across the street to the stadium to pay the proper respects, take pictures, and most importantly take it all in. Wrigley Field is an awesome place to see a ballgame...The sightlines are good, there's an old-time hominess to the stadium and crowd, and the weather was beautiful. Wrigley obviously comes from a time when the baseball came first, and everybody went there to cheer on the Cubbies.
And in Chicago, the Cubbies do come first. We've noticed that there's so many people walking around the city with Cubs gear on, even when they're not in town or on an off day.
The stadium was filled to the brim. There was actually a great representation of Phillies fans there; apparently Philadelphia news stations were covering the mass exodus of the Phils' delegation to go root on the Phightins in Chi-town. However, there obviously were scads of Cubs fans...SRO all around the ballpark (and it's still a bit odd to see the bleachers set up on top of bars over the outfield wall full of fans catching a discounted view of the game).
The Cubs fans are passionate, but they're not as adept as us back home. There was a vocal contingent in the rows in front of us, having a lot of fun at our expense. For the most part it was back and forth, but I was being gentle with the guy since the Phils were behind at the time (and I was more than a bit out-numbered). He had a whole lot of nothin' to say, but expected to level me with this:
Cubs fan: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, well you know what they say about Philly fans? You know what they say about Philly fans?!"
BC: "Yeah probably, but speak slow, I might not understand you the first time around..."
Cubs fan: (dumbfounded silence...the kind of silence that lasted about 4 1/2 innings) They must not be too used to some good trash talking here in the midwest (because I thought that was kind of tame!)
The Phils got off to a slow start offensively, but some late game action had the Cubbies fans quiet and Lori and I dancing in the seats! It was definitely a fun time, and we took a lot of pictures to remember the occasion. (Doesn't Lori look cute in her Phillies gear?)
Wrigleyville's got some great after-game party spots as well. There must be 50+ bars in a
5 block radius right outside the stadium. After the game, we followed the masses to Harry Caray's Tavern, John Barleycorn's, and Lucky Sandwich. More good food, some good music and laughter, and also an unexpected encounter with a high school friend of mine that I hadn't seen
in years! It was a great day, topped off by a great job by the Phils, we definitely had a great time!!!
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