Cubs vs. Cards

Around 4.00 yesterday afternoon I was basking in the sun on the beach with my friend Sam, showing off our new H&M bikinis, when my dad called. "Hey, it's your day off," he said. "Feel like going to a Cubs game?" "SURE!" I cried.

To explain: I've never been to a baseball game, let alone a Cubs game. My family has a soft spot for the Cubs, especially my grandfather, and I'd been hoping to go to a game now that I'm in Chicago. It would have been easy any time in the past 95 years (since it's been that long since the Cubs have won a World Series), but last year they almost made it, and consequently tickets are sold out. For every game. So the fact that I got to go to one was completely unexpected.

The other great part about the Cubs is that they play in Wrigley Field. Not only is it the most beautiful of all major league baseball stadiums (its walls being covered with ivy, not ads), but there are no bleachers on one side of it. The savvy people who owned apartments on that street commenced to build six- and seven-story buildings so that people can watch the game without being in the stadium. These are privately owned and difficult to get into, so when I found out that not only was I going to a Cubs game, but I would be in one of the stadium seats, I was ecstatic.

My dad had found out about it in Springfield and unfortunately couldn't convince any of his fellow State Reps to make the 3-hour drive up for the game, so I went solo. It was still fantastic fun: I was high on the roof of a building, with all the other roofs nearby filled with partying people. Drinks, brats, hamburgers, chips and brownies were all free--it's too bad I don't drink beer. We could watch the instant replays on big TVs near the bleachers, and realised that the broadcast was actually about 5 seconds delayed. I found out from one of my father's friends that the cost to rent the rooftop is $140 per person. To put that in perspective: normal tickets, if one can get them, are $60.

Unfortunately, the Cubs continued their habit of losing, and their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, won by one point. But at least I got to see my first Cubs game, and first-ever baseball game, on a balmy summer evening.