I write this as the Cubs are down by three to the Marlins in game seven of the National League Championship Series. As you read this, you will know how the game came out. However, I am not watching the game. Instead, I am here writing about the tragedy of game six.
I was in Chicago when the Cubs won game four. I was walking down North Michigan Avenue with my girlfriend when we came upon a large crowd of people gathered outside the Tribune tower. Inside the WGN radio studio, with its large window facing Michigan Avenue, were two TVs tuned to the game. The crowd grew as the game progressed into extra innings. Chicago held its breath.
And then they won. The crowd, and the city erupted. Taxis driving by honked their horns, as Cubs fans rejoiced-the team was now one win away from going to the World Series.
Then, of course, they started to lose. First game five, then game six. Game five was understandable, the team didn’t want to have such a long break before the Series began. They wanted to win in front of their home crowd. All good reasons for a Cub fan to justify a loss.
Then came game six. The Cubs went into the eighth inning with a three-run lead. I was on top of the world. If the Copley hall director hadn’t seized my megaphone, I would have had it ready to shout “CUBS WIN THE PENNANT” out the window over Copley Lawn.
I decided to watch the end of the game from the lounge on my floor-my roommate finds our television to be too “visually distracting.” I go to the lounge, where I have to convince someone in there to turn off the French news and that the Cubs game was much more important.
Then it all began to fall apart. As I watched that “fan”, headphones and all, block outfielder Moises Alou from catching the foul ball, my heart sank. I could tell by Alou’s reaction that things were in trouble.
Then Gonzalez dropped what should have been a double play. As I pounded my head against the wall, the Marlins rounded out their eight-run inning.
Now, facing a midterm the next day, the obvious thing to do was to go online and complain to the world. I visited ESPN.com and located a picture of the guy who blocked Alou. My next stop was fbi.gov, where I downloaded the Osama bin Laden most wanted poster. It was a marriage made in the outfield. Thus was born my creation, a most wanted poster for the guy (later identified as Steve Bartman) who some fans believed ruined game six.
I then told about seven people on Instant Messenger about the wanted-poster website I created. And it began to spread around the Internet. I assumed word would spread, but I never expected the response I received. The next morning, over 10,000 people had viewed the most-wanted page. By afternoon, over 15,000 people. People who I never told about it, sent me instant messages about how some random person had sent them the address of the page I created.
I also received comments. Most people felt that I was being a total ass for blaming this guy for the Cubs loss. I’ll admit that it was the Cubs game to lose, in the same way that in 2000 it was Al Gore’s election to lose. Steve Bartman is to game six what the butterfly ballot was to the 2000 Presidential Election.
Regardless, I am still amazed by the power of word of mouth. Just a few hours after putting my creation on the web, thousands had viewed it. Maybe even Steve Bartman had seen it. That’s if he’s been released from protective custody.
I still don’t know how game seven will turn out. As I write this, they are winning 5-3. I can only hope, for the sake of my own sanity, the sanity of an entire city, and for the sake of the Osama bin Laden of Major League Baseball that the Cubs can pull off a win tonight.
Dave Stroup is a sophomore in the College and voices editor of The Georgetown Voice. He wishes he was in Illinois, but not just for game seven.
