S P E C I A L C O M M E M O R AT I V E S E C T I O N S H AW M E D I A • T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 0 , 2 0 1 6
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Eric Olson: A celebration 100 years in the making The narrative changes for Cubs fans Cubs commemorative pull-out poster Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant lift Cubs to the World Series title Rick Telander: Kris Bryant seems to have everything going for him 10 Michael Penkava: A World Series for the Twilight Zone 11 Tom Musick: Kris Bryant’s smile says it all
Chicago Cubs John Lester (left) holds the Commissioner’s Trophy while he and Anthony Rizzo celebrate during a rally in Grant Park honoring the World Series baseball champions Friday, Nov. 4, 2016, in Chicago. AP photo
Cover illustration by R. Scott Helmchen – shelmchen@shawmedia.com
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EDITOR’S NOTE Eric Olson look like if the Cubs won the World Series?” Now we know. Chicago’s teams have seen their share of titles in recent years. White Sox fans will have you know that this was not Chicago’s first World Series championship in a century. But a Cubs world championship was the last domino to fall in Chicago sports. A monolith, more like. After Miguel Montero and Ben Zobrist’s RBI hits in the top of the 10th set up the Cubs to finally finish off the Indians, all of us – from babes in Cubs onesies to the 107-year-old Cubs fan living at Oak Crest Retirement Center in DeKalb – saw something we’d never seen before and perhaps had wondered if we ever would. As the years go by, it will be a part of history. But in the immediate aftermath, as we woke on a foggy Thursday morning, lots of us were still wondering – did that actually happen? Yes, it did at last after 108 years – and as we shared it, so many of us thought of all those others who never got to see it: our grandfathers and grandmothers, aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers, the people who took us to the ballpark as children or watched the games with us on WGN, who made us buy into this whole Cubs thing in the first place.
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For Cubs fans everywhere, it triggered the kind of euphoria that, when it hits you square on, you’ve got to make noise.”
Cubs heroes like Ron Santo and Ernie Banks – we wish they could have seen it. Beloved broadcasters Harry Caray and Jack Brickhouse – if only they could have called it. But we have new heroes now, too. Rizzo, the team leader; Bryant, whose game-ending smile will be forever a part of Cubs lore; Zobrist, your World Series MVP; Jon Lester, the ace who doesn’t throw to first base; the calm Ivy League pitcher Kyle Hendricks; Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta and his formidable beard, and “you go, we go” leadoff man Dexter Fowler, who became the first black player to appear in the World Series for the Cubs, among others. There was a cool, unconventional manager, Joe Maddon, who kept things loose and urged his players to “try not to suck.” There was a now-legendary front-office leader in Theo Epstein, who now has brought long-awaited championships both to Boston and
Chicago. All of it started when the Ricketts family bought the Cubs in 2009, rehabbed Wrigley Field, brought in the best baseball minds in the game, and after some of the leanest years in the history of a team known for lean years, built a winner. After waiting for the someday when they’d go all the way, now that it’s here, maybe the takeaway is that it’s the road to the victory that’s the best part. The long nights, the thrilling 9th inning comeback to win the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants, the clinching wins against elite pitchers including the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and the Cleveland Indians’ Corey Kluber and their killer bullpen – it was the most exciting October many of us ever have seen. Now Cubs fans can move on. No more black cats, no more goats. No more priests blessing the dugout, no more “wait till next year,” no more waiting for the inevitable collapse. Baseball is a kids’ game. But to those who followed the Cubs their entire lives wondering if they ever would see this day, this championship is something more. After years of belief and disappointment, it’s finally happened. The Cubs are World Series champions, and it feels great. As Mr. Cub might have said, “let’s win two!”
• Eric Olson is editor of the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb.
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t felt like a dream. It felt like an exorcism. It was close to midnight on Nov. 2 in Chicago. Hundreds of miles away at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant grinned as he fielded Michael Martinez’s softly hit ground ball in the bottom of the 10th inning and threw to Anthony Rizzo at first to seal the Cubs’ 8-7, Game 7 win against the Cleveland Indians to clinch their first World Series title in 108 years. For Cubs fans everywhere, it triggered the kind of euphoria that, when it hits you square on, you’ve got to make noise. Fans opened windows or walked out their front doors and screamed into the darkness. There were fireworks, car horns. In Evanston they set off the emergency sirens. In Wrigleyville, people poured into the streets beneath the famous Wrigley Field marquee that read, for the first time, “World Series Champions.” People hugged. They high-fived. They cried. The celebration came after a 4-hour, 28-minute Game 7 that included a 17-minute rain delay and a late Indians comeback that left Cubs fans with their heads in their hands and knots in their stomachs. As though it could have been any other way? For years, people had daydreamed about that night. “Can you imagine what it would
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A Cubs celebration 100 years in the making
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Narrative changes for Cubs fans By DON BABWIN and CARLA K. JOHNSON
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The Associated Press
hey spoke of heartbreak and black cats and goats. And finally, Chicago Cubs fans spoke with pride about winning it all. This is new territory for these long-suffering fans and it showed in the days after the Cubs wrapped up their first World Series championship since 1908 with a Game 7, extra-inning thriller in Cleveland against the Indians. Amid all the celebrating and relief and joy ahead of Friday’s big downtown parade, there was a bit of confusion on just how to proceed. After all, 108 years of falling short is a long time. “That just dawned on me yesterday that Chicago’s not going to have that reputation anymore of lovable losers,� said Peggy Herrington, 49, of Chicago. “We’re not going to fall back on that and think about the goats or anything.� She and others were just fine with that. “You get all the ridicule from your friends – ‘lovable losers,’ ‘they always blow it, I know they’re gonna blow this,’� said Michael McNeela, a 66-year-old Chicago retiree who has rooted for the Cubs since he was 11. “And they have to eat their words. ... I got a (championship) hat now and they’re going to see it and they have to shut up.� The story of the Cubs, like so many teams (including Cleveland), is filled with sadness and what ifs. It’s just that the Cubs have always seemed to come up empty in the most puzzling
AP photo
Chicago Cubs fans celebrate in front of Wrigley Field in Chicago on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, after the Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in Game 7 of the baseball World Series in Cleveland. ways. The August collapse in 1969, which included a black cat on the field at one point, and of course the 2003 postseason when fate and a fan named Steve Bartman stepped in and suddenly a trip to the Series was gone. But those milestones will fade now, along with the fabled curse of the billy goat, leveled in 1945 – the last time the Cubs reached the Fall Classic. “I think what this does for the identity of the Cubs fan is maybe they will have to deal with less of that tired old trope of the goat, the black cat,� said Lin Brehmer, a devoted fan and local radio host. “That’s all in the past now. You can forget that part of our narrative.� There is a new story for Cubs Nation and fans were eager to share it with each other. Thousands celebrated into the night in the streets of Wrig-
leyville and many bleary-eyed faces were seen on the morning commute as a new era dawned in Chicago. The Cubs returned to a hero’s welcome in the wee hours, with first baseman Anthony Rizzo cheered at Wrigley Field as he held the World Series trophy aloft. Many found ways to share the joy with loved one who did not live long enough to see it for themselves, spelling out their memories in chalk on the brick walls of the ballpark. Among them was Mike Compton, 59, of suburban Arlington Heights. “He passed away in January, was 91 years old,� Compton said of his father. “I had to come down and put his name on the brick.� Others who poured out of taverns near Wrigley when the game was over to shout, sing, cry, hug and take
photographs also took a few seconds early Thursday to touch statues of Cubs greats Ron Santo, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and broadcaster Harry Caray. It was an easy way to share the event with whose long careers with the Cubs came and went without even a trip to the Series. “It is sad for past generations that missed it all together,� said Judy Pareti, who came from New York to stand outside the Murphy’s Bleachers tavern, which is in a building across the street from Wrigley . “My great uncle went to every game with a scorecard and he died a few years ago,� she said. “He just missed all of this.� She added: “It is sad we are never going to see them win for the first time ever again. We lost that.� Of course, the Cubs didn’t make it easy. A seven-game series is always tense and the Cubs blew a 5-1 lead in the finale Wednesday night. When the Indians tied things up in the eighth inning, many feared yet another devastating chapter in the long history of Cubs heartbreak was on the way. “When they tied it up it felt like it was over, they (the Cubs) had lost,� said Mike Dillon, a banking executive who drove to a tavern just outside Wrigley to be among other fans . “I couldn’t believe they won and even going home I had to turn on the news channels to make sure it actually happened.� In the end, between 11:46 p.m. and 11:47 p.m. Central time, he and others went from being the longest-suffering fans in American sports to fans of the best team in baseball. “It showed the fight, the grit, the up-and-down, the history of the team, the fans and the city,� said Donna Drepeau, a 50-year-old artist. “It had to be that way, it couldn’t come easy. That team showed Chicago what we are.�
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The wait is finally over. After 108 years of tears and heartbreak, the Chicago Cubs™ are World Series Champions™! This exciting young Cubs™ team full of rising stars dominated the regular season from game 1 to 162, then steamrolled through the Postseason™ to write the perfect ending to a storybook year. Behind the dominant pitching of three Cy Young® caliber starters, a potent offense led by dual MVP® candidates, and the raucous support of generations of die-hard faithful, the Cubs™ took on history itself, and beat it soundly. Now you can commemorate their thrilling triumph with a porcelain stein you’ll be proud to use and display. Hand-crafted of hard-fired Heirloom Porcelain®, this 30-ounce stein showcases the official Champions logo and a full-color image of your favorite players celebrating together. A baseball bat handle, baseball topper, gleaming golden detailing, metal alloy lid and baseball glove thumbrest help you toast your champs in winning style.
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The Official 2016 World Series Champions™ Stein Salutes the Chicago Cubs™
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Rizzo, Bryant help lift Cubs to title By WILL GRAVES
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The Associated Press
nthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant have been nearly inseparable since the day they became major league teammates in the spring of 2015, 20-somethings with power and talent to burn. Their lockers are practically on top of each other in the Chicago Cubs clubhouse. Their names are often squeezed one on top of the other in manager Joe Maddon’s lineup. Heck, they even have one of those catchy nicknames typically reserved for Hollywood power couples. And now “Bryzzo” has something else: a world title. The centerpieces of Theo Epstein’s methodical, patient rebuild helped the Cubs shed 108 years of futility last week with one final game of catch in the 10th inning of Game 7 of the World Series. When Bryant fielded the grounder by Cleveland’s Michael Martinez and fired it across the diamond to Rizzo at first base, the moment they’d talked about suddenly came to be. Cubs 8. Indians 7. Curse vanquished. Destiny fulfilled. And more may be on the way. Bryant is 24. Rizzo is 27. Shortstop Addison Russell is 22. Second baseman Javy Baez, 24. Catcher Willson Contreras, 24. All of them are under team control through at least 2021. More celebrations may lie ahead. “I think we’re going to have more opportunities,” general manager Jed Hoyer said. “But the playoffs are really humbling ... To think that simply being the most talented team and having the best record, it’s still really hard to win. I think this playoff series showed that.” Maybe, but it helps when your young core learns on the fly, a group personified by Rizzo – the first major piece acquired by Epstein in 2012 – and Bryant – taken with the second overall pick in the 2013 draft. “This is what you dream for,” Bryant said. “I mean, I made the last out of the World Series.” Well, technically Rizzo made the final out. Something they’d talked about a week ahead of time. “He said, ‘If I make the last out, I’m keeping that ball because it’s worth a lot of money,’” Bryant said with a laugh. A memento Rizzo clutched tight as he and Bryant raced to hug each other as their teammates joyously poured onto the Progressive Field turf to put an exclamation point on a season when they finally turned Chicago’s century-old tag of lovable losers into something far
AP photos
Chicago Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo (right) reacts after teammate Kris Bryant scored on Rizzo’s hit during the fifth inning of Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the Cleveland Indians Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016, in Cleveland. more refined: champions. “This is unbelievable,” Rizzo said. “It’s so exhausting. Looking back on it, this was our 210th game with spring training and playoffs and the season. We deserve this.” It’s an outcome that seemingly was never in doubt from the moment Bryant hit a solo home run in the fourth inning of Game 5, the one that kick-started a season-saving victory and served as the rocket fuel that propelled the franchise to heights not seen since 1908. The blast off Trevor Bauer tied the game. Rizzo then doubled and scored the go-ahead run. Chicago never trailed again. Not in a 9-3 laugher in Game 6. Not during the clincher, one that featured Bryant and Rizzo right in the middle of the rally that gave the Cubs an early four-run lead. There Rizzo was again in the 10th after the Indians had improbably tied it off closer Aroldis Chapman with a tworun home run in the seventh. The Indians chose to intentionally walk Rizzo to put runners on first and second with one out, setting up Ben Zobrist for the go-ahead RBI double. Rizzo then raced home for the deciding run on Miguel
Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant and Addison Russell celebrate after Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the Cleveland Indians Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, in Cleveland. Montero’s single to left. Bryant, the heavy favorite to win the NL MVP later this month, finished the Series hitting .267 with two home runs. Rizzo hit .360 with a homer and three
doubles. And they’re just getting started. “They’re the heart of this team,” said Zobrist, the Series MVP. “What they’ve done together in their time is pretty special.”
By RICK TELANDER
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Sun-Times
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his World Series title changes everything, and 24-year-old Kris Bryant better be ready. Not only is the Cubs third baseman likely to be announced as the National League MVP soon, but he unofficially has been anointed as the Cubs’ new personality, face and most famous guy anywhere on the planet. That undercover-driver commercial he did for Lyft a year ago, the one where nobody recognized him? Forget about it! My favorite exchange was the one with a hip young fellow seated next to Bryant: Passenger: ‘‘I play volleyball. How about you?’’ Bryant: ‘‘I play baseball.’’ Passenger: ‘‘OK.’’ That ad was sweet with its humorous innocence. But the Cubs and Bryant are new people now, with fame and glory draping them like capes. Bryant rocked during the playoffs, hitting .308 (20-for-65) with three home runs, eight RBI, 11 runs scored and nine walks. Of course, during the regular season, he hit .292 with 39 homers, 102 RBI and an amazing 121 runs scored. That last stat – runs scored – tells you much about Bryant’s worth to the Cubs. Not only does he hit for power and average, but he draws walks and always seems to be involved when the offense explodes. In Game 7 of the World Series against the Indians, he scored twice on some slick and bold baserunning. In the fourth inning, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Addison Russell. His speed and textbook slide enabled him to beat Indians center fielder Rajai Davis’ throw. In the fifth inning, he took off from first base an instant before Indians pitcher Andrew Miller threw the ball and scored on Anthony Rizzo’s single to right. What we’ve got here, folks, is a ballplayer, a kid who was made to play this game. Bryant is a courteous and friendly young man, too. His mouth seems to go into a natural smile, something that reminds one of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, a man who always looks happy, even if he isn’t. But the next time we hear Bryant complain about anything or rip a teammate or a management decision will be the first. You’ll recall he didn’t start his 2015
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Bryant has everything going for him
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AP photo
Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant celebrates with his teammates after Game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the Cleveland Indians Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, in Cleveland. rookie season in the majors, so the Cubs could keep him under their control for an extra year. It was a sneaky business deal because Bryant was as ready for the majors as a man can be, but he didn’t bad-mouth anyone, even if fiery agent Scott Boras wanted to nail the Cubs for rigging things and not trying to win. Bryant praised Cubs ownership while saying of Boras: ‘‘It’s nice to have a bulldog working for you rather than a poodle.’’ By the way, Bryant won the NL Rookie of the Year Award despite not playing his first game until April 17. Yes, Ben Zobrist won the MVP
award for the Series, and it likely was deserved. But if the trophy had gone to Bryant, it would have been hard to complain about the choice. The guy made some terrific plays at third base and, as mentioned, was always in the mix. So the Cubs are something new now. They have turned in their old costumes, those of striving and perennial failures and runners-up, for the robes of conquering kings. They’re on top now, the hunted and – possibly for some – the hated. They must be careful and figure out how to be champs. How to act. How to defend. How to be gracious.
For Bryant, who walked through the dugout after the champagne flowed, his goggles on his forehead, his left arm around fiancée Jessica Delp, his right hand clutching a half-eaten Snickers bar, life never will be so simple again. As one of those unsuspecting Lyft riders said, this new guy Bryant was ‘‘projected to be a stud.’’ It has happened. He’s a star. He’s the Cubs.
• Rick Telander is a Sun-Times columnist. Follow him on Twitter @ ricktelander. Email him at rtelander@ suntimes.com
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Michael Penkava’s framed collection of the 1908 Cubs team photo and player baseball cards Photo by Michael Penkava
A World Series for the Twilight Zone By MICHAEL PENKAVA
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For Shaw Media
woke up late the morning after. It wasn’t one of those slow, unhurried, adjust-tothe-light-eyelid-raisings, the kind that ease you into the day like that first, tranquil sip of your morning cup of coffee. Nope, this wake up was signaled by an abrupt, almost panicky opening snap of the eyelids that shook me from night to day like a camera flash at a grade school photo, except in the photograph you could have at least prepared yourself with a protective blink. Through some insentient linkage of dendrites and axons and muscle tissue, the opening of my eyes was instantaneously merged with a sudden sit-up that would make my old PE teacher proud. There I was, a 90-degreed sitting, pancake-eyed old man frozen in a moment that was indiscernible between past, present and future. There was only one thought replay-
ing itself in my mind, like the revolving plates at Golden Corral: The Cubs won the World Series! The Cubs won the World Series! The Cubs won the World Series! And in the haze of the glaze of the daze of that moment, I actually wondered if this was one of those Twilight Zone experiences where you wake up in your bed, but everything has changed. And you fear that what just happened was just a dream that really didn’t come true. I flashed back to my earliest Cub’s memory: My Grandpa and I walking hand-in-hand on our way to Wrigley Field from his house on Irving Park Road … “Do you think they’ll win today, Grandpa?” “You never know. This may be the year.” Somehow, in the blink of a memory, that year turned into sixty. Sixty years of hopes smashed against the ancient giant green scoreboard of Wrigley Field. Like bugs on a windshield. And, year after year, I scraped myself off and rejoined the loyal swarm. ’69.
’84. Ernie Broglio. Milton Bradley. Hee-Seop Choi. Steve Bartman. And suddenly, I’m the grandpa sitting with his sons and daughters and grandkids watching the Cubs playing in Game 7 of the World Series. Three generations together, nervously stress-snacking on chips and dips and tacos and doughnuts and Klondike Bars as our hopes and fears clashed, in of all places, Cleveland. And then it happened. Pigs flew. Money grew on trees. The sun rose in the west. Wishes became horses and beggars rode them. Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds were flying. Oh, and the Cubs had won the World Series. So there I sat silently in my bed. I didn’t hear Rod Sterling hissing something about other dimensions and lands of both shadow and substance. I was still wearing my Cubbie jammies and my underwear and socks were still lying on the floor. Whew … nothing had changed. The Cubs really did win! The first thing I did was take my Ernie Banks jersey out of the closet
and hang it outside on my front porch. It flopped in the breeze as if whispering, “Let’s play two at the Friendly Confines.” Then I went into my office and stood in front of my framed collection of vintage Cubs baseballs cards of the entire 1908 championship team. Tinkers, Evers, Chance and the gang. It was a bit bittersweet to tell them that their 108-year-old streak was over. That there was a new Cubs world champion team. Russell to Baez to Rizzo and the gang. But I have a feeling there isn’t any resentment on the old boys’ part. Perhaps maybe a little surprise that the franchise took so long to finally win again. Talk about extra innings. Geesh.
• Michael Penkava has been a Cubs fan for over 60 years. He once caught a home run ball at Wrigley and dove in the basket for another. Catch a video of him produced by the Cubs at “Michael Penkava: It’s a Way of Life MLB.com.” He can be reached at mikepenkava@ comcast.net.
By TOM MUSICK
S
For Shaw Media ome smiles are more famous than others. Take Mona Lisa, for instance. Millions of visitors travel to the Louvre every year to see her mysterious
Shaw Media | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016
grin. How about Tom Cruise? Julia Roberts? George Clooney? They’re all big stars with million-dollar smiles. Other smiles are much more personal. Maybe you’re thinking of your wife’s smile as she walked down the aisle. Or maybe you’re envisioning your children’s joyful faces on Christmas morning. Now, Cubs fans can add another smile to their long-term memory bank. It belongs to Kris Bryant. It happened in the moments before the Cubs won the World Series. Side note: Are you used to reading those words yet? The Cubs won the World Series. If not, don’t worry. You have your entire lifetime to adjust to the new reality. Bryant ushered in that reality. With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 7, the Cubs led by a run. History hung in the balance. For Cubs fans, would the game end in unbridled happiness? Or familiar heartbreak? Another Cubs team might have choked because of the pressure. Not this team. Not this year. In this critical moment, Michael Martinez of the Indians hit a soft dribbler toward third base. The ball bounced three times – first on the dirt in front of home plate, then on the rain-slicked grass to the left of the pitcher’s mound, and finally a few feet past the mound. Dear Cubs fans: What crossed your mind during the ball’s seemingly harmless bounces? Were you thrilled? Terrified? Both? Did you think of your parents and grandparents? Did you flash back to the first time you visited Wrigley Field? Did you reflect upon the years – no, the decades – no, the century – of anguish, of teases, of hope and despair? Bryant had your back. As the 24-year-old charged toward Martinez’s ground ball, he did something incredible and unpredictable. He smiled. The man smiled.
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Kris Bryant’s smile says it all
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AP photo
Kris Bryant smiles in the dugout during a recent Cubs game. Here was the most important play in the most important game in Cubs history, and this guy was grinning. Bryant’s expression was not cocky or smug. It was confident and excited. It was as if he could see the future as he scooped the ball into his glove with both of his hands – always use two hands, kids – and quickly snapped a throw across the diamond to first baseman Anthony Rizzo. The throw beat Martinez by two steps. Then came more smiles. Smiles on the field as players embraced. Smiles in the clubhouse as champagne rained everywhere. Smiles on the team bus and the charter flight and everywhere the players looked. More importantly, though, were the smiles from long-suffering Cubs fans as they watched all over the
world. They smiled in basements and bedrooms and bars. They smiled on lonely interstates and crowded city streets. They even smiled in Outer Space as NASA posted a congratulatory message on its Twitter account along with a picture of Chicago at night from hundreds of millions of miles away. Nothing could deter this group of Cubs. Not an early-season injury to long-ball hitter Kyle Schwarber. Not a 2-1 deficit against the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. Not a 3-1 deficit against the Indians in the World Series. Not a blown lead by Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning of Game 7. Maybe it was meant to end this way. A soft ground ball. A hard charge by Bryant. A celebration 108 years in the making.
“That’s one of the best games anybody will ever see,” a breathless Bryant said as he stood on the field during a postgame interview with Fox’s Tom Verducci. The wait is over. You lived to see it. The Cubs are World Series champions. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever heard,” Bryant said. “I’ve never won an award as a team. I’ve always been able to do it individually, but this trumps everything. “I’m out here crying, man. I’m so happy. I can’t even put into words how this feels.” No one can, but that’s OK. The smile says it all.
• Tom Musick is a former Cubs beat writer and sports columnist for Shaw Media.
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