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Thursday, Oct. 31
The Indiana Daily Student

Real fans cheer in any weather

As the Major League Baseball season draws to a close in the coming months, everything begins to change. The teams begin to play their best as the number of games dwindle. The players begin to focus more every at-bat, pitch or catch during the game. The managers start to consider every possible situation. Even the beer vendors reach deep inside themselves to find every extra ounce of energy to sell all they can. \nESPN begins to air playoff shows, and the announcers for SportsCenter bust out their best lines knowing the baseball highlights will soon be nonexistent. \nBut that is not what's important at the moment. \nBeing from the Chicago area and a Cubs fan since the days of Andre Dawson and Shawon Dunston, I hang on each pitch Kerry Wood throws or every low-and-away slider Sammy Sosa whiffs at. Being only five outs away from the World Series last year isn't helping any loyal Cubs fan deal with their nerves this season.\nJust as Steve Bartman came out of the woodwork last year, so did so many fair-weather Cubs fans around the same time. Suddenly, walking around campus, I had never seen so many Cubs hats, shirts and other Cubs gear. Scanning my friends' away messages, I was surprised to see people from all across the States with "Next year is here!" proudly displayed as if they bled Cubbie Blue every season. People from the "Region" of Indiana, despite always saying they are from Chicago, suddenly claimed to be loyal Cubs fans. \nThese people were not true Cubs fans! These fans come and go just like the fashions of each season. If you asked them to name the announcers for the Cubs or the road that runs behind the right field wall, they wouldn't know (it's Chip Carey and Steve Stone and Sheffield Avenue, just so it's clear). All they know is the Cubs are winning and they feel like joining the cheering crowd.\nGranted, there are a lot of Cubs fans within the nation who pay extra money to get the Cubs game on TV or watch the game on the Internet. I'm sure that not everyone wearing a Cubs hat is a fair-weather fan, but the girl in the short ruffled skirt, tank top and pink Cubs hat probably doesn't know what the Billy Goat Curse is or whether or not the scoreboard in centerfield has ever bee n hit by a homerun ball. \nSeveral of the die-hard Boston Red Sox fans are in the same boat and know exactly what I'm talking about. \nWell, I'm going to issue a challenge to all the fair-weather fans this year:\nI challenge you to still be cheering for the Cubs as the Wild Card race comes so near to the end. And win or lose, you should still be proudly wearing that Cubs hat despite all the flack coming your way.\nIf you want to be a Cubs fan, you have to watch the games, check out the stats and learn the players names -- not just wear the hat and sing "Root, Root for the Cubbies" during "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the stretch (if you know what that is). \nOnce you begin to understand more and more about the baseball team that is the Chicago Cubs, you will start to feel the adrenaline run through your body as each game comes to a close and the ivy begins to change colors.\nSo cheer for those Cubs not because they are winning and it seems to be the thing to do. Scream as loud as you can at the TV when the cubs hit a homerun because you know Harry Carey is going to be doing the same thing in his grave and if someone else is doing it with him it's going to make him smile.

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