Chicago Cubs: Are Fans Getting Delusional About Their Fandom?

The Chicago Cubs winning the World Series has brought out some delusional, over-the-top bias and presumptuous opinions about winning, dedication, loyalty, expectations, and entitlement.

The comments from before, during and after the World Series have brought about some statements that seem to have been made by fans that don’t generally watch sports or dedicated fans that have gotten over-the-top involved.

Even more troubling than fans’ comments on social media are the sheer amount of stories about how the Chicago Cubs fan base deserved to win, how they were cursed (do we really believe curses are real?), how it relates to religion, and that their fan base had somehow suffered more because it had been 108 years.

That sports fandom is somehow connected to religion is one of the most troubling whether or not you are devout toward any religion. Most fans have prayed for something good to happen to their team at some point in their life. As I got older I had an epiphany as to how ridiculous this is. There is just as likely to be a fan of another team praying for their team to do well.

Who wins in that scenario? Does it give an edge to teams like the Yankees and Cubs because they have a bigger fan base? The Jewish site OY Chicago published a post “Seven Reasons Jews Make for Good Cubs Fans” on November 2, the day of Game Seven.

The Chicago Tribune had their own take – “For Cubs’ faithful, baseball and religion often overlap” – published on October 10, the same day as Game Four of the NLDS.

Steven Chaitman who wrote the article for OY Chicago is their Managing Editor and the Director of Strategic Digital Communications for the Jewish United Fund of Chicago. It’s incredulous that someone in that position could write an article comparing the Cubs to a religion. His “seven reasons Jews make good Cubs fans” are:

We pass our fandom on from generation to generation. We know a lot about waiting, having faith and believing. We are simultaneously the most pessimistic and optimistic people ever. We have a thing for blue and white flags. There are people who hate us just to hate us. We have a holy space and we want to be there. We are more superstitious and neurotic than most.

Chaitman seems to think that in Judaism and with Cubs fans, these tenets are more prevalent than in other religions or in fan bases. Patrick O’Connell wrote the Tribune article about baseball and religion overlapping. He quoted Sister Ann Terese Reznicek, a nun of the Congregation of St. Joseph and a Cubs fan, who said:

“Perseverance, loyalty, faithfulness, long-suffering — those are the things that we talk about in our lives, and those are the things that we need when we cheer for the Cubs.”

All of these examples could be applied to any fan base. Some might have more of the above attributes than others, but that is merely a subjective opinion. John Sexton, who wrote the book  “Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game” said, “In baseball as in religion, doubt and faith are intertwined.”

Even Sexton has used religion in his rooting interests. O’Donnell relayed:

When the Dodgers finally broke through on Oct. 4, 1955, Sexton clasped a crucifix in his basement as he listened to the final outs against the Yankees. “For me and millions of others,” Sexton wrote, “a sacred day.”

Joseph Price, who is a Divinity Professor at the Whittier College in California and wrote about book about baseball and religion, said, “Curses are only effective as long as they are believed.”

Sister Kathy Sherman of the Congregation of St. Joseph convent in La Grange Park, Illinois had one of the most logical views on interconnection of religion and baseball when she told O’Donnell:

“Being at a ballgame, or even following one on the radio, gives you a sense of mindfulness, and a sense of the present… You think about what’s happening there,” Sherman said, “but you’re also present to the larger moments of life.”

Chaitman’s points are very short-sighted. They shun and almost ignore fan bases of other teams. Here was my response to him:

This article is incredibly presumptuous and biased. Nearly the entire article is rife with narrow-minded quotes and points. The Cardinals and Cubs only recently a rivalry? Cubs fans make better Jews? Baseball is the most religious of all sports? “There are rites, rituals, and customs.” This applies to every sport.

The Cubs are far from the only team that has to be patient. Most Cubs are likely fans of the Bears, Blackhawks, and Bulls or some combination thereof. That means the majority have seen one of their teams win a championship in their lifetime.

Cleveland had to wait 52 years for any of their teams to win a title. When the Giants won the World Series in 2010, it was their first since 1954 and first ever in San Francisco. They moved there in 1957.