How did you become a Cubs fan?

[Andy]

I'm sure this topic has been broached by previous threads, but as a relative newcomer I was curious as to how everyone's Cub allegiances came about. I didn't really know which area to put this thread in so if it belongs somewhere else, mods feel free to move it.

 

Anyway, my story: I was a Braves fan, albeit a very casual one, for a while because they were the closest team to me when I lived in South Carolina as a little kid. Then when I moved up to South Bend, my now-best friend would basically make me watch Cubs games with him because he was a Cubs fan. After a while, we habitually started watching the games together and before you knew it I was bleeding Cubbie blue (sometime in 1999 was when my conversion was complete). I've been in love with the team and with Wrigley ever since.

 

Other stories?

[ZMovieman]

I spent most of my early life in Virgina Beach, VA. There were scattered Braves/Orioles fans, but the reality was that baseball allegiances were not that strong down there. But in third grade, I moved to the Chicago suburbs and my first little league baseball team was the Chicago White Sox. So for one VERY misguided summer, I was becoming a White Sox fan. Lucky for me, my baseball addict cousins were able to show me the error of my ways and I have been a Cubs fan since 1996.

[UMFan83]

I was short on cash one day, and I really needed the money, so I sold my soul to the devil. Apparently, this (being a Cubs fan) is his version of hell.

 

 

In all seriousness, I was a tweener (like I would imagine most suburban kids without direct parental allegence to one team were). I followed the Sox a lot in 1994-1995. Then at the end of 1995, I'm not sure if anyone remembers this, but the Cubs were hovering a few games over .500, but still in the Wild Card race. I think it was between the Cubs, Astros and Rockies. We were playing the Astros the final weekend. We needed to basically sweep and have the Rockies get swept. Well we won the first game in dramatic fashion and the Rockies lost. That game brought so much drama in me that I was hooked. I watched the second game, which we lost to be eliminated, and was disheartened. But still, I made my mom take me to the last game of the season. I'm pretty sure we lost that game, but I do remember Harry saying something during the 7th inning stretch to the effect of 'Well I know we say this every year...but I mean it this year. Just wait til next year!' and the crowd went nuts.

 

I never went back to tweener status

[XZero771679666304]

Born into it.

[wade]

Married a girl from Downer's Grove.

[USSoccer]

Same way George W. Bush got into Yale. An accident of birth.

[Marco4]

It just drifted onto me, like the sea.

[CuseCubFan69]

Why did I become a Cub fan is what I want to know.

[donobr]

On a "ladies day promo in 1944"my mother took me and prepared me for hell.

[erik316wttn]

Born into it. Grandpa was a fan, dad was a fan, made me an my brother fans. My kids will probably be fans as well, although I'm going to try to steer them away from this sad-sack bunch of losers as I don't want them to have thier heart broken as many times as I have over the years.

[Shawon12]

I must have done something really bad in a previous life. I was born into it.

[TB_11]

Born into it.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Since birth.

[CheeseHead Cubs Fan]

Predestination

[Mark Priors Calves]

still questioning why I am.

[wade]

Why did I become a Cub fan is what I want to know.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Derwood]

I liked baseball a lot when I was in elementary school, especially when I lived in Racine in '81 and '82 (Robin Yount's Brewers went to the WS)

 

I fell out of it while I grew up in State College, mostly because College Football is the big thing here and my friends all hated baseball

 

I moved to Chicago in '92 for college, and at that time, Cubs games were a fairly cheap form of entertainment, and tickets were plentiful day-of-game. Plus, I started playin in sim leagues with fellow dorm-dwellers, which really gets you into stats and players.

 

i've been a fan ever since

[CubinNY]

Day games, Jack Brickhouse, Lou Beadrou, and my dad.

[cjbucks]

Day games, Jack Brickhouse, Lou Beadrou, and my dad.

 

Wow - same here. We got a game either Saturday or Sunday on a local channel if it wasn't football season - started with Jack Brickhouse and then in the early 80's we got cable. Me and my buddies would stop whatever we were doing on summer afternoons and ride our bikes to whoevers house was closest and watch the game if the Cub's were in Chicago.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I posted this in another thread and it's too painful to recount again.

[Cubzfan64]

Grew up in SW Michigan and absolutely loved baseball starting around the age of 7 or so. WGN was one of the few stations we could get since cable wasn't around and I recall during the summer watching Bozo's Circus and then tuning into Cub games.

 

I can remember sitting in the living room up close to the TV wearing my Cub hat, "lucky" Cub wristband and having a glove and ball that I would toss lightly in the air and catch during the games. Eventually I started writing the names of all the Cub players on my glove.

 

I got so obsessed with being a Cub fan that it's a standing joke in my family that I "wasn't to be disturbed" when I was watching a game, and I would often throw raging fits when they made crappy plays or lost games. It just continued on from there - I used to get hall passes during HS to practice my clarinet in one of the private band practice rooms and I would sneak a small transistor radio and earplug in and sit in the oddest positions just to try to pick up a little play by play within all the static.

 

I've mellowed as I've gotten older (either that or I'm just beaten down). I don't get as emotional when they lose (although I remember my eyes welling up in tears when they lost to San Diego in the playoffs in 84 - that was the year they tore my heart out!).

 

I am a Cub fan, have always been a Cub fan and will always be a Cub fan. I think my life has just gotten to be too busy to be as into it as I used to be, but I'm guessing as I progress into retirement I'll find myself following them as closely as I did as a kid again.

[CubinNY]

Grew up in SW Michigan.

 

Where? I am from Niles.

[YearofDaCubs]

Born and raised in the northside.

[gus_dog]

Grew up in SW Michigan and absolutely loved baseball starting around the age of 7 or so. WGN was one of the few stations we could get since cable wasn't around and I recall during the summer watching Bozo's Circus and then tuning into Cub games.

 

I can remember sitting in the living room up close to the TV wearing my Cub hat, "lucky" Cub wristband and having a glove and ball that I would toss lightly in the air and catch during the games. Eventually I started writing the names of all the Cub players on my glove.

 

I got so obsessed with being a Cub fan that it's a standing joke in my family that I "wasn't to be disturbed" when I was watching a game, and I would often throw raging fits when they made crappy plays or lost games. It just continued on from there - I used to get hall passes during HS to practice my clarinet in one of the private band practice rooms and I would sneak a small transistor radio and earplug in and sit in the oddest positions just to try to pick up a little play by play within all the static.

 

I've mellowed as I've gotten older (either that or I'm just beaten down). I don't get as emotional when they lose (although I remember my eyes welling up in tears when they lost to San Diego in the playoffs in 84 - that was the year they tore my heart out!).

 

I am a Cub fan, have always been a Cub fan and will always be a Cub fan. I think my life has just gotten to be too busy to be as into it as I used to be, but I'm guessing as I progress into retirement I'll find myself following them as closely as I did as a kid again.

 

Sounds like me (born in '62) and my brother (born in '65), except we were in central Illinois. My dad was a huge Cub fan.

 

I drifted away for awhile when I lived in Saint Louis, but then 1998 brought my Cubness back to the fore. After that, I convinced my wife to move to Chicago. She was from Niles, MI, so getting closer to MI was my best angle. It worked, so now I watch or listen to every game, and I participate in a group which owns season tix. I am fully back into it. Not sure yet if that is a good thing.

[CubsFaninPA]

Growing up in Upstate New York in the early sixties, my friend and I used to play wiffle ball in his backyard. Standard game - over the fence was a run and anything else was an out. We used to pick a big league team and go through their line-up when it was our turn to bat. He was a diehard Cardinals fan and because of the rivalry, I would pick the Cubs. Del Shannon, Javier, Brock, and Flood against Williams, Banks, Santo, Beckert, etc. Must have warped me - I still follow them to this day.