I am a "Giant Cubs" fan...

I've been a Cubs fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Illinois, and I spent my entire summer days waiting with anticipation for Bozo to come on at Noon on WGN. Back in the day, Wrigley didn't have lights, so any Cubs home game typically had a start time of about 1:15 PM. Yes, it wasn't that long ago that they called games for darkness in Chicago.

When I was really young, I spent summers with my dad. He would come home from work, plop on the couch and turn on the Cubs games. This put a huge cramp in my cartoon viewing time, but I honestly think that is when I first started watching games on TV. My most vivid memories are of the ivy wall. As I got older, it was a natural transition to keep up with the Cubbies. I had a team poster, and I had memorized every player's name, number and position. At the age of 11, I learned how to score a game, and I was hooked. I knew the Cubs batting line up by heart. I knew their batting averages, and I had my favorite relief pitchers. The first team poster I had was from 1980; here's a blast from the past...My favorite pitcher back then was Rick Sutter, and my favorite relief pitcher was Lee Smith. Billy Buck was by far my favorite team player.

I spent many a hot Illinois day in the backyard or on the back patio slathered in baby oil (and who ever thought that was a good idea was an idiot!) working on my sunburn with a transistor radio....and listening to the game. I loved to watch games on TV and listen to them on the radio. Harry Caray's voice filled my summer afternoons. (Miss that old man!)

The Cubbies are classic American baseball. Wrigley is iconic. What is not to love about the "men in blue." Well, they are also like a lot of other men....they broke my heart again and again. In the late 1980s, I thought they had a real chance at it, but they lost the National League Championship to the Giants in a 4-1 series outcome. That might have been the last year that my heart was really in the game. Oh, how I loved those boys! "As sure as the ivy on the center field wall, the men in blue are gonna win it all!" We sang this. We believed this. Mark Grace...Ryno...Dunston...Dawson.....what a great team! My favorite pitchers were Greg Maddux, Rick Sutcliffe and Mike Bilecki.

I spent the fall of my Sophomore year at Bradley watching games with my friend, Glover. We had every irrational superstition that you could imagine regarding our Cubbies. We tried to will them into the World Series, but it just didn't happen. We would have had a hunger strike for them if we thought it would work. But as in years past, we ended the season as disappointed and heartbroken Cubs fans. Loyal until the end. Hoping for a better outcome next year.

1994 and the baseball strike put a sour taste in my mouth for a long time.
When I moved to Utah in 1995, I no longer had WGN, and it was tough to follow my team. There was no way in hell I would ever root for the Rockies (damn, expansion team....I really hated that they did that in 1993).
I was so hopeful in 2003....then that famous "fan catching the foul ball thing" happened...and well. Dean and I were flipping through channels when we saw the point in the game right after Bartman caught the ball. I had no idea what had happened, but you could tell from the crowd that it was something pretty bad. I remember saying to Dean, "Did someone die? What is wrong with everyone?" Poor guy. Poor Cubs. Poor Cubs fans.
You know my favorite thing about being a Cubs fan? It's predictable and it helps you deal with disappointment. It's kind of like being in an abusive relationship. You just keep coming back for more even though you know you shouldn't. Being a Cubs fan really prepared me for my days as a hard-core Utah Jazz fan. (What other team has gone up against the Bulls in Back to Back NBA finals and lost both times.....so heartbreaking!)
I love my Cubbies; they are part of my soul. In fact, I sleep every night with a Cubs blanket that my mom made for me; that sounds really juvenile, but the blanket is really comfy!
I tried something new this year, though. When I turned 40, I picked a new team. I figured, I'm half way to dead; I gave the Cubs 40 years, so I'll give someone else my next 40. I chose the San Francisco Giants. I have taken a lot of flack for this, but for the love of the game, I kind of had to move on. My Cubbies are still in my heart, but I've got new boyfriends now.
Two summers ago, Dean and I took the Domi and Elle to a Giants game. I love that ballpark! We had the unbelievable experience of being there the night that Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no hitter.

Talk about a wonderful opportunity. There wasn't one person in that whole stadium in their seats. The kid delivered, and we were hooked. You'll notice from this picture that I'm still 39 and have not made the leap from Chicago to SF quite yet. Yes, I wore my Cubs hat to the SF game. And, yes, Dean wore a Padres hat to the SF game (the Padres played the Giants that night).

This year we took Mariah to opening night at AT&T Park.Tim Lincecum was awarded his 2nd Cy Young award. They lost to the Braves, but boy, did we have a great time. A few nights later, I went to a game with my manager, and we were literally three rows back, right behind the away on-deck circle. See the camera guy in the lower-right corner...Yeah, that's how close we were..the camera guy obstructed the first base line. See the guy behind him in the black hat? Yeah, that's a guy in the Pirates dugout (we could totally see right into the dugout). Killer seats! These two pictures (above were taken with my low end camera, but you can still see how awesome the seats were).

So, how did my first year as a Giants fan pan out? Can you say 2010 World Series Champs? We had SO MUCH FUN rooting for them, and we can't wait to head back to AT&T Park next season! So, to my men in blue, I still love you; I always will, but in my mid-life crisis, I've had to upgrade you for a newer team. You never forget your first love, though. So that's why I'm calling my new state of fan-dom: "Giant Cubs Fan."