Shoe by Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly for March 14, 2022

Let’s hear it for the Cubs…..

You don’t have to be crazy to be a sports fan but if you are it doesn’t matter at all.

Big deal — it’s just Spring Training.

gave up on baseball when the dodgers left Brooklyn

I have been a SHOE fan ever since the day it premiered in the newspaper. I read the first ever comic in a Kansas City newspaper in route to USAF basic training. Near the end of my career, in the mid ’90s, I sent Jeff MacNelly my copy of “How Many Next Years Do You Get in baseball?” (with a SASE return envelope) asking him to autograph it. Several months later I received it back with a nice letter from Jeff. And, not only had he autographed the book, he drew Skyler in a Cubs uniform inside the book. A truly cherished treasure of this Cubs fan. Just as treasured as my Harry Caray autograph I got when the Cubs were playing the SF Giants when I was stationed in CA.

Statements like that make me wonder even more so about ‘Loon’ ! ! ! ! !

the doormat of the national league…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xBxZGQ1dJk

He’s going to live forever or die trying.

I expect this to be recycled in September for the Detroit Lions. Gotta say it’ll be even more on target.

Try being a Pirate fan. At least YOUR owner will spend money!

Stephen King, Red Sox fan:

“I used to joke, you know, about having a tombstone that read:

STEPHEN KING with the dates, and then below that, a single sock, and below that:

NOT IN MY LIFETIME. And below that:

NOT IN YOURS EITHER.”

When the Mets and Yankees played a World Series in 2000, they called it the “Subway Series.” When Oakland and Los Angeles played in 1989, they called it the Bay Series. If the Cubs and White Sox ever got another World Series,* they’d call it proof positive that there is a God.

*That did actually happen, ’way back in 1906.

Go,Cubbies, you can do it

I have achieved in my life what would have seemed impossible a mere 20 years ago. I have seen both my favorite teams win a World Series. I’ve been a die-hard Red Sox fan from birth and an avid Cubs fan since my early twenties. I never expected to live long enough to see either, let alone both, win a World Series!

Great Chicago bull.

obvious, but… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewnTNlNBXGw

Since Mom was from Chicago, and I like to root for the underdog, and since MY hometown is Cleveland, an AL town…I used to generously cheer for the Cubs. Then came 2016.

My family moved away from the Chicagoland area in 71 but when I was stationed at Chanute AFB (my first tech school) in 74 and 75 I would occasionally run up to the city to visit with old friends and relatives on the weekends.

As I drove north I didn’t need road signs to tell me I was getting close to the city, all I had to do was count the Cubs bumper stickers…. the more I saw, the closer I was.

I’m the eternal optimist…an Orioles fan!

A great tribute to Jeff MacNelly and his fascination with the Cubs. I bought a copy of “Play Ball!” in Chicago while visiting there, Jeff’s tribute to baseball with many references to the Cubs.