Chicago Cubs vs. Houston Astros

We thought about going to the ballgame yesterday. We thought we might, but we didn't go. We would have rooted for the Cubs, which would have been very hard to do in the middle of the Astros ball field. Minute Maid Park. Who in their right mind gives that name to a ballpark, for goodness sake? My husband is right. Sports is all about money these days, not about sports.

Ever since our trip to Chicago last month, and the game at Wrigley Field (Cubs vs. White Sox) we have been talking about the Cubs, the fans, and Wrigley itself. My husband says it was one of the best ball games he has ever been to, and I say it was the best ball game I've ever seen.

The fans (both inside Wrigley and outside the park, in the bars and in the roof-top bleachers) are just amazing, and very into every minute, every second of the game. When you see a game at Wrigley, all there is is the game. No huge television screens all over the upper levels. No large advertisements and no electronic video-type games being broadcast on screens to divert your attention from the game. You're there at Wrigley to see a ball game. Period. And the scoreboard is the old wooden board with men inside the little squares, putting up the numbers as they happen, when they happen. Manually, not digitally. Honestly, what more can you ask for from a ball park?

When we were out in Arizona last weekend, my cousin D's wife told us about her life-long love for The Cubs. She is originally from Chicago, and she was one of the "bleacher bums" who went to every game she possibly could attend. When I was driving in her car, through the valleys and shopping centers near Phoenix, there was a Chicago Cubs steering-wheel cover in her car. In whatever car she has driven in Arizona for all these years, there is something proclaiming her love of The Cubs. Her husband is a fan of the Chicago White Sox, which doesn't make much sense because they lived on the same side of Chicago when they both lived up there. And everyone knows that the White Sox fans come from the south side of Chicago, and Cubs fans are on the north side of the city. But he's my cousin, so we will make allowances for the error of his ways.

My husband watched the game on television last night. The Astros won. (How dare they.) I would bet that if last night's game had been at Wrigley, with 40,000 Cubs fans singing and clapping, dancing and chanting, the Astros wouldn't have had a chance.

The Astros and the Cubs play again today and tomorrow. I have just one thing to say: Go Cubs!