milladrive
10-30-2009, 10:09 AM
I was tempted to make this a poll but opted against it.
As most (if not all) Cub fans are aware, the Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908.
Today is the 101st anniversary of the day "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" was written. The song was written in Chicago by two fellas (lyricist Jack Norworth and composer Albert Von Tilzer) who had never been to a baseball game, yet it would become the biggest selling song of 1908. Norworth would eventually attend a game at Wrigley Field nearly 32 years later in July 1940 (Brooklyn won 5-4), and MLB awarded him with a free lifetime gold pass to any MLB game he wanted to attend. I'm not exactly sure how many games that turned out to be, but Jack Norworth lived through the 1959 season.
Point is, I've been mulling around in my mind this idea for a while now, and I thought it only appropriate to post it on the song's anniversary. I'm not superstitious in the slightest, and I don't believe in curses, but hey, if the Red Sox could have the "Curse of Babe Ruth," which, as we know, they overcame in 2004, what's to say that the Cubs can't have the "Curse of 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game'"?
I would apply this whimsical theory as well to the White Sox had they also passed the 100-year mark, but their streak was broken in '05. And granted, that was a long streak too, but in the same amount of time, the Cubbies seem to have fallen to many more struggles, near misses, and heartbreaks than their crosstown rivals, and their streak continues. I may be mistaken, but I believe Cub fans to be much more loyal to their team than White Sox fans (no disrespect to White Sox fans intended).
Cub fans can rest assured that if it's not my own personal favorite team, I pull for the Cubs every year, especially if/when they make the postseason. I've known Cub fans to be some of the most loyal fans in the game (if not the most loyal), moreso especially since the day Brooklyn moved west. I feel in my heart Brooklyn's to have been the only other team's fans to come even close to loyalty on the Cub scale.
Being a longtime Met fan, I do know what loyalty means. But even more than in New York, I believe loyalty to the Cubs in Chicago to be virtually religious; a standard by which people are literally disowned by families if they alter their loyalties. Very seldom does one find that type of devotion found in New York. And kudos to all Cub fans for maintaining that loyalty! If I'd grown up and lived in the Chicago area, I think I'd be part of that unwavering devotion (the same as my devotion to the Mets remains through thick and thin; and if my children were to be Yankee fans, I'd most likely disown them, heh).
So, I've been wondering how Cub fans feel about this thought, much less how many even knew of the song's historic irony. Personally, I pull for the Cubs to break the theoretic "Curse of 'TMOTTBG'." And since the song was written in Chicago a mere two weeks following the end of the 1908 World Series, despite my disbelief in superstition, I can't help but notice the tangible irony.
Just thought I'd bring this notion to the table, and, again, if it's not my Metsies, may 101 years be as high as this streak goes.
:gt
------------------
Katie Casey was base ball mad
Had the fever and had it bad
Just to root for the home town crew
Ev'ry sou*, Katie blew
On a Saturday, her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go
To see a show but Miss Kate said
"No, I'll tell you what you can do
Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
I don't care if I never get back
Let me root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out
At the old ball game"
Katie Casey saw all the games
Knew the players by their first names
Told the umpire he was wrong
All along, good and strong
When the score was just two to two
Katie Casey knew what to do
Just to cheer up the boys she knew
She made the gang sing this song
"Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
I don't care if I never get back
Let me root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out
At the old ball game"
~Norworth
* "Sou" is an antiquated and now-obsolete word that means cent. In more modern renditions of the song, "sou" is often changed to "cent," while "blew" is altered to "spent."
As most (if not all) Cub fans are aware, the Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908.
Today is the 101st anniversary of the day "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" was written. The song was written in Chicago by two fellas (lyricist Jack Norworth and composer Albert Von Tilzer) who had never been to a baseball game, yet it would become the biggest selling song of 1908. Norworth would eventually attend a game at Wrigley Field nearly 32 years later in July 1940 (Brooklyn won 5-4), and MLB awarded him with a free lifetime gold pass to any MLB game he wanted to attend. I'm not exactly sure how many games that turned out to be, but Jack Norworth lived through the 1959 season.
Point is, I've been mulling around in my mind this idea for a while now, and I thought it only appropriate to post it on the song's anniversary. I'm not superstitious in the slightest, and I don't believe in curses, but hey, if the Red Sox could have the "Curse of Babe Ruth," which, as we know, they overcame in 2004, what's to say that the Cubs can't have the "Curse of 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game'"?
I would apply this whimsical theory as well to the White Sox had they also passed the 100-year mark, but their streak was broken in '05. And granted, that was a long streak too, but in the same amount of time, the Cubbies seem to have fallen to many more struggles, near misses, and heartbreaks than their crosstown rivals, and their streak continues. I may be mistaken, but I believe Cub fans to be much more loyal to their team than White Sox fans (no disrespect to White Sox fans intended).
Cub fans can rest assured that if it's not my own personal favorite team, I pull for the Cubs every year, especially if/when they make the postseason. I've known Cub fans to be some of the most loyal fans in the game (if not the most loyal), moreso especially since the day Brooklyn moved west. I feel in my heart Brooklyn's to have been the only other team's fans to come even close to loyalty on the Cub scale.
Being a longtime Met fan, I do know what loyalty means. But even more than in New York, I believe loyalty to the Cubs in Chicago to be virtually religious; a standard by which people are literally disowned by families if they alter their loyalties. Very seldom does one find that type of devotion found in New York. And kudos to all Cub fans for maintaining that loyalty! If I'd grown up and lived in the Chicago area, I think I'd be part of that unwavering devotion (the same as my devotion to the Mets remains through thick and thin; and if my children were to be Yankee fans, I'd most likely disown them, heh).
So, I've been wondering how Cub fans feel about this thought, much less how many even knew of the song's historic irony. Personally, I pull for the Cubs to break the theoretic "Curse of 'TMOTTBG'." And since the song was written in Chicago a mere two weeks following the end of the 1908 World Series, despite my disbelief in superstition, I can't help but notice the tangible irony.
Just thought I'd bring this notion to the table, and, again, if it's not my Metsies, may 101 years be as high as this streak goes.
:gt
------------------
Katie Casey was base ball mad
Had the fever and had it bad
Just to root for the home town crew
Ev'ry sou*, Katie blew
On a Saturday, her young beau
Called to see if she'd like to go
To see a show but Miss Kate said
"No, I'll tell you what you can do
Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
I don't care if I never get back
Let me root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out
At the old ball game"
Katie Casey saw all the games
Knew the players by their first names
Told the umpire he was wrong
All along, good and strong
When the score was just two to two
Katie Casey knew what to do
Just to cheer up the boys she knew
She made the gang sing this song
"Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack
I don't care if I never get back
Let me root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out
At the old ball game"
~Norworth
* "Sou" is an antiquated and now-obsolete word that means cent. In more modern renditions of the song, "sou" is often changed to "cent," while "blew" is altered to "spent."