2016 World Fucking Series Collective Freakout Thread

[The Big Cheese]

  Cross this off my bucket list.

I'm happy for me. I'm happier for you.

[Bort]

I'm so, so happy for Stew.

On a personal note, since Cullen started it: I didn't think just getting to the World Series would have such an impact on me but it's been a fairly shitty year. For those who don't know I'm a party of one again. I'm obviously not the only one to go through this but needless to say it's been an interesting few months adjusting to living alone again.

Luckily, I have many great friends and people I've been able to re-establish connections with and this playoff run has been an incredibly well timed distraction from everything else.

When someone had two tickets up for sale for game six, I immediately asked how much. They were in a price range that made sense to me. My close friend and an equally die hard Cubs fan said he was in. All the Cubs had to do was beat LA in game five and I had the chance to be in the building for a pennant clincher.

Sure enough the Cubs played their best game of the season. And as we counted it all down and blew past all the cursed moments in center field with a bunch of strangers it started to sink in. All the people who were born and died and never saw this. All the great players we've watched and bonded with each other over who never got to experience this.

When Baez threw that ball to Rizzo and he leapt in the air I screamed. When they started piling on each other on the mound I wept. Literal choking sobs. I'm still feeling it today.

It's a stupid game but that big red C with the little u-b-s inside of it on that blue pinstripe jersey has been with all of us since we were tiny, idiot children. The weight of history is very real.

Yes, they need to win 4 games and I am very confident that they will. But these players have given us all something that no one can ever take away from us. We were there. We saw this happen.

Wherever you were last night we were all together. We've got some more memories to make.

Damn, I love this.

[Tonker]

So, the latest rally video is out, and it's a good one.  I realised, watching it, that up until now (including last year, when they were relying on Hammel, Coghlan, Denorfia, Austin and Richard) that the Cubs have always had to bank on a bunch of pretty good players continuing to pull results out of their collective arse.  It never happened.  This year, though, they just have to be who they are... play as they can play... reach, rather than exceed, their potential.

I have so much love and respect for more or less every man on this roster.  They'll win this, and if they don't win this - and I say this without any trace of irony - they'll get it next year.  Go Cubs.

[BigDrinky]

I'm so, so happy for Stew.

On a personal note, since Cullen started it: I didn't think just getting to the World Series would have such an impact on me but it's been a fairly shitty year. For those who don't know I'm a party of one again. I'm obviously not the only one to go through this but needless to say it's been an interesting few months adjusting to living alone again.

Luckily, I have many great friends and people I've been able to re-establish connections with and this playoff run has been an incredibly well timed distraction from everything else.

When someone had two tickets up for sale for game six, I immediately asked how much. They were in a price range that made sense to me. My close friend and an equally die hard Cubs fan said he was in. All the Cubs had to do was beat LA in game five and I had the chance to be in the building for a pennant clincher.

Sure enough the Cubs played their best game of the season. And as we counted it all down and blew past all the cursed moments in center field with a bunch of strangers it started to sink in. All the people who were born and died and never saw this. All the great players we've watched and bonded with each other over who never got to experience this.

When Baez threw that ball to Rizzo and he leapt in the air I screamed. When they started piling on each other on the mound I wept. Literal choking sobs. I'm still feeling it today.

It's a stupid game but that big red C with the little u-b-s inside of it on that blue pinstripe jersey has been with all of us since we were tiny, idiot children. The weight of history is very real.

Yes, they need to win 4 games and I am very confident that they will. But these players have given us all something that no one can ever take away from us. We were there. We saw this happen.

Wherever you were last night we were all together. We've got some more memories to make.

Damn, I love this.

[Oleg]

After the game ended on saturday, I ran down to Huey's season tickets as I knew the four people sitting there.  Huey's brother kept talking about how the Indians don't have a lefty starter, since it seems the Cubs struggle against elite, lefty pitching.  I mentioned to him that so does, literally, everyone else.

Finally, he said something that made not give a shit who pitches when or what the actual plan is for the rotation, etc...

"Being the best team is a really good strategy going into the World Series."

Fuck it all.  I want to cry tears of joy for a week.

[PenFoe]

First off, I couldn't possibly be happier for everyone, especially Stew.  He was pretty much the first person I thought of after I got done thinking about myself.  
And Slak.  Yes, people go through this, but it doesn't make your experience any less important or painful.  

I was out with my wife on Saturday night for our anniversary. I was trying really hard not to check the score at the table, but she knows me well enough by now.

I went to the bathroom twice during dinner to tell everyone in the SlackBox that I loved them, because while I don't *know* many of you, I know you plenty well, and we've been through a lot of shit together.  

I didn't get to see the final out live, I just saw it elapse on the gametracker on my phone so it was a little unemotional, though I was plenty jazzed.
I went home later, put the kids to sleep, hung out with the wife for a while longer and then went to bed to pass out.  

As usual, she fell asleep before me and so I grabbed my phone and started going through Facebook and liking and watching everything I could.  
And then...tears.  Not massive ones, but all of a sudden I was basically paralyzed by the realization that I hadn't had a chance to truly soak it in yet.  

And I thought that was that.

And then Sunday morning I put on the TV and the I saw the highlights and heard Pat's call and I was fully gripped again.  Full on throat lumps, shortness of breath. The works.  

I knew how much I cared, but I was still struck but how hard it hit me.

It's been a hell of a ride.  

[Eli]

I was struck by how simply reaching the World Series felt like an accomplishment. That surprised me, since everyone talks about how the whole point of this is to win the World Series.

I didn't cry or feel all that emotional in the moment, but instead mostly felt relieved in a monkey-off-our-back way. The most emotional I felt was talking to a buddy of mine whose dad died last year. They'd gone out to Spring Training every year together for 20+ years and this was the first year his dad wasn't around for a season. It's been a hard year for him, so this felt like a big moment. And it made me feel fortunate that I can go over to my dad's place this week and watch the Cubs play in a World Series together -- the first time he (age 64) or I (age 33) will have ever seen it.

[Quality Start Machine]

My dad died in 2010. The Cubs and Blackhawks were the thing that bonded us together.

He wasn't a man of any true greatness - he was a mean drunk. In fact, one day when he was younger than I am now, he just decided he was through working, and sat in the same damn chair for hours every day, drinking cheap vodka and smoking Chesterfields. There was eventually a huge brown spot on the ceiling from all the smoke that 4 packs a day produced. Even with that, it took a few years before my mom finally threw his ass out.

We had a huge falling out in 1991, and I never spoke to him again. He said things that I demanded an apology for, and told him if he ever wanted to see me or speak to me again, all he had to do was apologize. The years past, and he died on April Fools' Day.

But I'll tell you guys...he was the first person I thought of when all of this became a reality. And despite all his shortcomings, I guarantee you all he would have really enjoyed this. And maybe I would have given him a call.

[Tony]

I got pretty choked up on Friday when Slak tweeted something about winning a pennant, and then on Saturday when I was texting my brother about the Schwarber news and we started talking about the game. I started to get a little choked up in the 8th, but the 9th seemed to happen so quickly that it kind of caught me off guard. But I lost it a little later when I saw my cousin pay tribute to my dad on facebook. And then I called my mom and a lot of trouble speaking.

After the dust settled when my dad died I remember thinking two things. 1... he won't ever meet his grand kids, and 2... he won't be here when the Cubs win. And it sucks, because his grandkids are all pretty great and so is this Cubs team.

[CBStew]

First off, I couldn't possibly be happier for everyone, especially Stew.  He was pretty much the first person I thought of after I got done thinking about myself.  
And Slak.  Yes, people go through this, but it doesn't make your experience any less important or painful.  

I was out with my wife on Saturday night for our anniversary. I was trying really hard not to check the score at the table, but she knows me well enough by now.

I went to the bathroom twice during dinner to tell everyone in the SlackBox that I loved them, because while I don't *know* many of you, I know you plenty well, and we've been through a lot of shit together.  

I didn't get to see the final out live, I just saw it elapse on the gametracker on my phone so it was a little unemotional, though I was plenty jazzed.
I went home later, put the kids to sleep, hung out with the wife for a while longer and then went to bed to pass out.  

As usual, she fell asleep before me and so I grabbed my phone and started going through Facebook and liking and watching everything I could.  
And then...tears.  Not massive ones, but all of a sudden I was basically paralyzed by the realization that I hadn't had a chance to truly soak it in yet.  

And I thought that was that.

And then Sunday morning I put on the TV and the I saw the highlights and heard Pat's call and I was fully gripped again.  Full on throat lumps, shortness of breath. The works.  

I knew how much I cared, but I was still struck but how hard it hit me.

It's been a hell of a ride.  

Just because I have been going through it longer than most doesn't make this about me. None of you guys are bandwagon jumpers.   
I can't help but think about old friends who took the streetcar and bus to Wrigley with me back in the '40s ...Yes, I am happy, but also kind of numb. 

[Saul Goodman]

Stew, you are a gentleman and a scholar.

[Armchair_QB]

You're right about the ninth inning. It took roughly six minutes to play but it felt like an hour to get those three outs. I just sat in front of the TV staring and not really believing it happened.

I have a business trip later this week that will put me within driving distance of my parents' place. I was supposed to fly back to where I live on Friday afternoon, instead I'm driving five hours to surprise my dad and watch Games 3 and 4 with him. He was 1 the last time the Cubs played in the World Series. Might be my only chance to do this with him. My brother is trying to get there too. I'm tearing up as I type this.

[Oleg]

So, this is really going to happen, huh?  What the hell, they might as well win it.

[Bort]

So, this is really going to happen, huh?  What the hell, they might as well win it.

And heck, if they're gonna win it, why not sweep?

[Tonker]

So, this is really going to happen, huh?  What the hell, they might as well win it.

And heck, if they're gonna win it, why not sweep?

Bearing in mind my travel schedule, a win in game 4 or 5 is acceptable.  Winning in game 6 or 7 is not, especially as I'm going to be in the air between Newark and Toronto on Tuesday - I'm not secheduled to land until 2051 ET and then have to get through immigration and customs.  I might end up watching the last couple of innings in a bar at YYZ.  Yeesh.

Winning in three would also be good, but I'm given to understand that that's unlikely.  Is there a mercy rule in the World Series?