LebensUndLeidensZeichen: The Cubs

When I chose the location of my hostels, I paid very little attention to their significance in the world of sports. Here in Chicago however, I planned to see one of the Baseball games in the Wrigley´s Field stadium. A single baseball confrontation consists of 3 individual games 3h each. So there are usually plenty of cards for a reasonable price. My hostel in Wrigleyville was basically 4 houses away from the stadium and with 20$ per bed good damn cheap (and very nice!).

Anyways, my roommate for the first 3 days explained to me that the cubs are usually playing rather badly (according to American superstition they are jinxed (verflucht). They haven´t won the world cup in 108 years and didn´t even qualify since 1945! However, this year they have been extremely successful and are just about to qualify for the world cub. Since it is the main team of Chicago (and the whole state of Illinois), this is a huge thing. When I arrived in the city is was still unclear if the Cubs would come that far, but when they had won the last games during the week (in some other town), the whole city of Chicago changed into a gigantic fan mile. With my hostel right next to the stadium I could witness the full scope of a whole metropolis becoming a baseball fan block.

Of cause the tickets became completely unaffordable, but the days before the match as well as the night of the game were really fun to watch. Especially after somebody explained the strange rules to me (apart from the battering part similar to kickball or German Brennball).

Boystown, Chicago´s main gay neighborhood lies also close to the stadium. Unfortunately I didn't really get the change to explore it much.