It’s sometimes difficult to remember What life was like before the internet. We’re so accustomed to it now, that it almost doesn’t seem possible that We ever got along without it. But somehow We did it. And this is is a story from back in those days.
In the early 1990s, from 1991 to 1994, I lived in a high rise building in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago. The building had 17 stories, and I lived on the side of the building that faced north. Since I lived on one of the upper floors, I had a view of Wrigley Field out my Window. Whenever there was a network broadcast of a game played at Wrigley, I could see the blimps circling overhead, or Watch the small airplanes that would circle the park with a message of some kind trailing behind it.
In those days, after I would get home from Work in the evening, my first ritual Would be to grab a pair of binoculars, head over to the window, and look in the direction of Wrigley Field. Most home games were played in the afternoon back then, and the game Would usually be over by the time I got home. At the conclusion of the game, the Cubs Would run a White flag with a blue W on it up the flagpole if they won, or a blue flag with a White L on it up the flagpole When they lost. It was the best Way of finding out the result of that day’s game.
The day game at Wrigley is reserved for Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays anymore. Games at home on Mondays through Thursdays are almost entirely night games, making a ritual like this unnecessary. And having the internet at Work means that day games can be followed as they happen, and there is no suspense about What the outcome of the game is anymore. So I guess that’s progress.
The Cubs still continue with this post-game ritual, even if the need for it isn’t What it once Was. And the team now markets White shirts with a blue W on them, and uses the image as part of their current marketing campaign. It cuts both Ways, though, as I ran into a blue flag with a White L on it in Busch Stadium last year, being Waved by exuberant Cardinals fans to taunt Cubs fans like myself.
The practice of running up a flag after each home game began in the 1940s, although I haven’t been able to find a specific date for When this actually began. This could mean that there hasn’t been a flag run up following a World Series game for 61 seasons, if at all, since the last Cubs World Series appearance happened in 1945.
We all know that W stands for “Win,” but could it one day stand for “World Series” too? This is just one more reason for daring to dream big with the new regime coming in. After all, We’ve Waited long enough.
Blue Batting Helmet 