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More Than A Man Cave
Over the past three years, my basement has turned into somewhat of a “mecca of Chicago sports,” with a very strong Cubs focus. I’ve never been a fan of the term “man cave,” but essentially that’s what it is.
Most of the stuff that hangs on my walls are newspapers or magazines that document some historic event in Chicago sports history: a no-hitter, series clinching win, career milestone, etc. I’m a huge history nerd so I love witnessing historic events on TV and then buying and framing the newspaper/magazine/article that documents it.
Some people collect coins, I collect Chicago periodicals.
As I started to hang the hundreds of framed pictures on my walls of my basement, I noticed something that was worrisome.
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I had at least one piece of “championship” memorabilia from each of my favorite Chicago teams: Bulls, Bears and Blackhawks. The one piece of missing championship memorabilia was, of course, from the Chicago Cubs.
Thankfully, last year that problem was resolved.
I honestly believe it was some divine intervention that I got the Sports Mockery job writing about the Cubs right before the 2016 season. I applied not really expecting anything but when they called back and asked if I could write about my favorite team on Earth, it was a no-brainer.
I collected a few pieces of Cubs stuff from the 2016 regular season (Arrieta’s no-no, KB’s huge game in Cincinnati, and the division clincher) but it was the journey through the 2016 postseason that allowed me to pick up some pretty cool things before the team sealed the deal.
I scooped up a playoff towel from Game 2 of the NLDS against the Giants, a “Make Someday Today” towel from Game 1 of the NLCS, and an autographed Kris Bryant baseball from the World Series.
The ball was actually a gift from Bryant’s high school coach, Derek Stafford, who I’ve gotten a chance to know pretty well. Stafford and another one of Bryant’s former assistant coaches, Matt Estrada, flew into Chicago from Las Vegas for Games 3, 4 and 5 of the World Series and as a thank you for letting them crash at my house, they came bearing gifts.
