On taking Dad out to the ballgame
I took my dad to a Cubs game on Wednesday night.
On the surface, not that big of a deal. My dad and I have been to dozens of Cubs games over the years. He took me to my first game when I was five years old in 1987. The Cubs played the Cardinals, Wrigley Field didn’t yet have lights, and I remember exactly two things from that day — Being overwhelmed with joy at the green of the seats and the grass and the ivy laid out before me, and a guy snatching a foul ball out of my dad’s hands in the late innings of that game.
But this Cubs game was different because, well, it was my treat.
I’ve been wanting to treat my dad to a Cubs game since I was a kid. After all, he had picked up the tab for me so many times, the absolute least I could do was foot the bill just once.
Life gets in the way though. I spent my 20s living and working in five different states, struggling to make ends meet. As you get older, things like going to a ballgame with your dad tend to slip your mind. He’s in the suburbs, most of the Cubs games I go to tend to be spur of the moment decisions and not planned out affairs.
There’s also the fact that, up until recently, I couldn’t afford to treat him to a Cubs game. Once I realized I could — finally — I told him to pick a date where he’d come down from the suburbs and we’d go to a Cubs game, my treat.
So, we did. August 21 to be exact, Cubs against the Giants.
I must have spent a good week or so scouring StubHub and other ticket sites trying to find the right seats. These ones might be directly in the sun. there might be too many people walking in front of those seats to enjoy the actual game. How about the seats we grew up sitting in….nope, I make decent money these days but not enough to where I can afford THOSE seats. The bleachers could be fun…nah, I actually just want to watch a game with my dad and not just people watch.
Finally, I settled on just the right seats — Section 314L, upper deck in the shade, right behind home but not far enough to where people would be blocking our view the whole game. Great view, but not cost prohibitive. Perfect.
So, on Wednesday night, I took my dad to the Cubs game. I bought us beers and hot dogs and for 4 1/2 hours, we hung out together at Wrigley Field just like we had done dozens of times when I was a kid. We marveled at Nick Castellanos’s four hit night and agreed that we both hope the Cubs sign him long term because he’s really good but also because he seems to genuinely enjoy being a part of this team, our team in our city. We bemoaned the team’s inability to hold a lead through the middle innings. We high fived and celebrated after Kris Bryant hit a home run in the 8th inning to give the Cubs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and then we high fived again when Craig Kimbrel closed out the win.
Change the names of the players involved and these are exactly the kinds of memories that I grew up with that I was suddenly in such a hurry to relive at the age of 36. Wrigley Field, the Cubs, and hanging out with my dad.
We also bemoaned the fact, initially, that because it was a slugfest the game was stretching on well past our respective bedtimes. The Cubs wound up winning 12–11 in a nine inning game that took roughly 3 1/2 hours. This meant that I wouldn’t be getting home until late on a school night and I’d probably spend most of my workday on Thursday tired.
Staying til the end, however, is a decision I’d make over and over again. Because I finally got to treat my dad to a Cubs game on Wednesday night, and that is worth losing a little bit of sleep over.
