A Cubs game at Wrigley field

There are a number of things that are a must when you visit Chicago.  One of them, as the title clearly spells out, is to go to a Cubs game at Wrigley field.  For those of you not acquainted with Chicago, the Cubs are one of the two major baseball teams of the city.  The other team is that of the White Sox.  Funnily enough, when I first came here I used to see a lot of people with Sox baseball caps.  But not knowing anything about the team, and the logo placing the letters in a particular way, I thought it was some particular brand called Sex.  It was only when I commented about this to a friend that I was finally illuminated.

But let’s not deviate too much.  This was my first ever baseball game, and trust me it’s not that exciting.  It lasted around 3 to 4 hours and most of the time there was hardly any action on the field.  I must also admit that even though my friends tried to explain the game to me, I still couldn’t understand what was really going on.  I understood though that the Cubs won, which was quite a surprise, because apparently this season they were doing very bad.  I also noted that one of the players’ surname was Rizzo.  I’m curious to know whether he is of Maltese descent, although he might also be Sicilian.  This guy was actually one of the best players of the game as he did a number of home runs.  A homerun is when the batter throws the ball so far out, that he can run safely home.  Usually the ball ends on the spectators watching the game who keep the ball as a souvenir.  So you see I’ve learnt something about baseball for sure.

However I’ve also noted that people don’t just go there to watch the game.   Its a social outing.  Everyone is chatting, and most of all eating and drinking beer.  The smell of grilled sausages permeates throughout the stadium, and makes you want one.  I myself enjoyed the company of my friends and ate so much.  The atmosphere is wonderful, with bands playing, people singing and so on.  And all this is performed with organ music being played in the background.  Its not a church organ kind of music, but if you have seen ‘The Simpsons’ you surely know what I’m talking about.

Wrigley field is also a place to go because the stadium is one of the oldest in the US.  It is also one of the smallest and has this scoreboard that is not automatic, but people change scores on it from the inside.  It is like a tall building with lots of windows.  The windows are filled in with words and scores.    This scoreboard really fascinated me, and I’d like to visit it from the inside one day.  Its quite big, and I imagine that when you are inside you realize the enormity of it all.  

This was one of my first experiences of American sport.  Next in line is Basketball.  Our school had an offer for some Bulls game, and everyone said that it was really worth it.  So late in October I should be telling you about that.