Root, root, rooting for the Cubbies
JOLIET -- At dinner Wednesday evening, Judi Petersen expressed hope the Cubs would write a new chapter in team history.
Petersen, a Minooka resident, talked about her favorite team at Jameson's Pub about three hours before the Cubs played the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first game of the National League playoffs in Phoenix.
photos by The associated press
photos by The associated press
Petersen, 61, said she went to her first game at Wrigley Field as a girl with her father, Henry Giermala of Joliet.
"My dad is 84 and I wish that they would win the World Series for his sake," she said.
Petersen and her three former ice cream shop co-workers -- Pat Blum of Denver, and Debbie Koehler and Edie Wilkins, both of Joliet -- at the Jefferson Street Mall hope the Cubs win.
Blum, originally from Plainfield, returned to the area for a 30th high school reunion last weekend and her parents' 50th wedding anniversary this weekend. Blum questioned whether the Colorado Rockies deserve to be in the playoffs.
"You can take the girl out of Chicago, but you can't take Chicago out of the girl," Blum said.
Koehler said her grandmother was born in 1908, the year the Cubs last won the World Series. She died in April.
"We say there is an angel in the sky, and it is my grandma," Koehler said.
"If Boston and the Cubs are in the World Series, then we've got a little problem," Edie Wilkins said.
"It is going to be interesting in our house," Dave Wilkins said. "I should have worn my Red Sox Jacket."
Sitting at a nearby table, Joliet Police Chief Fred Hayes recalled his father taking him to Cubs games while he was growing up in Romeoville. Hayes remembers the 1969 season, when as a 10-year-old boy he watched the New York Mets rally to edge the Cubs for a division title.
"I cried my eyes out as a young boy and so when I became an adult, I made an adult decision: I became a Sox fan," Hayes said. "I have enjoyed it ever since."
His dad, Fred, is a Cubs fan. In 2005, he bet a dinner with his father about how the White Sox would do in the playoffs.
"He is watching the game tonight," Hayes said. "He still bleeds blue. Now that a Chicago team is in the playoffs, I'll jump on the bandwagon and support the Cubbies."
"Hopefully, Sweet Lou can take us pretty far this year," Vardikos said. "I'm hoping for the best, but I'm bracing for the worst because that is what makes you a Cubs fan."
Meanwhile, Petersen remembered the 1984 playoffs. The four friends went to a game at Wrigley, which the Cubs won. But then the series moved to San Diego, where the Padres won the fifth and final game to take the pennant.
"They broke our heart that year, but they will (win) it this year," Petersen said.
Contact reporter Ken O'Brien at (815) 729-6119 or kobrien@scn1.com