are the cubs truly cursed?

[rone]

This kid's gonna have to enter the Witless Relocation Program.

For the baseball-impaired: The Cubs are rolling along, ahead 3-0, pitching in the top of the 8th inning, one out and Juan Pierre on second, when Luis Castillo lifts a fly to left. Moisés Alou is about to catch the ball when some utter, complete, unadulterated clod messes up the ball's trajectory into the stands. Foul ball. Castillo walks on a wild pitch ball 4 which advances Pierre to 3rd base. A Pudge Rodríguez single drives in Pierre, and the inning goes to hell, and so does the game for the Cubs.

Comments

[extempore.livejournal.com]

It's funny since we're not him, but the guy will genuinely have to move out of chicago if they lose game seven. Even that won't be enough. I'd get plastic surgery. He is so totally completely utterly fucked.

He's probably a lifelong cubs fan, too. FUN! I imagine we'll be reading about his suicide someday.

[boutell.livejournal.com]

Check out what Moises
Alou (http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/spx-news-rside15.html) says at the end of this Chicago Sun Times story on the subject.

[vspope.livejournal.com]

Doesn't matter. These are Cubs fans he has to interact with.

If the Cubs win Game 7, he will STILL have to deal with jeering and unpleasantness for as long as he lives in Chicago. But if they blow it tonight, he will have to get plastic surgery, change his name, grow a beard, enter the Witness Protection Program, be escorted to a private plane, fly to Albania, hide in an underground bunker for the rest of his life, put major surveillance systems around the vault-door entrance and require sixteen forms of ID from the Albanian pizza-delivery guys.

And even THEN, some Bleacher Bum will track him down and remove his bodily organs in alphabetical order.

[vspope.livejournal.com]

At least it didn't happen in Philadelphia. If a Phillies fan interfered (inadvertantly or not) with a batted ball and the Phillies subsequently imploded like the Cubs did, he never would've made it out of the stadium alive. The section would've shredded him on the spot, and his remains would have been sold for parts on the streets of South Philly.

[opadit.livejournal.com]

Philadelphia magazine ran a profile and interview with Mitch Williams a couple of months ago. Apparently the poor man still gets death threats.

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

I got stuck somewhere reading the Albuquerque paper this morning, and there was a long article where a guy who claimed to be sitting next to him claimed that he didn't lean out over the rail to grab the ball. Your picture seems indicate otherwise, if not by much.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's one thing that i find curious... everyone i've read says that the ball was clearly headed for the stands, but the pictures i've seen show that it was too close to tell. And, yeah, the kid probably wasn't looking at anything but the ball, and most people would've tried to catch it, too. It's still a boner of historical proportions, and if the Cubs don't pull it out today behind Kerry Wood... oy. It's practically theater.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

The thing is, even if the ball had been heading for the stands, if Alou had somehow managed to catch it, he would've gotten the out. But as any fan who's ever sat that close to rail will tell you, you just can't help reaching for a ball like that.

This is bloody Greek tragedy, it is.

[jeff2001.livejournal.com]

It was a heartbreaker. But nobody blew this but the Cubs.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

It's true. It's like how everyone remembers the Buckner through-the-legs error, but few remember that was only Game 6, and the Sox still had a chance to win Game 7 and the Series.

[kodi]

Man in stands described as diehard fan

[extempore.livejournal.com]

"Man in casket (will be) described as die-hard."

Nobody's saying it's right or fair, but that guy is doomed.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

From now on, "Do the Bartman" will no longer conjure up images from "The Simpsons".