please please please let me get what i want

I spent several innings of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series in a rocking chair, singing iterations of "Finger Family" while also trying to listen to what was happening in baseball on the radio. I had left the Cubs in a good position, but came downstairs during the ninth inning to find Chicago and Cleveland were tied (!) and going to extra innings with a rain delay. It'd be lying if I denied suspecting this drama was orchestrated. I mean, rain delay? They couldn't have scripted it better.

I bought these at the bakery today. Appropriate for the events of today's game.

***

Sometime in the early '80s my brother made it clear that we are a "Chicago Cubs family." He rocked his blue satin Cubs jacket at age six and has never looked back. He also decreed that anyone who actively rooted for the White Sox would be disowned. And with the way he cried at losses or called his physician when his favorite players were injured, we knew he meant it.

Of all the eligible bachelors in the world, I managed to marry one who is just as fanatic about sports as my brother, and staunchly loyal to his teams. Hell, he rooted for the Rams after they left Los Angeles for St. Louis (and is overjoyed they have returned). The fact that he has lived here since 2008 and laughs in the face of anyone who asks him when he'll start cheering for Chicago teams "because he lives here now" only makes me love him more.

The Cubs started getting really good when my kid graced this earth. Just saying.

***

The 2016 Champion Chicago Cubs had been the butt of jokes for so very long. Still, my brother entered the lottery for season tickets and leapt at the chance to buy them when his number came up. He scrounged for the money that first season. And for years and years, he laid down that fat stack of cash, then couldn't even give the tickets away when he lived out of state. He attended when he could. The vendors know his name. He asks his sectionmates about their grandkids and trips to Dublin. My brother was on the Jumbotron during the first World Series game at Wrigley Field since 1945. I know that I'm *technically* his people, but when I go to The Friendly Confines with him, it's clear: Those are his people.

I have always wholeheartedly cheered on this team, every single losing year. But these fans, the ones who take each outcome so very personally, those who've wanted this so very badly, they had this coming. Sixty percent of the crowd at Cleveland's Progressive Field were rooting for Chicago tonight, and apparently most of the 43 seats that each cost more than $10,000 on StubHub were behind the Cubs' dugout. And my brother is losing his mind waving a giant "W" flag somewhere with his best buddies on an El train in the city. He FaceTimed me after they won (poor connection) and sent me this photo.

It wouldn't have been right if he hadn't been there.

***

The day is today, my friends. You long-suffering, true fans? Congratulations.