Thousands Cheer On the Cubs from Heaven

It’s the top of the 9th inning and Cubs fans everywhere are standing, watching, and anxiously waiting for the Cubbies to close out the Dodgers and go to their first World Series in 71 years. Could it really be happening? Isn’t something about to go drastically wrong? Then the Cubs turn a double play and it’s over. Cubs 5, Dodgers 0. Bedlam – in Chicago and in heaven.

I’m watching in the kitchen, my wife Debbie is in the family room catching up on Project Runway. It’s not that she doesn’t want to watch the Cubs, it’s that she thinks she is bad luck for them. She’s convinced that when she watches they lose. Typical Cubs fan.

Now the game’s over, the Cubs are going to the World Series and Debbie feels it’s safe to watch the celebration. The tears are flowing. She’s thinking about her father, Roger Corthier, a die-hard Cub fan. As a young man in the Navy, stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base north of Chicago, Roger attended a World Series game the last time the Cubs were in it, way back in 1945. Like all long-suffering Cubs fans, nothing would have made him happier than to see his beloved Cubs return to the Fall Classic. Debbie is recalling memories of him riding their John Deere tractor with his transistor radio in hand listening to the Cubs.

When it’s 71 years between World Series appearances, many fans do not live to see their team reach the pinnacle of the sport. But Debbie is convinced that her Dad is still watching and cheering on the Cubs. She is not alone, many of us are thinking about the legions of Cubs fans that are not with us today but we know they are watching from heaven. Because there is no doubt that all Cubs fans go to heaven. It’s their reward for keeping the faith.

Do you have a parent or grandparent who is watching the Cubs from the great skybox above? Please tell us about them. Also feel free to share memories of long-suffering Cleveland Indians fans. They have most likely earned a ticket to heaven as well.