Some Sports are Bigger than Sports

“Some sports are bigger than sports.” And that was true tonight. My Grandpa, a lifelong Cubs fan from Wisconsin, is on hospice at home. Since about game three of this World Series he has been too sick to watch, but my mom has been giving home the play by play at his bedside. I love you Grandpa. This was for you.

CUBS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Ted

So let’s get this story straight.

My Grandpa, my mom’s dad, has lived his whole life in Wisconsin. He was born in 1929 and he’s a life-long Cubs fan. And life-long Packers fan too, but that’s beside the point tonight. Grandpa likes sports, but he loves Jesus. He’s a man of God in the truest sense of the phrase. He prays for me (and hundreds of people) every day. He’s respected in his community. I admire him.

Now, the Cubs haven’t won a world series during my Grandpa’s lifetime. He was 16 when they last went to the World Series. The last time they won was 21 years before he was born, in 1908.

So even though it’s just sports, tonight is a very big deal, because the Cubs are going to the World Series, with a chance to win it all.

Some background: my favorite sport to play is soccer. My favorite sport to watch is football. But I believe the greatest sport in existence is baseball, hands down. It is genius. Mathematical. Magical. A perfect game. You could watch baseball every night for 100 years and still learn a new rule on the 1000th night. It’s a complicated, wonderful game.

I respect baseball a great deal, in great part because of my dad. Baseball was his sport growing up, and even though it faded from popularity during my growing up years, he made a point of teaching us the game at a field near our house. Dad even WATCHED the World Series with us when I was a kid (dad never watches TV). I’ve made it a point to watch the World Series every year for the past 10 years. And I never regret spending four hours in a night watching the pure essence of sport: a man with a rock vs. a man with a stick. Beautiful.

Finally, the kicker. Just one month ago, Grandpa and Grandma moved from their house of 50+ years to be closer to town. Grandpa is 87. When he moved he gave me his bat, his ball, and his glove. I have them now, and will keep them always.

So with my entire being, I am rooting for the Cubs. Go Cubs. GO CUBS!!! Win it all.

For my Grandpa…

– Ted, Facebook: October 22 at 9:18pm

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