Well, the Cubs did it, just like the Red Sox and White Sox before them. They reversed the curse and won the 2016 World Series by defeating the Cleveland Indians 4-3 in an epic World Series – a fitting fate for two teams that have both been starved for a baseball championship.

The last time the Indians won the World Series, in 1948, Harry S. Truman was president, gas cost 16 cents per gallon, and Humphrey Bogart starred in one of the year’s biggest films, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. For the Cubs, it’s been even longer. The last time they were in the World Series was 1945. However, the last time they won the Fall Classic was 1908. That was 108 years ago! At that time, the average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years, only 14 percent of U.S. homes had a bathtub, only 8 percent of homes had a telephone, there were only 8,000 cars in the country and just 144 miles of paved roads, and 95 percent of births took place at home! Yes, it was that long ago!

The more superstitious amongst Cub fans believe that a goat is responsible for the team’s championship drought. The Curse of the Billy Goat was a sports-related curse supposedly placed on the Cubs franchise in 1945 by Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis that lasted 71 years – 1945 to 2016. Legend has it that because the odor of his pet goat, Murphy, was bothering other fans, Sianis was asked to leave Wrigley Field, the Cubs’ home ballpark, during game 4 of the 1945 World Series. Outraged, Sianis allegedly declared, “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more,” which has been interpreted to mean that either the Cubs would never win another National League (NL) pennant, or that they would never again win a World Series. Therefore, Cubs fans have tried to reverse the curse of the goat by eating goat cheese at every Thankfully, no goats were harmed in exorcising the demons surrounding the franchise during their march to the title this year.

There was even some excitement here at The Benjamin School where there are a few dedicated Cubs fans, but perhaps none bigger than Middle School Math Department Chair Mrs.
Cathryn Hansen. “I met my husband in the stands at a Cubs game, and we had our wedding party at the Cubs park.” She continued, “I also had my twenty-fifth anniversary at the Cubs park, and my husband and I invited sixty people to the game and we went to a restaurant in Chicago after the game and we rented out the entire restaurant.”

Even when it looked bleak for the Cubs in the World Series, when they were down three games to one to the Indians, Hansen never lost faith. That’s mostly due to her positive nature. Always vibrant, smiling, and enthusiastic, she never seems to be in a bad mood.

Mrs. Hansen did take some credit for the Cubs winning season because she ate goat cheese during every game of the World Series. When asked by The Neersyde how she likes her goat cheese, Mrs. Hansen explained that before every game, she and her husband would go to Duffy’s and order pizza with goat cheese in the crust. By the time the Hansen family was at Duffy’s ordering their pizza during Game 7, Duffy’s gave them their pizza for free in honor of the Cubs.

The Cubs victory was so significant for Chicago that the city dyed the Chicago River blue for the Cubs’ parade. There was five million people in attendance during the city’s celebration – the seventh largest gathering in human history. Yes it was that big!

Just as Mrs. Hansen is a die-hard Cubs fan, there are some staunch Indians fans at TBS. “I am from Bay Village, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and I have been a Cleveland Indians fan ever since I could remember,” said eighth grader Luca Cotronakis. “The World Series was an unbelievable experience. I think it was two good teams going against each other, but the Cubs pulled it out. It was a great series, but at the end, I cried because it was so heartbreaking for my team. But I’m also hopeful for next year.”

In baseball, hope always springs eternal. No longer the “Loveable Losers,” the Cubs are all about winning, at least this year. Next year may be a different story. Perhaps it will be the Indians’ turn to get off the schneid and end their 68 years of futility. It just may not be as compelling as this year as two storied franchises who had not won for so long took center stage and captured the hearts and imagination of baseball fans everywhere.