I went to the LA Times Festival of Books and, as always, sat in on a number of panel discussions: 8 to be exact. One of those 8 was listening to a panel discussion with Scott Simon regarding his love of the Chicago Cubs.
Here's a short bio via the LA Times of the panelist: Scott Simon, author of “My Cubs: A Love Story,” is the award-winning host of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, its most popular news program. A contributor to NPR for over thirty years, Simon has won every major award in broadcasting, including the Peabody and the Emmy. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Here are my notes from the conversation, hopefully there aren't too many errors.
The difference between winning a championship last year vs. potentially this year: The hardest thing to do is to repeat a championship. People want to beat you. You can't have any let down. The challenge is just as great as not having won a championship after so many years.
About when he decided to write his book: The night that the Cubs won the World Series, there were some mocking tweets about him writing a book. His agent soon thereafter asked if he'd write a book.
About the Steve Bartman incident: After reaching for the foul ball, Moises Alou slammed down his glove. The fans began yelling "Asshole! Asshole!" The police needed to take Bartman out of the stadium. The players began to unravel. The Chicago fans and players are to blame for Chicago not going to the World Series that year versus Steve Bartman.
About his relationship to the Cubs: His godfather was Jack Brickhouse, a Chicago Cubs announcer. He was also related via marriage to Charlie Grimm, former 1st baseman and manager. He got to hang out at the Pink Poodle, a lounge for the journalists.
The Cubs in the 1960s: They were lovable losers. They'd still get 3 million fans a year into the ballpark. They were the anti-Yankees. Cubs offered a neighborhood ballpark.
About Ricketts ownership: their ownership shows the benefit of family ownership. They're willing to take their time to build from the ground up. The owners are Republicans, but instead of going to the Trump White House they went to the Obama White House. They're not Trump supporters. Also, even though Obama is a White Sox fan, he made a personal appeal to the owners, saying that many of his staff were Cubs fans.
Best team that didn't win the World Series: The 1969 team, which was filled with Hall of Famers.
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