Chicago Cubs: ‘Everybody In’ is more than a catch phrase

Chicago Cubs: Everybody in, everywhere

In San Diego and San Francisco, I was greeted with a handful of “Go Cubs!” and the ubiquitous “love the hat” comments. This wasn’t particularly surprising. The Cubs were on the west coast at the same time, so of course there were excited fans everywhere.

Then we spent a day at Yosemite National Park. The Rangers both greeted our car with a pumped fist, a smile, and a point to the hat. In Bakersfield, we went to breakfast and the couple with a young child in the booth across the aisle stopped by on their way out to offer a fist bump and an anecdote about how the team is looking good again and hopes are high.

We hiked up to Delicate Arch near Moab, Utah. Under blazing 110 degree sun, a middle-aged man and his son jogged up to me simply to talk about the Cubbies. We pulled into a New Mexico fast food joint to catch a quick bathroom break, and as we got out of the van, an old Cadillac heading to the drive thru slowed down, rolled down the windows and screamed “Woo!! Cubbies!!” at the top of their lungs.

All this (and more examples I haven’t listed) happened in California, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Proud, outspoken, excited, optimistic Cubs fans at every single stop, everywhere in between, and hundreds – if not thousands – of miles from Wrigley Field.  Now that is what being together is all about.

Simply put, that’s “Everybody In”.