Chicago Cubs: Classic games provide comfort in a difficult time

Without Chicago Cubs baseball, many fans have been watching classic games to fill the void before baseball returns. It’s brought back some great memories.

Before now, I had never been much of a fan of watching past games of either the Chicago Cubs or other teams. There was just something about watching a game where I already know what happens that didn’t appeal to me. However, as we enter what was supposed to be the beginning of the 2020 MLB season, with games currently on hold, I’ve seen many fans on social media and around the internet posting about re-watching some classic games. I decided to join in.

Fox and FS1 have re-aired Game 7 of the 2016 World Series at least a couple of times, and though the game has been available in its entirety on YouTube for a while, I never had taken the time to watch the whole thing from start to finish. I’ve watched the final out many times, but not the whole classic ten inning contest.

Nevertheless, being quarantined at home with no live baseball to watch, I decided it was finally time to revisit one of the greatest nights of my life. Before I did that, however, I watched Kerry Wood‘s 20 strikeout game from 1998 on ESPN, on Saturday. I was thankful that ESPN aired this; even though the game is on YouTube, it features the Houston Astros broadcast for some reason.

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I’m ashamed to admit that this was my first time watching all of Wood’s 20 strikeouts. I was 13 years old in 1998, and the game took place on a Wednesday afternoon – a school day – so I didn’t watch it live. I should have watched the game sooner than this, but I’m glad I did it, as it brought back some great memories of following the Cubs in my youth, while it helped me to appreciate how important this game is in Cubs history so much more.

As for Game 7, I watched the whole thing on YouTube right afterwards. I had forgotten many of the details of the game, so watching it was helpful in that regard. Yet it also brought back so many of the up and down emotions I went through on the night of November 2, 2016 (ending, of course, on a positive note). I gained a whole new appreciation of that game.

I plan to next re-watch Game 7 of the 2001 World Series as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees. It didn’t involve the Cubs, but it did involve my all-time favorite player, Mark Grace. After playing for the Cubs for 13 years, from 1988 to 2000, I was so happy to see him win a championship, though it wasn’t with the North Siders. Like it is now, our nation was going through a lot back then after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and one of the best World Series of all-time helped us all to heal.

If you find yourself stuck in the house without much to do during this time, thankfully we have YouTube and other technologies that we can use to re-watch some classic games. Hopefully, this will keep us entertained as we await our game’s return.