A Story from a Guest Author

Today, my friends, I have a guest writer for your pleasure. This is a story that was written a few years ago. After long negotiations, the author has finally agreed to allow me to post it on my blog.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a story by my son, Tyler Wagner.





A Cool Breeze From The Windy City

The wind pulverizes my hair whenever I pay a visit to the windy city. I always have to remember to pack my Cubs hat in my luggage before I make the trip because I know once I’m off that plane, all the hair gel in the world won’t be able to save my messy rat’s nest. That’s when I know I’m home. Placing that old, beat up, blue and red sweat rag called a hat on my head means I am about to go to a ballgame. Not just any ballgame though. A ballgame that involves the greatest team in sports the Chicago Cubs. And they don’t just play in any stadium. They play on the most historic field in baseball Wrigley Field. Inside the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, now that’s the place where I love to be.

As I cross the busy street to get to the field I spot the famous red sign that hangs proudly in front of the entrance. Welcome To Wrigley Field: Home of the Chicago Cubs. Just reading those words gave me goose bumps, for I was about to enter my version of the twilight zone. A place so unbelievable, so extraordinary, that it could not possibly be from this dimension. It was the only place I knew of that could make a grown man cry. I wiped back my tears and rushed the line to give the man at the gate my ticket. After a few flying elbows and kicks to the shin, I made my way to the front of the line. When I got from the front gate to the inside of the ballpark the butterflies started swirling in my stomach and I just took a deep breath and continued walking. Everything about this place is great. What other people look at as normal and common at this field I look at as exceptional. Every single detail of this place I like. From the ticket people to the beer vendors, everything and everybody in this place are okay with me.

I find my seat after about ten minutes of searching and am pretty relieved to see it. I’d done quite a bit of walking already in Chicago and my feet were kind of getting on my nerves. I took a seat in between a weary eyed old man and a kid with an oversized Sammy Sosa shirt on. It wasn’t my ideal seating arrangement, but I decided not to get upset about it. I’d only been sitting for a few moments when I heard the sweetest music to my ears.

“Beer here! Ice cold beer over here,” said the vendor.

Oh goodie, beer and baseball, what a beautiful day. I signaled the man to come over and I asked for an ice cold Budweiser. Somewhere up in heaven I knew Harry Carey would be smiling down at me. I would have smiled back if not for the vendor telling me my cup of brew would cost me $7.50.

“Are you kidding me buddy,” I said while I took a big gulp of the tasty beverage. “That’s the best deal I’ve ever heard of.”

I could tell the vendor was very confused, obviously thinking I was going to complain.

“You mean to tell me I get delicious ice cold Budweiser and a Collector’s cup from Wrigley Field for only $7.50?”

“That’s just a plain white cup, not a special collector’s edition cup,” the vendor said.

“It’s not a plain white cup after I write Wrigley on it now is it,” I said. “Now who’s got a marker?”

The vendor was not amused and took my money and walked off. I guess he wasn’t used to dealing with overexcited fans that visit this field. I was probably embarrassing myself in front of all the other fans around me but I didn’t care. I was happy and nobody was going to take that away from me. Well, unless Barry Bonds hit a game winning home run today, then I would be pretty unhappy. I was going to think positive though. Thoughts like Bonds going 0-4 with 4 strikeouts against the mighty right-handed pitcher Kerry Wood. I hoped to see Cubs right fielder and All-Star Sammy Sosa hit a home run over the center field wall. I didn’t care if the game was good or the game was bad, just as long as it didn’t get rained out. That would be the only thing that could ruin the day. Luckily for me, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. This was what they called a beautiful day at Wrigley.

A couple of innings and a lot of hotdogs later, I finally had to take a trip to the men’s room. I hated to get up and do anything before the 7th inning stretch, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I went to get up and realized that the old man next to me had fallen asleep and had his legs propped up on the seat in front of him. I tried to wiggle past him but was unsuccessful. The other way out was way too long so I decided to hop down a row and go out that way since nobody was sitting in the seat in front of me. I went to step over the seat when the little boy sitting next to me pushed me from behind and I went flailing over the chair and onto the ground. An uproar of laughter came from the seats above and I definitely knew they weren’t laughing at the game. I tried to get up nonchalantly but that was damn near impossible. As I got up all red in the face I tried to calm myself down by saying I was in Wrigley and nothing would ruin my visit. Not a sleeping old man, not a punk little kid, not a bunch of obnoxious fans. Nothing!

I held my head up high and went up the stairs to the bathroom. Once inside the bathroom I found myself too mesmerized to pee. I walked into what looked to be a Cubs shrine instead of a place for taking care of business so to speak. On the walls were autographed pictures of great Cubs players over the years like Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg and Andre Dawson. The urinals were all blue and red. The sinks were shaped like giant baseball gloves with soap dispensers shaped like a baseballs. Harry Carey sang the seventh inning stretch over the speakers inside and when you flushed the toilet Harry Carey would so proudly exclaim, “It might be, it could be, it’s gone!!!” This was certainly as close to heaven as I’ve ever been.

As I exited the restroom of all restrooms I was startled to see a replay of a man falling headfirst over a chair at some ballpark on the big screen.

“What a goof,” I said and chuckled to myself.

But then I saw the replay again, and again, and again and I realized what it was they were showing. I was right. It was a goof, but I was the goof.

“Oh man I can’t believe they are showing this,” I said in disbelief.

Somehow I knew that the place that I loved more than anywhere else in the world was really trying to push my buttons and make me change my mind today. I mean what else could go wrong? The worse case scenario was that my Cubs would lose and fall behind a game and a half to the Astros. That wasn’t enough to bring my spirits down. I decided to say hell with it. I’m at Wrigley Field for crying out loud; there is no reason to be upset. The birds are chirping, the peanuts are extra salty, and the Cubs were up 7-3 in the seventh. It seemed ridiculous to me that I would come all the way from Reno to Chicago just to see a game, and even when I’m at the game I’m spending more time looking at the field than watching the game. But that’s exactly what I found myself doing. My comfort zone was not watching the Cubs play baseball but rather being where they played baseball. I really could give a hoot whether they won or lost today to tell you the truth. I was just so incredibly happy to be there with my people, laughing jerks and all. I’d gladly let a kid embarrass the crap out of me everyday if it meant I’d get to be in the bleachers at that field for every home game. I would pay $9.00 for a beer and $6.75 for Cracker Jacks just because they came from there. I would savor every bite of my ketchup covered Cubbie Corn Dog for $5.00 and swallow every last drop of my Chicago Cherry Coke with pride. Because you see it doesn’t matter to me what I pay, who I sit next to, or what anybody says or does. What matters is what means the most to me and that is Wrigley Field. I hope everyone can find a sense of place that they find as enjoyable as I find mine, because it truly is a beautiful thing.



That's my boy!!

And so it goes for another week. Enjoy the weekend and save time to join me here tomorrow for more of less!!!!!