WHAT’S THAT SMELL? SUCCESS.
Some Cubs fans are starting to, well, reek. “This one is getting a little rank,” Rick Schillo, 63, a nurse anesthetist from Edgebrook, says of the Cubs shirt he keeps wearing without washing it. “And no one’s bothering me as much. They’re sitting far away. It’s working out good for me. I’ve got my space.”
Not that they’re necessarily superstitious, but some fans figure: What if detergent and water might rinse away the good mojo associated with them wearing their favorite Cubs T- shirts, jerseys and other gear every single day of the post- season?
Besides, after rooting the Cubs for so many non- World Serieswinning years, why risk jinxing them?
“There is no cutoff point,” Jason Turner, 42, a Cubs fan from Austin, Texas, who abides by the no- wash rule, says when asked how long he might go. “I’m married. I’ve got no one to impress.”
Molly Novotney, 21, a senior at the University of Illinois, blames her unwashed Cubs gear on a mix of superstition and college procrastination.
“Part of me thinks it’s time,” she says. “I need to do laundry.”
But Novotney, who’s majoring in agricultural leadership education and lives in a sorority house, isn’t too worried about the smell: “I can always just douse myself in perfume.”
“THIS ONE IS GETTING A LITTLE RANK. AND NO ONE’S BOTHERINGMEAS MUCH. THEY’RE SITTING FAR AWAY. IT’SWORKING OUT GOOD FOR ME.’’ RICK SCHILLO, above, on not washing his Cubs shirt
Jason Tran, 27, is similarly untroubled.
“I am going to keep letting the wins soak in,” the car salesman from Sycamore says of his wellworn Cubs jersey.
If the Cubs win it all, Tran says he plans to smash two open — and full— beer cans together, raise them above his head and pour both into his mouth, a la Stone Cold Steve Austin, the actor and former pro wrestler.
“Then,” he says, his Cub jersey “will be officially retired— and possibly framed.”