JOY IN WRIGLEYVILLE
Fans celebrate as Cubs’ Game 5 victory sends Series back to Cleveland
The two previous nights, fans had left Wrigley Field quickly after the Cubs lost Games 3 and 4 of the World Series.
Sunday night, no one wanted to leave, after a 3- 2 win that forced a Game 6 in Cleveland on Tuesday night — the Cubs’ first World Series win atWrigley Field since 1945.
“We still got some magic left!” Dan Chavas of Logan Square yelled as he and a group of friends made their way to a bar.
“Amazing,” said Maria Regopoulos, 35, of Palatine, dancing and high- fiving everyone at Sheffield and Addison with her friend Christina Floros, 33, of Arlington Heights. “We knew that our Cubs could pull it off.”
Kevyn Mader drove in from Lombard to watch the game on the North Side at the Dark Horse bar with her son Alonzo Anderson.
“I didn’t care they were down,” Mader said. “I’mride or die withmy Cubbies. This is our time.”
“Just being a Cubs fan, you’re always nervous,” Anderson said. “But it’s all about momentum. We got it now.”
Stephen Tyler, 41, drove a far greater distance — from Tuscaloosa, Alabama — to see the game. Seeing the Cubs win aWorld Series game at Wrigley was “No. 1 on my bucket list,” he said.
Tyler said he was on edge up until the final two outs. “It still felt like something could happen,” he said.
When the game finally ended, “It’s almost like people didn’t know what to do,” Tyler said. “It went berserk. It was worth every penny I spent.”
Sisters Eileen Ochoa and Kathy Vana drove in from the west suburbs just to stand outside Wrigley Field for the game.
“The energy, you can feel it in the air,” Ochoa said.
It’s been an emotional week for them. Their father, a lifelong Cubs fan, died in September.
“” You’re watching and thinking about all the people you’ve lovedwho didn’t get to see this,” Ochoa said.
“But they’ve got the best seats,” Vana said. “There’s a lot of people watching from above — angels in the outfield.”
Ryan Wedig, 36, came in from Missouri. “We tried to be as loud as we could and just keep the team in it and let them know that we weren’t giving up because we weren’t ready for them to give up,” Wedig said. “It took a while for me to even eat a hot dog, I was so nervous— but I finally got one down.”
Watching Cubs relief ace Aroldis Chapman finish off the Indians in the ninth inning was scarier than the scariest movie Vanessa Childs has ever seen.
“I couldn’t even look,” said Childs, 47, of Northbrook. “I hid my head in my husband’s shirt.”
“She couldn’t bear to watch,” said her husband, Matt Childs, 48. “I didn’t have anyone to turn to for comfort.”
“Iwas onmy feet thewhole time,” said Max Rimac, 17, who lives four blocks from Wrigley and attends Notre Dame College Prep. “I can barely talk now. It was an insane experience. Honestly, my knees are weak.”
“Two more to go,” said Matt Levin, 19, of South Barrington. “Cubs in seven. I can’t describe it. It was unlike any game I’ve ever been to.”
Robb Louder and his son Brevin flew in from their Wyoming home even without having tickets for any of the games atWrigley Field.
“Lifelong Cubs fans, we could feel it was gonna happen and had to be here,” Robb Louder said.
They toyed with springing for tickets as prices fell after Game 4 but decided to enjoy it from a bar.
“It’s just exciting to be around this atmosphere,” Brevin Louder said. “I was nervous, but I knew they could pull it out.”