They nearly ended a streak this season. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be their championship drought. Maybe worse, since Cubs fans need all the beer they can get their hands on to drink their sorrows away, the 62 year streak of serving Old Style in the stands and concessions of Wrigley Field was threatened.
But now, in a deal announced last week, Old Style is back at The Friendly Confines!
For the 2012 and 2013 seasons, at least.
It may be hard to wrap your noodle around why Cubs fans are rejoicing about this. There's the prominent selling and sponsorship of Bud products at Wrigley. A 'C', or mediocre, rating by users on BeerAdvocate. The fact that it's a macrobrew, although maybe much smaller than it once was. Hell, it wasn't even the preferred beer of the late, great sportscaster and Cubs icon, Harry Caray himself.
Granted I wasn't around in 1950 when Wrigley Field and Heileman's began one of the longest, if not the longest, partnership in all of sports, however, I usually catch at least a couple of games a year in person and when I do, I set aside my love affair with craft beer and still drink nothing but Old Style at the ballpark. It's the nostalgia. Tradition. Every time you walk into Wrigley Field you feel like you're stepping back in time. The old, manually operated scoreboard. The ivy growing on the outfield walls. The surrounding Wrigleyville neighborhood. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch.
If Old Style and Wrigley Field are considered wrong, then I don't want to be right.
Alas, we'll see where the team and the beer go in another couple of years. Yesterday, toiling at 65-85 and 5th in their division, the Cubs hosted the also lowly Astros, as well as an Old Style Fan Appreciation Day. 62 randomly chosen fans - you guessed it, one for each year Old Style has been at Wrigley - received Cubs Cash and Old Style gifts.
In true Cub fashion, the team blew a 3-1 lead in the 9th. Then they won in the 12th.
There is Old Style, and maybe hope, for "next year" yet.
I'm heading out to the Friendly Confines tomorrow. Can't wait to see my lovable losers with a dog in one hand and an Old Style in the other!
ReplyDeleteGreat post and I agree with you 100%, when at Wrigley I forgo all craft and take the seven dollar Old Style.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I can even remember the last time I saw them win in person. I think I'm currently mired in a 7 game streak of defeats going back to mid or late 2009. For shame.
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