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Love of Cubs links fans in hinterlands
October 1, 1998
BY BRYAN SMITH STAFF REPORTER
It's a lonely place for a Cubs fan, out in the hinterlands of Washington state, where Bigfoot is more popular than baseball.
But Shawn Stevener doesn't mind.
``They look at me like I'm crazy out here when I say I'm a Cubs fan,'' Stevener said. ``But that's OK. I live and die with them. I'm hooked.''
In San Francisco, Cubs lover Mike Ebert knows the feeling.
``It's created civil unrest in my family,'' Ebert said. ``Half the household screams for the Cubs, half for the Giants.''
They may not be able to hop a Red Line to Wrigley, or pound a few brews at Murphy's. They may never have been to Chicago at all. But check in almost any place in the country and you're likely to find them: Cubs fans as rabid as any bleacher bum.
From Ohio to Ontario, Alabama to Iowa, Washington to Washington state, they hunker, strangers in a strange land, bound together by a common love affair of a team known for breaking hearts. They speak of Wrigley in reverent tones and dream of the day they can journey to their baseball Mecca.
One electronic bulletin board, listed as ``May I ask where you Cubs fans are from,'' registered cities such as Canton, Ohio; Kingston, Ontario; Jasper, Ala.; Lincoln, Neb.; and Denison, Iowa. Why so many far-flung fans?
``It's the whole tradition,'' said Phoenix resident and lifelong fan Pete Stazzone, president of Independent Network Services. ``It's Wrigley Field and the lovable losers. It's all of the history.''
In some cases, the reasons are less clear. Stevener, who runs a Web site called the Die-Hard Cubs Fan Club, is not from Chicago and never has been to Wrigley Field.
``I saw a game when I was 7 years old and I've followed them ever since,'' she said. ``People wonder how I can be a Cubs fan since I'm not even from there.''
Eddie Lorenzen, who lives in Washington, isn't from Chicago, either. But whenever he can steal a few moments from his Capitol Hill job, he tunes the TV to the Cubs.
``I started watching while I was in high school in Pennsylvania in the spring of 1984,'' he said. ``I got hooked because they were doing so well.''
Of course, like so many, he didn't realize what he was getting into.
``That year was the first year they brought me to tears,'' he said, recalling the Cubs' playoff loss to the Padres that year.
That WGN carries the games across the country, and even internationally, certainly accounts for much of the Cubs' long reach. Because of satellite coverage, in fact, the fan base is not limited to the United States. The Dominican Republic, which produced Sammy Sosa, long has been a hotbed of Cubs fans.
In Arizona, the Cubs' spring training camp cultivates fans. That, and ``half the town is from Chicago,'' said Stazzone, who was raised on the South Side. ``There's Chicago hot dogs here, Chicago-style pizza, Windy City sliders.''
Loving the lovable losers, however, isn't always easy far from home. Andrew Petersen, 16, of San Diego, for instance, found out that Padres fans didn't find his adopted team lovable at all.
``I remember I was at a game [in San Diego] wearing all my Cubs stuff,'' Petersen said, ``when this guy wearing a complete Padres outfit spit in my direction.''
``I take a lot of ribbing,'' Lorenzen said. ``Especially when I wear my Cubs ties.''
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