'Go Cubs!' we cry - but why? By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle They're being watched all over Northeast Wisconsin as people hope and, yes, pray they'll bring a championship home. They've overcome rough spots and lack of past success and now, it seems, there's hope where there was none before. Oh, and their fans also hope the Green Bay Packers do well. We're talking about the Chicago Cubs, who have a surprisingly strong hold on the baseball emotions of Brown County. Why? Shouldn't this be Milwaukee Brewers territory? Well, yes and no. Back in that one stunning year of 1982, and for a bit before and after, the Brewers were hot. And they were hot here as well. But it was temporary. And that was when the Brewers were in the American League, which never really caught on in Wisconsin. There's interest in the Brewers here, of course, but it depends on how they do. And lately, the interest has faded, much as the Brewers seem to do in April. (Granted, there was this summer's winning streak, but that was temporary.) So the Brewers are a diversion, as much for Bob Uecker's entertaining play-by-play as for anything they do on the diamond. But the Cubs - ah, that's different. They have always had a hold around here, and for that, we go back to the olden days when the Cubs actually won a pennant now and then. (Hardly a man is alive who remembers 1908 and a World Series win.) The Cubs were the closest major league team, of course; the White Sox were much farther away and you had to go through Chicago to get to them. Wrigley Field was, then as now, a fan's dream park. And up to World War II, they were pretty good. One local political leader said he got his case of Cub Fever in 1945. "I saw a headline - my dad used to get the Chicago Tribune - that said 'Cubs Win Pennant,' and since I was a Cub Scout, I liked them right away," he said. In those days, with no TV and no local teams, the closest baseball on the radio was the Cubs on powerful WGN. (A tradition that continues on cable TV, of course, although the Cubs aren't on as much any more.) Which explains some of the older fans. But it also explains the fans now. Like religion, politics and taste in cars, baseball teams are handed down through generations. If your granddaddy liked the Cubs, the odds are pretty good you're at least going to listen for their scores. And that's what has happened here. The only break in that came in 1953, when the Braves moved to Milwaukee and took baseball by storm, reaching two World Series and just missing two others. But the bitterness that followed the team's absconding to Atlanta in 1965 killed any hope of that. When the Brewers arrived in 1970, many fans weren't willing to forget or forgive - at least until the Brewers started winning. But the Cubs? Well, during that break between Braves and Brewers, they actually threatened to be good. Ernie Banks and Ron Santo were heroes of the day, and the 1969 Cubs have become one of the most famous second-place teams in history, leading late into the season until they were swept away in the miracle that became the New York Mets. For all these reasons, they've kept their grip on the hearts of local fans. But there may be something else. In general, folks up here hate folks from Illinois, using derogatory initials we can't reprint here. Bears? Bah. Bulls? Bullfeed. But the Cubs? There, and only there, we find common ground. Lest we get any visions of a Nobel Peace Prize, however, forget it. That's about the only thing we have in common. Barrington is a reporter for The News-Chronicle. His column appears here Fridays. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected] or call 432-2941.