FREEBIRD

[j.c.]

That poor kid... for now. He can make a bundle outta that in time... if he's smart. Heck, his face is plastered all over the place... may as well make a buck off it. It is a natural instinct to try to catch the ball... maybe he can cash in on those 'it's not natural' furniture commercials...

Curses! Chicago Fears New Hex on Cubs from Own Fan
By Greg McCune

CHICAGO (Reuters) - First it was the curse of the Billy Goat in 1945. Then a black cat ominously ran on the field in 1969.

Now long-suffering Chicago baseball fans fear a new hex has been unleashed on their beloved Cubs, the team that has gone longer than any other major American professional sports franchise without winning a championship.

Call it the curse of the fan and the foul ball. Chicago fans were despondent and angry on Wednesday about the play that many believe precipitated yet another Cubs collapse.

It was the eighth inning of the National League (news) Championship Series sixth game against the Florida Marlins (news) on Tuesday and the Cubs were ahead 3 to 0. Just five more outs and the Cubs were headed to the World Series (news - web sites) for the first time since 1945. The Marlins hit a pop fly down the left field line. Cubs outfielder Moises Alou (news) raced to catch it.

A young man wearing a Cubs hat and sitting in the front row reached up and tried to catch the ball, knocking it away from Alou's outstretched glove.

Alou was livid, claiming the fan had interfered with his effort to snag the ball. Cubs ace Mark Prior, who had pitched an outstanding game up to that point, gestured angrily and seemed to later lose focus. The umpire ruled there had been no fan interference because the ball would have landed out of the field of play.

The Cubs collapsed, allowing the Marlins to score eight runs in the inning and win the game.

Alou later said he thought he had a chance to catch the ball but he did not blame the fan.

"I know everybody when they go to a ballpark wants to catch a baseball," Alou said. "It's very special, but I hope he doesn't have to regret it the rest of his life."

MITT HITS THE FAN

"Curses," was the banner headline in the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday. "The Mitt Hits The Fan," said the Chicago Tribune.

The unfortunate fan was verbally threatened, showered with beer and escorted from Wrigley Field by security for his own protection. He has not been identified although his picture was plastered like a "Wanted" poster on news stands and the play was shown repeatedly on television.

Chicago talk radio stations were overwhelmed with calls from fans, some vowing revenge against their own partisan, and others expressing sympathy that he had done the most natural thing a fan could do -- reach out for a fly ball.

Still others were muttering about curses.

"I don't want to believe in that curse," said Joe Doll, 51, a computer animator and Cubs fan for 40 years. "But it seems like everything always goes wrong with the Cubs."

The Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908, the longest drought of any professional team in American football, baseball, basketball or ice hockey.

In 1945, tavern owner "Billy Goat" Sianis showed up at Wrigley Field for the fourth game of the World Series with two tickets and his goat, Murphy. When ushers denied Murphy entry, Sianis laid a curse on the Cubs, saying Wrigley would never host another World Series. The Cubs lost the World Series that year and have not hosted one since.

In 1969 another promising Cubs team collapsed late in the regular season after a black cat ran on the field.

Many fans worried the Cubs would not be able to recover from such a devastating loss and beat the Marlins in the winner-take-all seventh game of the series. But others said they would never lose faith in the Cubs.

"There's still hope," said Doll. "We have Woody (star Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood) on the mound tonight."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=577&e=1&u=/nm/20031015/sp_nm/nl_curse_dc