By Sally Pyne
Let me add my hearty CONGRATULATIONS to the Chicago Cubs and all fans—both living and in heaven—as that is where all long-suffering Cubs fans surely are—for their national league pennant win. First since 1945—no world series win since 1908—108 years……this got me thinking about superstitions– and how timely—right before Halloween!
Those that study “magical thinking,” superstitions and the like, will tell us that sports fans—and players—are among the MOST superstitious. Look at all that is surrounding the Cubs victory and march to the World Series win. Even the game time of 7:08 pm is 19:08 in military time. There are no less than 30 references to “108” being the Cubs “lucky number.” Here are a few examples:
- The last 2 Cubs to be inducted into the Hall of fame–Santos #10 & Dawson #8
- The distance from both the left field and right field poles to home plate at Wrigley Field is 108 meters.
- Cubs star pitcher, John Lester, was born in the 108th largest city in the US—Tacoma, Washington.
- Hall of Fame Chicago Cub Ryne Sandburg’s 2004 Fleer Greats Trading card is #108.
The list, compiled in “Hoodoo: Unraveling the 100 Year Mystery of the Chicago Cubs,” which is co-authored by Grant DePorter, CEO of Harry Carey’s Restaurant Group, goes on and on—the signs are everywhere…and we haven’t even mentioned that goat yet!
You would think with all the scientific evidence available in our times that our search for answers would reduce the instance of superstition. However, experts say that with the introduction of all our electronic devices it has increased our tendency to look for unexplained answers and patterns where they do not exist, since these tools,to most of us anyway, are somewhat “magical” in how they work.
Even if you do not consider yourself superstitious, there are a number of holiday customs we enjoy which no longer have basis in reality or fact. Holiday superstitions are generally happy ones that work to protect us from bad things.
We dress up as ghouls at Halloween to fool the evil spirits into thinking we are one of themso that they will not take our souls. Orange and black as our Halloween colors symbolize the colors of the crops in orange—and the death of summer for black. Originally the Irish hollowed out a turnip to hold their candle stub in the night—but once they migrated here pumpkins were easier to find—hence the Jack-O-Lantern.
So let the games & the superstitions begin! GO CUBS GO & Happy Halloween!
Dr. Sally Pyne is a retired educator who has lived in the Bloomington-Normal community all but 5 of her 50-plus years. She is married to Ed who is editor and publisher of the Normalite newspapers and they are parents of two grown daughters.
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