Cub fans, by consensus, are the best in baseball. Year after year, in good times and (mostly) bad, they turn out in vociferous numbers, sustaining themselves with a heavenly ichor that combines loyalty, criticism, cheerfulness, durability, rage, beer and hope, in exquisite proportions.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the unwavering loyalty and passion of Cubs fans, regardless of the team's performance.
Roger Angell's quote celebrates the unique spirit of Chicago Cubs fans, who display exceptional loyalty through both triumphant and challenging seasons. Their experience is characterized by a blend of emotions—ranging from joy to frustration—yet they continue to support their team with fervor, showcasing a camaraderie that is deeply rooted in their love for baseball.
In practice
This quote could be used at a sports gathering to emphasize the dedication of fans.
This was a new recognition that perfection is admirable but a trifle inhuman, and that a stumbling kind of semi-success can be much more warming. Most of all, perhaps, these exultant yells for the Mets were also yells for ourselves, and came from a wry, half-understood recognition that there is more Met than Yankee in every one of us. I knew for whom that foghorn blew; it blew for me.
Any baseball is beautiful. No other small package comes as close to the ideal design and utility. It is a perfect object for a man's hand. Pick it up and it instantly suggests its purpose; it is meant to be thrown a considerable distance - thrown hard and with precision.
Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young.
Friends of mine said later that they had been riveted by a postgame television close-up of Wade Boggs, sitting alone in the dugout with tears streaming down his face …. I suppose we should all try to find something better or worse to shed tears for than a game, no matter how hard it has been played, but perhaps it is not such a bad thing to see that men can cry at all.
I knew I wasn't a baseball writer. I was scared to death. I really was afraid to talk to players, and I didn't want to go into the press box because I thought I was faking it.
Basketball may have been invented in Massachusetts, but it was made for Indiana.
To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it's digging deep, it's doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.
If you're in the penalty area and don't know what to do with the ball, put it in the net and we'll discuss the options later.
An athlete experiences the emotions of pain and elation through triumph and defeat, through teamwork and individuality, as nothing more than a human being...that is the true glory of sport.
How can you not be romantic about baseball?
Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen mister, no man alive can throw any harder than Smoky Joe Wood.
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