{"id":24483,"date":"2016-01-19T17:03:07","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T23:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=24483"},"modified":"2016-01-20T09:52:45","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T15:52:45","slug":"high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"High expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alex Obal<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the only place on Earth where a Brian Schlitter jersey and matching pinstriped pants constitute conservative attire; where Jorge Soler\u2019s autographs function as currency; where anyone wearing a green or yellow shirt can serve as a landmark. That will never change.<\/p>\n

But with the Cubs widely favored to return to the postseason and win the World Series, there was something new at the 2016 Cubs Convention: a confidence that the hard-luck franchise is about to enter a golden age.<\/p>\n

Cubs players, coaches and alumni were greeted like rock stars by the blue-and-red-clad masses who made the pilgrimage to the sold-out convention at the packed Sheraton Grand Chicago.<\/p>\n

This year, nobody was meekly asking whether the Cubs had a realistic hope of winning half their games.\u00a0Instead, they\u00a0reveled\u00a0in the notion of the Cubs finally putting 1908 in the rearview mirror.<\/p>\n

While heightened expectations usually produce the\u00a0Cubs-induced anxiety of a possible letdown, the fans weren’t outwardly nervous. Of course, it\u00a0is only\u00a0January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to be good for a while. They\u2019re young,\u201d said Alexandra Shloss, 38.<\/p>\n

These are Cubs fans, after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re always my favorites, anyway,\u201d Shloss said. \u201cI always think they\u2019re good, even when they\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loose and confident tone of the weekend was established Friday night. Players opened the weekend by cracking self-deprecating jokes with former pitcher Ryan Dempster. It was the Cubs\u2019 version of a late-night comedy talk show.<\/p>\n

Pitchers John Lackey and Jon Lester, two longtime friends who as members of the Boston Red Sox in 2011 were infamously reported to have eaten fried chicken and beer in their clubhouse during games, enjoyed a box of Popeyes while chatting with Dempster.<\/p>\n

Lester joked about his tireless efforts to recruit his old teammate from St. Louis to the Cubs this winter, comparing himself to a \u201ccrazy ex-girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m like, should I text him? Should I not text him? What should I say?\u201d<\/p>\n

As usual, the background noise included steady banter about whether you\u2019d trade, say, Anthony Rizzo for Jake Arrieta \u2013 their autographs, that is \u2013\u00a0and many attendees carried signs to show whose signatures they were looking to trade for.<\/p>\n

Fans gathered as early as 5 a.m. to line up to meet players and get autographs. The long lines were the price of winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot more crowded,\u201d said Scott Simmons, 21. \u201cIt\u2019s still fun, but it just makes it tougher to get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or to get anywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were long lines just to go down the escalators,\u201d Shloss lamented.<\/p>\n

Ironically, after Saturday\u2019s festivities, hundreds of fans gathered around the hotel bar watching a football game, rooting for Arizona against the Chicago Bears\u2019 rival Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n

And so day two of the 2016 Cubs Convention ended with something else new: the blue-and-red-clad masses celebrating a playoff win by the Cardinals.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Hundreds of fans competed to win autographed memorabilia at Saturday night’s Cubs Bingo. (Alex Obal\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alex Obal It\u2019s the only place on Earth where a Brian Schlitter jersey and matching pinstriped pants constitute conservative attire; where Jorge Soler\u2019s autographs function as currency; where anyone wearing a green or yellow shirt can serve as a landmark. That will never change. But with the Cubs widely favored to return to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":24512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,585],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2016"],"yoast_head":"\nHigh expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"High expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alex Obal It\u2019s the only place on Earth where a Brian Schlitter jersey and matching pinstriped pants constitute conservative attire; where Jorge Soler\u2019s autographs function as currency; where anyone wearing a green or yellow shirt can serve as a landmark. That will never change. But with the Cubs widely favored to return to the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-19T23:03:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-20T15:52:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/cubs-bingo-table-7.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"548\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alexanderobal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alexanderobal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/\",\"name\":\"High expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/cubs-bingo-table-7.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-19T23:03:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-20T15:52:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/743c6249f0b04ab2e3323af7ad62dd71\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/cubs-bingo-table-7.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/cubs-bingo-table-7.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":548},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"High expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/743c6249f0b04ab2e3323af7ad62dd71\",\"name\":\"alexanderobal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a40e8a7da4ea228b7518fb38db0511e9abb37c1edff8452454693d4567a8e560?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a40e8a7da4ea228b7518fb38db0511e9abb37c1edff8452454693d4567a8e560?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"alexanderobal\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/alexanderobal\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"High expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"High expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Alex Obal It\u2019s the only place on Earth where a Brian Schlitter jersey and matching pinstriped pants constitute conservative attire; where Jorge Soler\u2019s autographs function as currency; where anyone wearing a green or yellow shirt can serve as a landmark. That will never change. But with the Cubs widely favored to return to the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-01-19T23:03:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-20T15:52:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":548,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/cubs-bingo-table-7.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"alexanderobal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"alexanderobal","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/","name":"High expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/cubs-bingo-table-7.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-19T23:03:07+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-20T15:52:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/743c6249f0b04ab2e3323af7ad62dd71"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/cubs-bingo-table-7.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/cubs-bingo-table-7.jpg","width":1100,"height":548},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/high-expectations-have-cubs-fans-buzzing-at-convention\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"High expectations have Cubs fans buzzing at convention"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/743c6249f0b04ab2e3323af7ad62dd71","name":"alexanderobal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a40e8a7da4ea228b7518fb38db0511e9abb37c1edff8452454693d4567a8e560?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a40e8a7da4ea228b7518fb38db0511e9abb37c1edff8452454693d4567a8e560?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"alexanderobal"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/alexanderobal\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}