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player ready...Ever the clever orator and crowd-pleaser, Bill Clinton gave several states a shout-out during his speech Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Naturally, Illinois – being the birthplace of his wife, presidential nominee Hillary Clinton – got a few mentions.
Upon meeting his wife-to-be’s Park Ridge family, the former president said he quickly learned about the importance of following the local sports teams. Hillary’s father and brothers were “extolling the virtues of rooting for the Bears and Cubs” to the young suitor from Arkansas.
Depending on how you interpret it, his next line was either an optimistic prediction or a sly dig at Cubs fans.
“And for the people from Illinois here, they (Hillary’s family) even told me what ‘waiting for next year’ meant. Could be next year, guys.”
Did he mean this year could be that long-awaited “next” year for the Cubs, or was he saying that 2016 would prove to be just another in a long line of fruitless seasons? You could read it either way, which might be what Clinton intended.
Speaking to The Economic Club of Chicago in 2014, Hillary herself waffled on her allegiance to the hometown teams.
“Once a Cubs fan, always a Cubs fan,” Hillary said, “but my personality was such that I couldn’t stay hitched only to a losing team. I had to search for a team that would counterbalance the experience of losing every single year, so – I hate to say this, and I know you’ll boo me – I became a Yankees fan.”
“I alternated my affections,” said the former senator of New York, “because it was just too hard being a Cubs fan, only being a Cubs fan.”
Her husband did refer to her as a “change maker” repeatedly during his speech Tuesday, but that’s probably not the kind of change that will endear her to faithful Cubs fans – or White Sox fans, for that matter.
Mrs. Clinton at least has true affection for the game of baseball. An article earlier this year in New York Magazine includes an anecdote about Clinton attending a game at Louisville Slugger Field in Kentucky during the primaries, “enjoying a moment to herself in one of the stadium’s luxury boxes, looking out over the beautiful, empty minor-league baseball field, smiling.
“‘I really love baseball,’ she said, seemingly to herself.”
On that, at least, fans here can definitely say “I’m with her.”