Chicago Cubs fans in Northwest Indiana aren’t exactly sure how to start a new baseball season without wondering if this could be the year that the curse ends.
While kicking off a Cubs season as World Series champions is new for fans and players, it’s a welcomed change, said the Rev. James L. Greanias, who leads St. Iakovos Greek Orthodox Church in Valparaiso and is known by his congregation as an avid Cubs fan.
“It’s fun. It’s new, unchartered territory for us,” Greanias said.
As the Cubs return to the field after ending their 108-year curse by playing against their rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, Sunday night, the Chicago White Sox are looking to rebuild with new blood, similar to what the Cubs did, and reclaim that same title, starting with the Detroit Tigers Monday afternoon.
Whether fans in Northwest Indiana are looking to continue the Cubs’ streak or start a new one with the White Sox, they said there’s just a sort of magic and giddiness with the return of Major League Baseball.
John Zuklin, of Highland, a White Sox fan in a family of Cubs supporters, said it’s always exciting when baseball season returns.
“I kind of look at it like when spring training starts, winter’s almost over and warm weather’s coming. We’ve made it through winter. We’re on the upswing now,” he said.
Cubs fans have had one of their shortest waits between seasons, and as the World Series win has sunk in more, the excitement has lingered. Milan Savich, who is the store manager at Clark Street Sports at Southlake Mall, said people are “still coming in” to get Cubs gear, asking for specific players or looking to get the special gold uniforms the players will wear at the team’s ring ceremony. Savich said it’s similar to people buying up Blackhawks stuff, “but bigger.”
Deb Kucharyski, of Valparaiso, said that this past Christmas was definitely the Christmas of Cubs-themed gifts. “That’s all I gave,” she said, and in turn told her friends and family to “get me anything Cubs.”
To pass time in the off-season, she said she’s tuned in to watch retired catcher David Ross compete on “Dancing with the Stars,” with his first dance to “Go Cubs Go.”
“I don’t miss it,” she said.
As players get ready to leave spring training and return to their games that count, Greanias told his congregation March 26 that “the fast is over” with baseball returning, even with Lent continuing for a little while longer. This year, Greanias is “expecting more of the same from last year,” he said.
With the new season, Cubs fans ponder whether there’s more pressure this season to hold on to their title, or less pressure now that the curse is gone.
“I think any year following a championship you have high expectations for a team,” Savich said, but “for me, I think there is less pressure overall” with the curse gone.
Flo Decker, owner of Kenwood Tap in Hammond and a devoted Cubs fan, said with the pressure of the curse gone, people will be less “haunted” this year.
“At least the superstition is gone, and that’s the most important thing,” Decker said.
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Edward Anderson, who has watched the Cubs for decades through ups and downs while living in Munster, said he’s excited to see some of the new ballplayers, such as Albert Almora Jr. filling centerfield with Dexter Fowler gone to the Cardinals.
Savich said he thinks “everyone is going to keep an eye on Kyle Schwarber” to see what he can bring offensively that the team missed out on last season, and where he’ll fit in defensively.
Across Chicago, Zuklin said he’s excited to see what shortstop Tim Anderson will bring to the field, but he predicts “it will probably be a rough” season of younger players continuing to build up the team.
“I think they’re probably a couple of years out for a World Series,” Zuklin said.
Rich Ramirez, of Griffith, sees a different type of season for the Cubs and “barring any major injury,” Ramirez thinks the Cubs will increase their wins this year.
“If anything, winning last year, kind of relieved that pressure where if you don’t win next year, it’s not really that big of a deal,” he said.
Ramirez likens it to how people still think fondly of the 1985 Super Bowl win for the Chicago Bears or how people point to the Bulls’ winning seasons with Michael Jordan.
“From here on out, if we don’t win another thing, we’re going to ride this championship,” Ramirez said.
Twitter @ruthyjacobs