« Bane of my existence | Main | Dontcha know »
September 29, 2008
Cubs fans are willing to try anything
There was an interesting story in today's Tribune, about all the various people in Cub Fan Land who are trying to capitalize on the Cubs' success this year. The Cubs, surprise, are in the playoffs and have a real chance to (gulp) end their 100-year championship drought. One woman is selling a most interesting stuffed animal: a goat you can tear apart in moments of anger, like so:
When the Cubs take the diamond for their first playoff game Wednesday, Marge Flashing will be outside Wrigley Field celebrating America's national pastimes: baseball and making money.
The Wheaton woman is the creator of "Break the Curse" kits, a collection of items aimed squarely at a century of futility. In addition to a stress ball, balloons and other tchotchkes, the kit features a stuffed animal goat that fans can rip apart in times of frustration.
"We've suffered through high and lows for so long as Cubs fans," she said. "We wanted to do something to help the team."
Not to mention turn a buck. Flashing joins a flood of entrepreneurs on Internet sites, at craft fairs or on the Wrigleyville streets hawking everything from Lou Piniella-inspired T-shirts and stadium paintings to self-recorded music CDs and clothing for ceramic geese.
A retired accounting manager, Flashing came up with the goat idea in the middle of the night last year. And while the kits have been buried alongside a dead Cubs fan and in the sand in Iraq by a Chicago-born soldier, sales have not exactly skyrocketed. Profits would not quite cover the price of a scalped World Series ticket, at least not yet.
Of course, this all has to do with the Curse of the Billy Goat, which has haunted the Cubs since 1945. Many efforts to break the curse have failed, but that doesn't stop people from trying.
I like capitalism and all that, but I don't know how I feel about this tear-apart goat. It's kind of, well... Gross. It evokes animal sacrifice, or Jurassic Park, where a goat was fed to a ravenous T-Rex.
It goes something like this: Alfonso Soriano drops a fly ball, and spectators all throughout Wrigley Field are just wishing there was a goat around for them to slaughter, and rip in half. Being squeamish, instead they tear up a plush representation of the goat. However, this does satisfy their lust, and soon half of Wrigleyville is rioting and awash in blood and entrails. Good thing, then, the bars won't have beer after the 7th inning. Thanks Mayor Daley!
Oh yeah, and if you want to buy one of these delightful guys, click here.
entry no. 1220
Posted at September 29, 2008 04:00 PM