A couple of Chicago Cubs show they’re a lot like the rest of us.
It has been a rough few months for Chicago Cubs fans still struggling through a world without the ability to watch their favorite team. As the two sides — the players and the owners — duke it out in the media, a resolution and agreement to play the 2020 season seems to become further out of reach each day.
However, amid all of the bad news, the team recently gave us a couple of cool moments that reminded us of something we often forget — these players are people first. They have the same emotions as the folks who pack Wrigley each day to watch them play a game.
Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant shares a cool moment with son
First up was Cubs’ third baseman Kris Bryantsharing an awesome moment with his infant son, Kyler. All Cubs fans will forever remember where they were that October night in 2016 when the team ended their World Series drought. Chances are you were spending it with someone close to you — a parent, a brother, sister, or best friend. And for the rest of your lives, you’ll want to relive that moment together.
Now imagine having been a part of that moment and having the chance to share it as a dad with your newborn son? That’s just what Bryant got to do, and the pure emotion and joy on his face is something any parent can relate to.
Next, we got a peek behind the curtain into the thought process of Jason Kipnis who spoke about the emotional side of changing teams. As fans, it’s easy to just see the multi-million dollar contracts these players sign in free agency and wrongly assume that takes the emotion out of it. That’s clearly not the case as Kipnis reminded us.
Jason Kipnis talks conundrum of playing for Chicago Cubs
Speaking of that 2016 World Series, Kipnis was on the losing end of that Game 7 in which he came painfully close to winning it all. Kipnis recently replied to a tweet from a fan who wondered how tough it must be for him to now be a part of the team that denied him his greatest chance of reaching the promised land.
The level of candor in his response is something we don’t often see as fans but reading the tweet, it resonated with me. These players grow up as fans of their hometown team, and then develop new allegiances as they play for others. But how surreal it must be when those two worlds collide in the way they have for Kipnis?
Kipnis walked us through the emotions of a process that every fan can understand, if not relate to. It was really cool to see that side of a player, just as it was awesome to see Bryant enjoying such a special moment with his son.