A punchline for more than 100 years, the Chicago Cubs’ historic World Series drought has made its way into a number of iconic small screen moments. Frankly, we’re all hoping the jokes come to a definitive end in 2016 (Go Cubs Go!), and just in case that happens, we’ve compiled a list of the most memorable pop culture references and predictions from the last century. Enjoy the jokes while you can — hopefully, just a few more days.
Read More: God Bless The Chicago Cubs, But Watching The World Series Is Pure Hell
“The Simpsons”
If you’re on the air for nearly three decades and feature as many pop culture references as “The Simpsons,” the Cubs are bound to come up a few times. And they have, both as a four-word joke and a more elaborate unveiling of the only way the Cubs could actually win. Yet the most pertinent...
Read More: God Bless The Chicago Cubs, But Watching The World Series Is Pure Hell
“The Simpsons”
If you’re on the air for nearly three decades and feature as many pop culture references as “The Simpsons,” the Cubs are bound to come up a few times. And they have, both as a four-word joke and a more elaborate unveiling of the only way the Cubs could actually win. Yet the most pertinent...
- 10/28/2016
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
On The Late Show on Thursday night, Stephen Colbert celebrated the Cubs winning the wild card spot in the Mlb playoffs (they beat Pittsburgh) by declaring that the Curse of the Goat was now broken and that the Cubs would go on to win the whole enchilada.
Mr. Colbert, how could you? You lived in Chicago for eleven years. I know that, at that time, you studied improv with Charna Halpern and my old writing partner, Del Close. You know the dashed hopes and numbing despair experienced by Cub fans. And just when the Cubbies had won their first playoff game in Twelve Years, you had to flout the Curse of the Goat and even eject from your show a goat that had been in the front row of the audience. The goat clearly did not want to go but you had to repeat the incident that first brought the...
Mr. Colbert, how could you? You lived in Chicago for eleven years. I know that, at that time, you studied improv with Charna Halpern and my old writing partner, Del Close. You know the dashed hopes and numbing despair experienced by Cub fans. And just when the Cubbies had won their first playoff game in Twelve Years, you had to flout the Curse of the Goat and even eject from your show a goat that had been in the front row of the audience. The goat clearly did not want to go but you had to repeat the incident that first brought the...
- 10/11/2015
- by John Ostrander
- Comicmix.com
Coming September 25, Espn Home Entertainment and Team Marketing will release the 30 for 30 Film Favorites Collection. Conveniently, the DVD is available for purchase just prior to the return of the widely acclaimed 30 for 30 series on Espn next month. The collection will appeal to sports enthusiasts and film fans alike, providing as it does well crafted films based on many of the most riveting sports stories of the past 30 years. Bonus: The Film Favorites include celebrated documentaries from Tff alums Alex Gibney (Catching Hell) and Jeff and Michael Zimbalist (The Two Escobars), both of which celebrated their premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival. In Catching Hell, Academy Award®-winning documentarian Gibney probes the tricky subject of sports curses and scapegoats, focusing on Chicago Cubs left fielder Moises Alou's inability to catch a crucial foul ball, a gaffe that robbed the star-crossed Cubbies of a chance to go to ...
- 9/12/2012
- TribecaFilm.com
Bizarre pre-game idiosyncrasies have propelled some of the world's greatest athletes to big wins and even to championships -- that, or their freakish talents, hard work, superb teammates and masterful coaching get the credit. But definitely one of the two. During Episode 3 of HuffPost Black Voices' sports video series, "Out Of Bounds," Holly Robinson Peete, Lala Vazquez, Jennifer Sterger and designer and broadcast journalist Tracy Mourning discuss the curious superstitions that have left fans scratching their heads.
Though the celebrity panel admitted that most superstitions are all in the athletes' minds, they also revealed other interesting rituals, like retired NHL player Bruce Gardiner dipping his hockey stick in the toilet prior to each game, former Major League Baseball player Moises Alou urinating on his hands throughout his playing years to avoid calluses, and Mark McGwire having worn the same athletic cup since high school.
In recent years Jessica Simpson took...
Though the celebrity panel admitted that most superstitions are all in the athletes' minds, they also revealed other interesting rituals, like retired NHL player Bruce Gardiner dipping his hockey stick in the toilet prior to each game, former Major League Baseball player Moises Alou urinating on his hands throughout his playing years to avoid calluses, and Mark McGwire having worn the same athletic cup since high school.
In recent years Jessica Simpson took...
- 5/7/2012
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
"Catching Hell" debuted Tuesday night (Sept. 27) on Espn as part of the sports channel's 30 for 30 documentary series. It detailed the events and aftermath of Steve Bartman's historic foul-ball catch during Game 6 of the 2003 Nlcs between the Chicago Cubs and Florida Marlins, a series the Cubs were leading 3 games to Florida's 2.
In case you are not aware, the Cubs were leading Game 6 3-0 in the eighth inning when a foul ball came towards the left-field line. Bartman (and several other spectators) went for the ball, as did left fielder Moises Alou. Bartman caught it - it was pretty much out of play for the outfielder. But Alou's angry reaction on the field was all it took for the fans to get murderously riled up, especially after the Marlins peeled off eight (eight!) runs that inning. Clearly, Bartman was solely to blame.
Bartman's life changed forever, hence the title of the documentary.
In case you are not aware, the Cubs were leading Game 6 3-0 in the eighth inning when a foul ball came towards the left-field line. Bartman (and several other spectators) went for the ball, as did left fielder Moises Alou. Bartman caught it - it was pretty much out of play for the outfielder. But Alou's angry reaction on the field was all it took for the fans to get murderously riled up, especially after the Marlins peeled off eight (eight!) runs that inning. Clearly, Bartman was solely to blame.
Bartman's life changed forever, hence the title of the documentary.
- 9/28/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
He wore glasses, a green turtleneck, and most damningly, Walkman headphones so he could listen to the Cubs’ historic pennant-clinching game on the radio. We would later find out that he was a computer consultant who still lived with his parents, but he looked like a little kid, which is what Fox announcer Steve Lyons initially thought he was. Steve Bartman, the 26-year-old Chicago Cubs fan who reached onto the field for what seemed like a meaningless foul ball in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the 2003 National League playoffs, fit a profile. Even his name — Bartman — seemed to contribute to making him a villain,...
- 9/27/2011
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW.com - PopWatch
As long as the Chicago Cubs are baseball's perennial losers, people will remember Steve Bartman and what he did on October 13, 2003. And that picture above is just how they'll remember him: Cubs hat, black sweatshirt, dorky green turtleneck, even dorkier headphones so he could listen to the game on the radio. How could they remember him any other way? After the fateful night when he got between Cubs left fielder Moises Alou and a catchable foul ball and set off a chain of events that led to the Cubs' implosion in the National League Championship Series and made him the target of an entire city's hatred, Bartman dropped off the face of the Earth. A lifelong, die-hard Cubs fan, Bartman issued an apology to Alou, the Cubs, and even old players like Ron Santo and Ernie Banks, then never spoke publicly about the incident again. It's as if he felt...
- 4/26/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
Getty Director Alex Gibney
Everyone needs a scapegoat.
Whether it was Boston Red Sox player Bill Buckner in the ’86 World Series or ill-fated Cubs fan Steve Bartman at the National League playoffs in Chicago 2003, sports fans have always found a way to blame single individuals for their team’s losses.
“Catching Hell,” a new documentary from Oscar-winner Alex Gibney that premiered over the weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival, investigates how these men were made pariahs, and ultimately finds its own culprits: namely,...
Everyone needs a scapegoat.
Whether it was Boston Red Sox player Bill Buckner in the ’86 World Series or ill-fated Cubs fan Steve Bartman at the National League playoffs in Chicago 2003, sports fans have always found a way to blame single individuals for their team’s losses.
“Catching Hell,” a new documentary from Oscar-winner Alex Gibney that premiered over the weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival, investigates how these men were made pariahs, and ultimately finds its own culprits: namely,...
- 4/26/2011
- by Anthony Kaufman
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
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