An Open Apology to Steve Bartman

10 years ago tonight, I was sitting in the center field bleachers at Wrigley Field. It was game 6 of the NLCS and the Cubs were 5 outs away from going to the World Series. 

For the 40,000 of us lucky enough to have a ticket, it was just unbelievable. We were about to witness history - to see the Cubs win the pennant for the first time in forever. With a fresh beer in my hand and Mark Prior dealing, we cruised into the 8th inning up 3-0. 

After that 1st out, everyone began to chant: "Five More Outs! Five More Outs!..." I gladly joined in.

We all know what happened next, but from the bleachers it was difficult to see. I saw Moises jump, and I saw his reaction, but other than that I didn't really know. 

Soon a new chant began: "Asshole! Asshole!..." and I gladly joined in.

Then came the rest of that 8th inning. A double, wild pitch and an RBI single. Alex Gonzalez booting an inning ending double play. A double, Kyle Farnsworth, walks, Sac flies, more doubles, on and on. We all just stood there in disbelief as our dreams of witnessing history disappeared. In what seemed like an instant, all hope was lost and the stadium fell silent. I think most of us were just in shock (I know I was) but sitting there as another Cubs reliever came in, I quickly went from the denial phase to the anger phase. I was looking for someone to blame.

But I didn't blame Alex Gonzalez or Moises or Dusty or Mark Prior or Kyle frickin Farnsworth. Nope, I decided to blame whoever that guy was over there on by the left field wall. I figured that everybody was screaming at him before so screw it, why not now?! So I stood up and started to yell:

"Asshole! Asshole! Asshole!..." and to my disbelief - the entire stadium soon joined in. 

Collectively, we all decided to lay the blame on that guy - whoever he was. That guy had taken away our chance to win. That guy had ruined our once in a lifetime opportunity. 

That guy: Steve Bartman... that's the guy I want to apologize to today. I'm sorry for what small part I played in sealing your fate 10 years ago. I was part of that mob that looked for an scapegoat after that terrible inning. No one knows if Moises would have made that catch, and no one knows if the Cubs would have won had they made it to Four More Outs! or 3 or 2 or 1. All I know is that you deserve better than to live a life in infamy for doing what I'm certain I would have done had our seats been switched that night. 

Sorry Steve.