Take Me Out to the Brrrr-allgame

Happily, I made it to the Cubs game today after the brutal weather yesterday that got the game cancelled.  I was concerned that they wouldn't reschedule it until later in the year when I wouldn't be in town, but the Game Gods were smiling and set it up for today.  I had a meeting planned, but was able to switch it to another day.

There's an El near where I'm staying, and it lets you off a block from Wrigley Field -- remarkably convenient.  But rather than going to the ballyard first, I turned the other direction and walked two blocks to Police Station #19.  That's where one of the three fiberglass Horses of Honor that my cousin Diana Leviton Gondek was commissioned by the City of Chicago to design, in memory of fallen policemen.  Another is in Mayor Emmanuel's office in City Hall and I believe the third is in the 44th Ward.

And then back to Wrigley Field.  The club has been putting together a bit construction project that began about two years ago.  Some of it is to the ballpark -- most notably the locker rooms.  But most is to turn the area around the park into a sort of community center gathering place.  There's a hotel and restaurant complex directly across the park at the corner of Addison and Clark (basically along the third base line).  And then north of that, the team has built a very nice-looking office building, along with some stores.  In between the two is a large patio where they hope people will come to congregate when there are events.
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Which brings us to the ball game.  Needless-to-say, the weather was  far superior than the day before.  But that's not difficult when the day before it was in the upper-30s with possible thunderstorms and possible snow,  Today, it was sunny and clear.  But it was still pretty cold.  People were bundled up, with winter hoods, gloves and scarves.  The family sitting in front of me left in the sixth inning.

But it was still a good enough day for a game.

Cold as it was -- probably in the lower-40s -- a Cubs win (and against the hated rivals, the Cardinals) made the day all the warmer.  They took an 8-1 lead and held it for most of the game.  Then they had a meltdown in the seventh inning and gave up four runs, but held on to win 8-5.

Huzzah!