When Some Cubs Hibernate

The timing of this is good.  I was going to take a respite after having written my expectations yesterday for the debate tonight and had nothing to add about that.  And there was nothing that struck me as being anywhere near as important and therefore somewhat distracting.  So, I was looking for something frivolous.  And this fit.

As readers here have long-since figured out, I love the Chicago Cubs.  Having said that, bear with me and don't go running off yet.  The point here isn't about baseball, though it's part of the story, but only part.  And it isn't all praise.  Just some.

The baseball part:  on Sunday, the Cubs had a Cubs Hall of Fame presentation for two of their all-time great players, pitcher Kerry Wood (legendary on the team for having pitched one of the greatest games in major league history his rookie season -- a one-hit game with a still-record-tying 20 strikeouts) and third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who hit 368 home runs in his career.

Okay, that's pretty much the baseball part.  This is where we get into the point.

The Cubs made a video to honor the two men, which played on the scoreboard at Wrigley Field, but they also posted it on their website this way --

Okay, without knowing anything about the Cubs, or even if you knew zero about Kerry Wood or Aramis Ramirez -- when you see that tweet above, and read it in full...take a guess, with no more clues, and who do you think "Justin Wood" is?

While there is a reasonably good chance that you're right with your guess (well-done!), I won't give the answer yet, because for those who might still not be 100% sure, here below is the video itself.

And trust me, there is actually a point to all this.  And a non-baseball point it is.

By the way, you don't have to watch the 2-1/2-minute video to keep playing the game, because I'll give some more hints from it below.  But it's a very good video, filled with clues, and it's also fun to see how emotional Kerry Wood and Aramis Ramirez are while watching it -- narrated as it is by Justin Wood and Aramis Ramirez, Jr.  Especially Kerry Wood, who clearly seems on the verge of bursting into tears at any given moment, with a clench, quivering jaw.
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Okay, if you did watch the video, you got a bunch of clues to the question at hand.  If you didn't watch it, though, some of the clues are --

Justin Wood saying that "Wrigley Field was your office, but some days you took me to work."  And also, as this is being said, there are pictures of Kerry Wood and a little boy.

In addition, another clue:  Justin Wood says that to Cubs fans, Kerry Wood's most famous strikeouts were his 20 in that one memorable game, but "For me, it's your last one."  And as he says that, we see Kerry Wood strike out a batter, and then turn to walk off the field, as we hear the announcer say that that is Kerry Wood, who is retiring, leaving the field for the very last time -- and a little boy runs onto the field and hugs him.

And one last clue if you haven't figured out a guess yet.  Near the end of the video, Justin Wood says, "To Cubs fans, you were a hero.  But to me, you were my dad."

Okay, now, it's time to make a guess.  No need to guess on who Aramis Ramirez, Jr. is, I'm sure you've got that one figured out.  It's easy.  The harder question is who do you think the other narrator is, Justin Wood?

I'll give you a moment.

Are you ready?  Okay, he is --

Kerry Wood's son!  Yes, really.  It's true!

I know that some of you (which is the polite way of saying "all") guessed -- "Kerry Wood's son" and think that this quiz game is stupid.  And you're right on both couonts, but as I said, that's not the point.  There is a totally separate point to it all.

That's because, as much as I love the Cubs.  And think the fans are wonderful and loyal and know and love baseball and stuck with the team for 108 years of futility --

-- it turns out that for a handful of the fans, that is the limit of their expertise, deep and abiding love of the team, and perhaps because they pour so much love on the Cubs, for other areas of their daily life away from baseball they have little room left for common sense and are unearthly stupid.  Because, and I swear this is true, these few took to Twitter to not only ask who  "Justin" was, but also slam the Cubs administration for not telling them.  And the thing is, lunatic as that is, it's not just one of two who just screwed up, but almost close to a dozen or so!!

Yes, really.

To be clear, no, not everyone, thank goodness.  And not even most, thank heavens.  Most Cubs fans who posted weren't delusional, but sane and rational with an awareness of life outside the ballpark.  And they loved the video tribute and were emotional and were joyous celebrating two of their all-time favorites.  But that many people, maybe around 10, actually were that totally clueless.  Honest.  It explains much about problems in life caused by others.

(Were some joking?  It's possible, too, obviously.  But when you see the breadth of them, and the phrasing of most, some people pissed off, some even posting graphic memes of annoyance, and that there's no real reason to make yourself look that stupid publicly, even for just a joke -- no, I think all of them were on the level.)

And because even though I'm insisting it's true that people posting couldn't figure out who Justin Wood was, I feel this is so insane that proof is needed.  So, here are just a couple screen shots of some of them.
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And also --

Yes, I know.  Dear Lord.  I only hope they aren't licensed to drive heavy machinery. 

(I also hope some were not Cubs fans at all, but just Twitter stragglers who'll comment on anything that scrolls by their feed. But it's not likely.  Besides which, if Cubs hopes were effective, the team would have won a World Series a lot sooner than 108 years.)

But for all that, this below was my favorite of them all.  My favorite because the guy not only didn't have a clue, but he was so annoyed at the Cubs' website administrator for not explaining who this "Justin" person was that he took them to task.

Yet what I like most about the exchange is that the Chicago Cubs official who handles the online account -- someone who I'm sure is told to be as absolutely polite and gracious to everyone who posts on the website, even St. Louis Cardinals fans -- was clearly so taken aback and aghast at the depth of monumental stupidity (forget all the brain-dead obvious clues, the first line says, "We call them heroes. They call them Dad") that even he couldn't help but be just a wee bit snarky in reply.
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So, for all of you readers here who correctly guessed that "Justin Wood" is, in fact, Kerry Wood's son -- 

Huge congratulations!  You win our Chicago Cubs Fan of the Day Award!!

It's why I always say that we have the finest readers on these pages in the entire Internet.  And I appreciate you all.