It began on a Tuesday. Not always a day that brews hatred, but this wasn’t like every other Tuesday.
September 30, 2003 was the day it all began. To be more clear, it was the day the National League Divisional Series began between the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs.
It was the first time I have ever seen a home team get openly mocked by the crowd, which was, at least largely, made up of Cubs fans. Only fans of a Chicago team can get drunk enough to make the Tomahawk Chop sound that pitiful.
But let’s face it, they were drinking off 95 years of frustration. Every time I see a Cubs fan, I see a person who has literally never seen his or her team win a championship, and fandom of a team like that is admirable.
However, at this point, it has been almost six years since that embarrassing moment and the hatred refuses to subside.
Cubs fans probably don’t even remember doing the Mock Chop in Turner Field. After all, 2003 was the Year of Bartman. Maybe Bartman was a Braves fan out for sabotage.
Or maybe he was just a massive dose of Karma.
Since 2003, the bandwag…err, fanbase has grown even more. Suddenly it is cool to be a Cubs fan after 101 years of failure. Again, I admire the dedication, but rooting for hopelessness also comes with being a Falcons and Hawks fan and I haven’t gone crazy.
This week may inch me closer to insanity, as I will do my part and go to all three games of the annual Cubs-Braves series to ensure a Chicago bum doesn’t get my seat. Of course, I will be surrounded by plenty of them while I sacrifice myself for the city of Atlanta.
Will the Cubs celebrate a World Series title before the Braves get their next one? It certainly looks that way, but I was told by a Cubs fan last season that nothing would stand in their way of a 2008 title.
I’d like to thank the Los Angeles Dodgers for making that dream a brutal nightmare.
Since beating the Braves in five games in the 2003 NLDS, the Cubs have gone 3-10 in postseason play, 0-8 since Steve Bartman was blamed for doing what any other fan in Wrigley Field would have done given the same opportunity that evening.
Would the Chicago Cubs be Public Enemy #1 for me had their fans not mocked the Chop in 2003? Probably not, because I have been heckled in Turner Field by Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets fans too, but I don’t seem to feel the same way about them.
I think any fan of a team with a specific tradition takes great pride in it. If, say, the Kansas City Royals openly mocked “Sweet Caroline” while they took Boston to the house, Red Sox fans would have a lifelong vendetta against anything from Kansas City. Even football games between the Patriots and Chiefs would turn into a hate-fest.
The “Cubs Chop” has become a sickening tradition at Braves-Cubs games. It hasn’t stopped since the 2003 NLDS; it starts every single time the Cubs are winning in Turner Field.
However, for every tradition that angers me, there is one that makes me smile. Cubs fans openly crying (and being caught doing so on television) when their season comes to an end without a title is that equalizer. And luckily for those of us who have been wronged, it is a 101-year-old tradition that will hopefully continue for another century.
Hopefully the Braves will sweep the series starting today, but anything would be better than the 0-for-6 record against the Lovable Losers that happened last season. Again, losses are almost bearable unless you have two little girls sitting behind you screaming “Braves Suck!!!” for three hours, as instructed by their drunk parents.
Mothers, don’t let your daughters grow up to be Cubs Fans.
Sean,
Very nice article. I actually started to think you might be a Cub fan. But from casually reading some of your previous articles, your probably a Florida State college student who wants to be a sports writer, rooting for your home town pro-baseball team. Ok, so your a Braves fan, like there’s something hard about that. Being a Cub Fan is a life-long commitment to a sports franchise rich in history and traditions from a great sports city. Add the fact that they play in that shrine of a baseball park called “Wrigley Field” where fans gather for sell-out games every day, and you have something pretty special. And is it really a surprise that such a large and loyal fan base would carry over into opposing team parks? Not to us. Regardless of the fact that we have found ourselves drinking our sorrows away for the past 100 years due to unfullfilled dreams, not all Cub fans and especially their parents are drunks. But could you blame us if we were? Chicago Cubs fans are the greatest fans in baseball, we have to be.
Mike – Cub Fan since 1969
That’s good to hear, and I did meet several decent and clearly die-hard Cubs fans last night so it may have changed my view. However, as I usually experience at Braves-Cubs games in Atlanta, I was also taunted by people sitting behind me just because I was cheering on my team that happened to be the home team. I think there should be an unwritten code that if you’re in another team’s stadium, it is okay to cheer on your team, but not to take it to the level of taunting and directing curse words at fans of the home team.
I understand that being a Cubs fan is a great tradition, and having games on WGN has taught me that. However, I think the people I have met simply aren’t diehards, but they are the ones that come to Turner Field and do things like mock the Tomahawk Chop. I should have added in my article that I have a small level of ignorance because I have never been to Wrigley Field (although I would love to!) so I can’t speak for the epicenter of the fanbase.
Needless to say, whether they were diehards or bandwagoners (which is possible, as the Cubs have had better seasons than the Braves recently), it was great to be a Braves fan and not have to worry about having “W” flags waved in our faces last night.
The tomahawk chop is mocking an entire culture and you can’t take some ribbing at one game. Boo hoo! Cry me a river, Timberlake. Like you said, Cubs fans have never seen their team win it all. So, if they have a chance to celebrate, then big whoop. I know you aren’t so deluded to think that the ‘chop isn’t seen as mocking by the away team. Don’t give it if you can’t take it.
Apparently this proves my point. For Cubs fans, mocking and celebrating are one in the same. It is completely against the code of conduct to go into another stadium and talk trash to the other team’s fans by yelling insults and mocking their traditions.
Cheering is something I see out of plenty of fans when they come to Turner Field. Cubs fans behave completely different. It’s not whining, if I wanted to be heckled as a fan, I would go to Wrigley.
Yet you ignore the other side of the coin. I guess you are that deluded. *death of any true idea exchange*
What exactly is the other side of the coin? That fans should be applauded for going into another team’s stadium and mocking and heckling their fans? There is no other side to that coin, if you do that for an extended period of time, then you get a bad reputation. The Cubs fanbase currently has a bad rap with me, and since I have a medium and readers, that knowledge is being passed on. There’s an idea exchange for you.
OK, I wasn’t premature in diagnosing any semblance of discussion as terminal.
Nice article.
I am huge Cubs fan, and I grew up in Chicago. I was born in ATL and have a lot family that still lives there. I actually live in Chattanooga now. I am sorry about my fellow Cub fans that were using foul language. That is uncalled for, but every team has some idiot fans even the Braves. I just don’t see mocking the chop being so bad. That is funny that is fun about being fan being able to do stuff like that. Since you are from ATL I bet you are UGA fan. I was at UGA @ UT football and UGA blew out UT. So the UGA band played the UT fight song Rocky Top. I loved it was just a little jabbing at their rival. Go to youtube and see everyone that mocks GO Cubs GO. Its like mock the chop just having a little fun with some Braves fan. Turner is nice, but you need to go to Wrigley its great. GO Cubs