Who here grew up outside of Illinois but regularly watched the Cubs on WGN? For those that did, where did you grow up?

I watched them if the Reds weren't playing, but then I don't like the Cubs! Always rooted for the other team.
But I really hate the Cardinals!

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
Who here grew up outside of Illinois but regularly watched the Cubs on WGN? For those that did, where did you grow up?

I did in Gary, Indiana before the "demographic" chased us out. Pleasant memories of summer afternoons as a kid.

Watched them in the late 70's early 80's in Carbondale while attending SIUC.

I watched the Cubs growing up in South Carolina. We only had a few cable channels and WGN was among them. The Cubs were much more exotic than the Braves, so I grew up a Cubs fan. My dad and I used to drive to Chicago and go to Cubs games.

For the Braves, we could catch an early train and go to Atlanta for the game. It was no problem getting a great seat for the Braves on game day. Dale Murphy signed a ball for me.

Watched WGN and the Cubbies over the air, from across the lake in St. Joseph, MI in the '60s and '70s.

Family friend knew Jim Enright, who wrote sports for one of the Chicago papers. One day we got to go to with the family friend to have brunch with Mr. Enright in Chicago before a game and then went along with him to Wrigley. Even got to go onto the field with him before the game. Got to shake hands and chat with Cardinals Ted Simmons and Ted Sizemore, stand behind the Cubs catcher while they threw batting practice....what fun times, for a middle-schooler!

I'm from Des Moines, and my mother was a devout Cubs fan (she grew up for a time in Ypsilanti, Michigan). Before I even knew what baseball was, she'd have the game tuned in to WGN at game start. I began to take an interest in baseball because of her. She noticed I was beginning to watch more intently, and not just because she watched.

I'll never forget early on during one of the broadcasts when out of the blue she asked me if I'd be interested in playing. I said without pause, 'yes'. 'Throwing a rock at that guy with the bat? How cool!' She said something to the effect of, 'That's not quite how it's played.'

I became quite good at the sport up to college ball; won three straight state titles in HS. I owe my former talent, my love of the game and a little daily bonding because of her and the Cubs.

We used to watch the Cubs play on KWGN channel 2 here in the Denver area. Led my wife to be a Cubs fan by default. Back when Ryne Sandberg was playing. Thank goodness she got over that shit when we got Rockies baseball in 1993.

Seems like so long ago.

We're using YouTube TV, they don't even offer WGN!

Holy cow! Grew up a Padres fan in San Diego late 80’s into the 90’s but often watched the Cubs on WGN because of Harry Caray and Steve Stone. Wasn’t really rooting for the Cubbies necessarily just a fan of the game.

I grew up in Middle TN near Manchester. Watched when I visited my Grandpa in Tullahoma on WGN.
My fondest memories of time with him.

quote:

Originally posted by Puckpilot78:
Holy cow!

I see what you did there.

Grew up mostly in SW Missouri (born in Illinois). My brothers and I watched every game we could. We'd play outside in the summer for hours, work up a big sweat, then coming inside and eat a bowl of ice cream while watching Ryno and the Hawk. Great memories.

I watched them into the 1990's in Las Vegas until Cox (bastards) dropped them. As a Giants fan I'd catch them against the Cubs and Braves in the afternoons. I miss those days.

Grew up in Hammond IN (shares a border with Chicago, watching the cubs in the 70’s and early 80’s. I preferred Jack Brickhouse.

I remember watching the Cubs on WGN here in metro Detroit.

Dad always had the Cubs games on. Grew up (in summers) west of Milwaukee.
He’d be snoring and if I changed the channel I would get told, “Hey! I was watching that!”