Millions celebrate winning Chicago Cubs with parade, rally
CHICAGO – November blazed like dazzling springtime in Chicago during a massive parade and rally Friday to honour the Cubs’ first World Series title in 108 years and fulfil more than a century of pent-up dreams.
A new generation of Cubs fans — riding in strollers or on their parents’ shoulders — joined their elders to cheer the baseball champions. For the youngest, the day would be their first bright memory of following a club once known as “lovable losers.”
Their parents marveled at how their children will know the confident, young team as winners.
“It’s a whole new Cubs world,” said Dean Anderson, 51, of Chicago, who brought his 10-year-old son, Chase, to see the players’ motorcade as it rolled out from Wrigley Field at the start of the parade route. The “lovable loser thing” — and all the accompanying lore embroidered by long-suffering fan loyalty — may be lost to the newest fans, Anderson said, but “we’ve had enough of that.”
A crowd, estimated by city officials at 5 million, lined Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive to cheer the motorcade of open-roofed buses carrying the players along a 7-mile parade route from the north side ballpark to sprawling Grant Park. The city’s tally included everyone who lined the route and the rally throngs. Friday was already a scheduled day off for Chicago Public Schools.
Revelers crawled up trees and streetlight poles to get a better view along the route. Others sat atop shoulders to watch the team buses shimmering under a spray of red and blue confetti.
Steve Angelo of Chicago carried his 4-year-old son, Nicholas, who held a “World…