Chicago traditions

Today I had the opportunity to share an important piece of information on Chicago history with some out-of-towners. I was outside around lunchtime and ended up walking past them on the sidewalk and the following caught my ear: "The 'W' is for Wrigley Field, and you can buy 'W' flags, too. A lot of fans have them."

Now, I have trouble holding back on correcting bad manners and bad grammar, but I still manage to. This one I couldn't hold back on, so I turned around and told the guy that the "W" is actually the Cubs' win flag, which is flown on the scoreboard after the Cubbies win. It started back in the days before TV, and before access to the radio was the way it was today, so that everyone in the neighborhood or on the El knew the outcome of the game.

Something I did not mention was that I think it's bad luck to fly a W flag on game day before the Cubs have actually won. You can have one handy, but you can't take it out before the final out of the game.

Go Cubs!