Josh Imhof | features editor

The walls were closing in. After storming out of the gates to a 6-2 lead, the Pittsburgh Pirates managed to choke away their four-run advantage in a matter of minutes. A couple of fielding errors by Brandon Lowe and Bryan Reynolds and clutch hits by Cubs’ batters allowed Chicago to claw back into the game, setting up a 6-6 tie going into the bottom of the ninth.

With bases loaded and one out, catcher Carson Kelly hit the ball into the right-center field gap to score the game winning run.

As a Pirates fan, I was miserable. But as a baseball fan and a person, it wasn’t so simple.

I had always heard about the magic of Wrigley Field. The ivy walls. The Chicago-style dogs. The historic green seating. But what I never thought about was the fanbase or the culture that filled them.

Husbands and wives fighting over who gets the last nacho. Babies dressed in Build-A-Bear sized jerseys bouncing on their parents’ knees. An old timer whose pungent beer breath polluted the air each time he yelled “let’s go cubbies!”

Even though Chicago was losing for most of the game, their fans stayed until the bitter end.

It felt familiar. It felt like Pittsburgh.

While there were no Jolly Rogers raised and “A New Pirates Generation” didn’t play after the win, fans waved “W” flags and sang the undeniably catchy “Go, Cubs, Go.”

It felt like a fanbase who loved their team as much as I loved mine, no matter how hard it is to do so.

Being a Pirates fan is tough. Ask almost any Yinzer and they will describe the state of Pittsburgh sports as follows:

Six time Super Bowl champs, baby! Three Stanley Cups since 2000! The Pirates.

The little brother. The redheaded step-child. The North Shore-nobodies.

Aside from some mid-decade magic in the 2010s, the Pirates have been the perennial punchline to a 30-year-old joke that stopped being funny a long time ago. But we keep showing up.

Despite game attendance sometimes feeling more like a public service than a fun activity, the Buccos have a loyal, dedicated fanbase that shows up year in and year out. Two states over, Chicago is the same way.

Before their 2016 World Series win, their experience as a fanbase was eerily similar to the Pirates.

Six time NBA Finals champs, baby! Three Stanley Cups since 2000! The Cubs.

For 108 years and 19 days, the “loveable losers” did not win a World Series, a streak that is arguably more depressing than the Pirates 20-straight losing seasons.

During that time, they suffered through the Curse of the Billy Goat, the Bartman Ball, and even had to see the cross-city White Sox win a World Series before them in 2005. It was not an easy time to be a Cubs fan.

But they persevered, and that is something I can admire.

And not only Cubs fans, but for fans of any professional sports team.

Now more than ever, it is more than just about the time fans spend rooting for their favorite club. It is about the money.

From 1991-2023, ticket prices skyrocketed by 300% on average across MLB and NFL games, making it increasingly inaccessible for the average American, according to Fan Cost Index. In addition to this, watching the games from home has also become excruciating with how many streaming services and subscriptions fans need to watch their team play.

Add in the outrageous cost of jerseys, hats, shirts and other merchandise and now it feels as though your team winning is a return on a financial investment just as much as it is based on loyalty.

Still, teams with historically bad records or dry spells still have loyal fans willing to shell out their hard-earned money to show their support and loyalty.

Sure, it’s great to see Bill Murray in the stands at a Cubs game or Wiz Khalifa at PNC Park. But each team’s fan base is much more than the celebrities that fans see on the JumboTron.

They are workers who spent their off-day at the ballpark. They are single mothers trying to connect with their sons through sports. They are everyday people trying to escape for a few hours.

I think Americans forget that sometimes.

So while I think it is healthy to have bitter rivalries with other teams and their fans, there is nothing wrong with appreciating their success.

I left the ballpark disappointed the Pirates lost, but I did so humming “Go, Cubs, Go.”

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu