Customer Reviews

Cubs Team Marketing Forever Loyal-Salute to Cubs

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I bought this DVD for my husband as a surprise. He has been a Cub fan for over sixty years and is a DIE HARD CUB FAN. When the

DVD arrived he could not wait to see it. He was very happy with

the DVD and has watched it several time.

Barb from Florida

As a long time Cub fan who lives a thousand miles from Chicago I absolutely loved this DVD! For years I've wondered what it would be like to be able to attend home games at Wrigley, and now I have a pretty good idea of what it's like to be one of the lucky souls who get to go to a game on a regular basis! Grabbing a cold Old Style and settling down in my recliner I got to take a short tour of Wrigley, go the broadcasters booth, sit in the bleachers and meet a ton of fellow fans, both in the park and on the street in Wrigleyville! I highly recommend this well put together DVD to any and all Cub fans who like me, have to watch the games on television or listen on the radio.

The first, Inside Wrigley Field, is the best. This is an in-depth look at what goes on behind the scenes at the ballpark. Fascinating stuff for any baseball fan. (There is another disc available on Amazon -- Beyond the Ivy, I think -- which supposedly covers the same ground in more detail. I have not seen that, so I can't say which is better.)

The second film, "The Cub Fan," is OK. I've seen lots of documentaries that attempt to explain the psychology of the Cubs fan. They tend to devolve into interviews of fans talking about tradition, loyalty, character, etc. And that's pretty much what you get here. George Will makes some insightful comments, but otherwise this is fairly standard stuff. Not that that's bad; it's just nothing we haven't seen before. We Believe, also available on Amazon, is better -- though as I state in my review there, it tries to do too much and ends up a bit messy.

(One thing all these tributes to the Cubs fan miss is how recent a phenomenon this is. They all talk like the Cubs have been the focus of this passion forever. The fact is, it's a fairly recent phenomenon. For most of the '50s and '60s, the Cubs averaged fewer than 10,000 fans per game. In the '70s and early '80s, it was generally 12-18,000 per game. It wasn't until 1984 that they started drawing good crowds consistently, and only since '98 that they've been near-capacity every game.)

The special bonus feature, 2003 in Wrigleyville,is a throwaway. It's very short -- maybe 15 mins, tops -- just interviewing fans outside the ballpark before game 6 of the playoff game with the Marlins. That's it. No context, no story of the season, no overview of the neighborhood, no shots of the games. Just fans, many of them dressed in outrageous costumes and making complete idiots of themselves. Of course, we all know what happened in game 6 (and game 7, for that matter), so there's a certain poignancy to the pre-game excitement. And some of the old-timers acquit themselves well. But the folks with the signs and the face paint look like the same yahoos you see following every team.

Anyway, this disc is not a must-have. But it's fairly inexpensive. If you're a baseball fan, it may be worth the few bucks it costs to add it to an order. Cub fans will definitely enjoy it.

I love the cubs, I love this DVD. A few parts brought tears to my eyes. This story definately reveals the beauty of the eternal, rain or shine- good times and bad times... cubs fans. Maybe waiting till next year will one day turn into... THIS YEAR.

This DVD didn't sugarcoat the fact that Cubs fans are going on 100 years of ineptitude. I'm so tired of the media saying the Cubs stink. They do NOT! Have you heard of 1945, 1969, 1977, 1984, 1989, 1998 and 2001? Suckers! We were in the playoffs every one of those years. And for all those White Sox fans out there who are sudddenly elitist because they won one world series in 88 years, you can suck eggs as far as I'm concerned cause the Cubs are the best team ever. I can't prove my point with statistics or fact, but I feel it in my heart. I also enjoy the works of John Tesh.