PING LIST
GO CUBS GO!
Posted on 11/09/2008 6:28:50 PM PST by SJackson
CHICAGO -- College students interested in longtime suffering and heartache have found the perfect subject. About 25 bright young minds gather at DePaul University twice a week for an in-depth class every Chicagoan can relate to.
For those scoring at home, it's course number ISP 102-709: Chicago Cubs, taught by professor Blair Banwart and assisted by Ed Pniak.
"When I tell people that I'm teaching a class about the Cubs, they kind of laugh, which is understandable," said Banwart, who wears a Cubs hat to class. "You try to make it academic, as much as you can. The kids take it seriously."
That's right, a class about baseball. The syllabus includes a look at the history of the club since the 1870s and its effect on the surrounding community. It is one of many freshman-level classes offered at DePaul designed to ease the transition from high school to college, especially for students unfamiliar with the city.
The course was offered a few years ago and found its way back this fall, met by teeming interest. Several students jumped at the opportunity upon reading this four-credit class description a few months ago:
"This course will look at the history of the Cubs, from Cap Anson to Carlos Zambrano, stopping along the way on names like Hack Wilson, Ernie Banks, and Ryne Sandberg. We will also learn more about Wrigley Field and the neighborhood around it, will hear from speakers with ties to the team, and will attend a game against the division-rival Milwaukee Brewers. Being a fan of the Cubs is not a requirement for this course, but you should have an interest in baseball. (And having empathy for long-suffering Cubs fans wouldn't hurt either.) So put on your caps, bring along your lucky talismans, and "knock on wood" we'll find out if the 100th year really is, at last, THE year."
As you can imagine, it was easily one of the most popular sections during online class registration. The lucky ones that got in guessed it filled in under an hour, about as long as it took Division Series tickets to sell out in September.
"My parents thought it was a [slack] off class," said freshman Marvin Bayan.
Moms and dads are probably wondering, what do you learn in class every day?
"We talk a lot about what it means to be a Cubs fan," Carrie Kliver said. "It's disappointment every year, yet still coming back."
"We learned a lot more about the stories, myths, curses, superstitions, how the people still love the Cubs," Bayan said.
The class is meant to be fun. Like the description foretold, the big class field trip was to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game, a memorable 12-inning comeback victory against Milwaukee on Sept. 18. Another day, Banwart assigned a Cubs scavenger hunt in the library. One period, the students tried to name a Cubs player for every letter of the alphabet. Zambrano made the last one pretty easy.
But there are papers and projects, like any other class. Each student must write a recap of their Cubs game experience and, for a final paper, a study of how the Cubs mix with society, such as club charities.
Banwart had hoped to add a playoff game viewing party for Game 5 of the NLDS to the schedule, but that went awry.
"Sadly, it ended much more quickly than I thought," he said. "I joked with them that the course is canceled because there's nothing else to talk about."
Nick Zaccardi is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Done right, this could be a good combination of psychology, statistics/math, history, and composition. It would probably be more practical than a lot of the courses most colleges provide, and more interesting to boot.
Baseball is American History.
I would think “Chicago Cubs: World Series Performance” should be the intro, 100-level course. Less to keep track of.
whew ! for a minute there...I thought this might be about the “College of Coaches”
Right. Up there with basket weaving. US universities continue to decline.
They should have started class at one of the neighborhood pubs. I prefer the Sports Corner. Not because of any sentiment but because it’s right there at Addison and Sheffield, a short walk between the El stop and the ball park, you can grab a cold one right out of the convenient ice chests as you walk in, and knock back a couple of cold one’s before entering the park and paying major league prices for the rest of the day.
I tried to monitor the class, but they said wait til next year.
The best team ever was the World Champion 1907 Cubs, the club of “Tinker to Evers to Chance” and Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown.
Frank Chance, the “Peerless Leader” is the greatest Cub of all time.
Lots of great stuff here: www.1907cubs.com
It’s right up there with Rocks for Jocks.
I just finished reading the book “Crazy ‘08,” the story of the 1908 pennant race between the Cubs and the Giants. Fascinating reading.
You could go through all the major league teams with advanced courses on the Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers leading to doctorates. :)
Voted Obama. No doubt.
Interesting, but shouldn’t this be a study for a PhD. or a graduate level class?? Undergrads are so damn ignorant of the BASIC facts of American history (see: any local or network television “journalist” for proof), they really ought to be schooled in those facts.
I’m not against niche classes like this—they just shouldn’t be available until a student has shown a mastery of some of the more important stuff.
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