Holy mackerel!
Is it magic mojo time?
Is 108 the Cubs’ lucky number?
Pull up a lawn chair.
Sports impresario Grant DePorter, who blew up the infamous Bartman Ball in 2004 in hopes of killing the legendary Cubs curse, claims the number 108 is the reason the Cubs are destined to win the World Series this year.
“It’s a curse destroyer,” he told Sneed.
“I have never seen more signs in my life. Everything is pointing at 108,” said DePorter, who wrote a 2008 book titled “Hoodoo: Unraveling the 100 Year Mystery of the Chicago Cubs.”
“Examples are everywhere.
“And it’s not just because the Cubs haven’t won the World Series in 108 years since their 1908 pennant win.”
So loosen up and hear DePorter’s data:
OPINION
Follow @sneedlings• There are 108 stitches in a baseball, designed by the Cubs first manager and ace pitcher A.G. Spalding, whose Chicago office was originally located at 108 W. Madison Street.
• The left and right field corners at Wrigley Field — are 108 meters from home plate.
• The Ricketts family, which owns the Cubs, has located their main business — TD Ameritrade — on 108th street in Omaha, Nebraska.
• The number 108 is a sacred number in yoga. and Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta does yoga 6 days a week.
• Cubs win the World Series in the 1990 J.J. Abrams film “Taking Care of Business,” which is 108 minutes long.
• Cubs win the World Series in the 1989 film “Back To The Future Part II,” which is 108 minutes long.
• On 10/8 in 1945 Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis, who placed a curse on the Cubs for not letting his goat enter Wrigley Field, sent Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley a telegram stating, “Who smells now?” after a Cubs loss.
• Wrigley Field was built on land that once housed a church and a seminary, and 108 is considered a holy number in many religions.
• The Emil Verban Society is named after a three-season player with the Cubs, whose batting average in his last season in 1950 with the team was only .108.
“Hey, the last time the Cubs won a World Series game was 10/8 in 1945,” chirped DePorter, who also reminded Sneed that the distance between the Sun and Earth is 108 times the diameter for the Sun, and the distance between the moon and Earth is 108 times the diameter of the moon . . . yikes!
Sneed’s favorite: Cubs manager Joe Maddon’s mantra for the World Series favorite Cubbies is “Try not to suck.”
“And, if you didn’t know this already, Hindu mantras are traditionally repeated 108 times,” said DePorter, who has also selected pop band “The Plain White T’s”— who have recorded 108 songs — to play at Harry Caray’s eatery at the Cubs early morning rally on Oct. 4 with Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg.
Imagine that.
Play ball!
Sneedlings . . .
Congrats to United Airlines Director/Managing Director Government Affairs Margaret Houlihan and Loyola University Rev. Michael J. Garanzini on winning the Rerum Novarum Business and Government Public Service Awards, in that order, by Saint John’s Seminary . . . Today’s birthdays: Bruce Springsteen, 67; Jermaine Dupri, 44, and Julio Iglesias, 73.
