Evans: Why the Cubs World Series win matters, from a Red Sox lifer

I heard a story about a Chicago Cubs fan who sat by his father’s gravesite listening to Game 7 of the World Series. I thought it was great. I can totally empathize with Cubs fans and what they’re feeling after winning its first Fall Classic in 108 years to break the Curse of the Billy Goat.

I grew up a Boston Red Sox fan. Sorry, there’s nothing I can do about it.

I came out of the womb loving the Sawx and hating the New York Yankees. Unlike all of the pink hat-wearing, bandwagon Boston fans who have made Red Sox nation generally despised around the country, I was a die hard — living and dying with the team since they lost the 1975 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.

I experienced all of the lows, all of the heartaches. Bucky “Bleeping” Dent and the playoff loss to the Yankees in ’78. The ball rolling through Bill Buckner’s wickets in ’86 against the New York Mets. Aaron Boone and those hated Yanks again in 2003.

Like Cubs fans, I was wondering if next year would ever be “the year.”

Then came 2004 and the miracle 3-0 comeback against the Bronx Bombers. Then rolling over the St. Louis Cardinals to finally win it all after 86 years of futility.

As I was watching Cubs fans’ reactions, it all came rushing back to me. After the Red Sox won, I sat there in stunned disbelief, not comprehending what I had just seen.

I cried. I called friends. I called my dad.

It was the single-greatest moment I’ve ever felt as a sports fan.

The thing about any long championship drought, especially in baseball, is how much of a generational thing it is. If you’re a good baseball fan, then you shared it with your dad, with your grandfather.

When the Sox won, there were stories all over New England about championship memorabilia being left at gravesites. It happened to me.

After they won in 2004, I went back east for Christmas. One day, my family drove an hour to my family’s cemetery. We brought water that we kept heated in the car to melt the snow and ice between my grandparents’ graves.

I had watched countless baseball games with my grandparents over the years. But they never saw a Red Sox World Series. Think about it. Grandparents who were Red Sox or Cubs fans lived their entire lives without ever seeing a championship.

That’s why it was so emotional for me when I placed that Red Sox championship banner between their grave sites.

So congrats to Cubs fans.

And Rockies fans, remember this when their drought is still going 50 years from now.