WRIGLEYVILLE — Cubs fans flooded Wrigleyville Friday morning to catch a glimpse of the world champions' victory parade as it stepped off from Clark and Addison.
Mostly what they saw was the back of each other's heads. Even that was magical, just celebrating with fellow fans and their team.
No view? No one cared. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
• Ari Milstein, a former Chicagoan, flew in from New York Wednesday with his son Ian, who turned 11 Friday, just to be part of the celebration.
Standing on Addison Street, dozens of rows deep with no prayer of a view, Milstein declared the trip a success.
"See that sign?" he said, pointing to Wrigley Field's famous marquee, lit up with "World Series Champions."
"It's worth it for that," he said. "It's worth it just for that marquee."
• Michael Pfluegl, a fan "since I could walk," hopped on his Vespa and scooted over from Roscoe Village.
"This is an amazing experience. It's something every Cubs fan has been dreaming of," he said. "Electric — that's the buzzword everyone's been using but it truly suits the energy of the city."
Did he care that he couldn't see a darned bit of the parade?
"I can envision it," Pfluegl replied.
And what did it look like in his mind's eye?
"Heaven," he said. "Like a little slice of heaven."
• As boy growing up in Roscoe Village Juan Pina, 47, used to go to Cubs games with his dad. On Friday, he drove in from Lombard with his own sons Joshua, 11, and Elijah, 9.
The Pina family. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
"We don't have to wait for next year," said Pina.
"I just want to feel it, I want to capture it, I want to be a part of it," he said. "Hopefully we'll get to do this a couple more times. Why not?"
• Heidi LaRochelle, 43, saw her Wrigleyville neighborhood invaded — and welcomed it, taking her place in the street.
"I'm loving it, I'm so excited," she said. "I've been going to games for 20 years — it couldn't happen to a better team."
She knew she had zero chance of seeing any of the parade action from her spot well back on Clark Street, but that's not why LaRochelle turned up Friday.
"It's more about the ambiance and being surrounded by other Cubs fans," she said. "Hopefully it's not a once-in-a-lifetime experience — it's a first."
• Wearing a Nomar Garciaparra jersey he borrowed from a buddy, Richard Bodish, 24, caught an elusive Metra train in from Naperville.
One train passed him by and when a second one pulled into the station, the doors barely opened before zooming away.
"I got on, my friends didn't," Bodish said.
Richard Bodish caught a train in from Naperville. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
As he stood shoulder to shoulder with fellow Cubs fans on Sheffield, Bodish, like so many others, stretched his arm to the max and held his cellphone aloft in the hopes of capturing a photo of players passing on trolleys.
"Just being a Cubs fan my whole life, is it worth it? Oh yeah," he said. "It still doesn't feel real."
• Brian Burkamp is a veteran of a half-dozen championship parades, going back to the Bears 1985 rally when he was just three years old.
But what was this White Sox fan doing consorting with the enemy?
"I want you to experience what I experienced" in 2005, said Burkamp, who schlepped in from Elk Grove Village.
"I appreciate they won for the city."
• Even a certain DNAinfo.com reporter got caught up in the moment.
Getting a boost. [DNAinfo/Patty Wetli]
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