{"id":5612,"date":"2016-11-06T18:57:23","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T00:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=5612"},"modified":"2016-11-06T18:57:23","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T00:57:23","slug":"sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs’ win isn’t one of them."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Everyone\u2019s celebrating the Cubs victory \u2014 the underdog team, against all odds winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. \u00a0And taken in isolation, that is extraordinary, to have been the underdog year after year, and now, in 2016, to emerge from that \u201clovable loser\u201d status to win the World Series. \u00a0It\u2019s proof that anything can happen, that impossible dreams can come true, and seen as percursor or metaphor, or somehow connected to our very unexpected 2016 election.<\/p>\n

Except that there were reasons why the Cubs had a 108 year drought.<\/p>\n

From 1921 to 1981, the Cubs were owned by the Wrigley Company \u2014 hence \u201cWrigley Field.\u201d \u00a0In 1981, the Tribune Company, which also owned WGN, acquired the team, and between 1978 and 1990, Cubs games were broadcast nationwide as part of that channels \u201csuperstation\u201d programming, gaining the team fans across the country. \u00a0(See wikipedia here<\/a> and here<\/a>.) \u00a0In 2009, the Ricketts family bought the team, and for the first time it was owned by individuals rather than a corporation.<\/p>\n

What difference does this make? \u00a0I\u2019m not a baseball expert by any means, but my sense it that this did have a significant impact. \u00a0When owned by the Tribune Company, I imagine that it had something of the status of an annuity line of business. \u00a0The Cubs earned money year-in and year-out through ticket sales and merchandise and TV rights. \u00a0Again, I don\u2019t really know, but I could well imagine that there wasn\u2019t anyone that really had the same personal motivation to see the team succeed as the Ricketts now do \u2014 and with motivation comes the willingness to invest in a great, though expensive manager in Theo Epstien.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s another bit of history and context: \u00a0the Cubs play in Wrigley Field, the second-oldest ballpark<\/a> in the country, and the last one to have lights installed to permit play after dark, in 1988 \u2014 and I vaguely remember night games being quite contentious, and it seems to me there are still limits on the number of night games permitted. \u00a0Surely this gives, and gave, them a disadvantage in terms of the potential ticket prices. \u00a0The Ricketts also initiated a major renovation of the park, also contentious and requiring substantial negotiations with the city and with the owners of neighboring buildings\u00a0who profited by selling rooftop seating. \u00a0To be sure, the Wikipedia article appears somewhat dated, so it\u2019s not clear what the status of the project is, but it seems to me that the Tribune Company was either uninterested in renovation or figured it was too politically sensitive to pursue as primarily a media company, which if nothing else further points to the fact that the Ricketts ownership marks a new era.<\/p>\n

In other words: \u00a0it\u2019s not a fluke. \u00a0I\u2019m sure an actual baseball fan could give far more context and history, but, as an actuary, I\u2019m here to tell you that this is not a case of a \u201cnear-impossible event coming to pass,\u201d and should not be used as an omen or portent or be imbued with some sort of deep meaning.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s still a good thing. \u00a0(Go, Cubs, go!)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everyone\u2019s celebrating the Cubs victory \u2014 the underdog team, against all odds winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. \u00a0And taken in isolation, that is extraordinary, to have been the underdog year after year, and now, in 2016, to emerge from that \u201clovable loser\u201d status to win the World Series. \u00a0It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[32,485],"class_list":["post-5612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-baseball","tag-chicago-cubs"],"yoast_head":"\nSometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs' win isn't one of them.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Everyone's celebrating the Cubs victory -- the underdog team, against all odds winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. \u00a0And taken in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs' win isn't one of them.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Everyone's celebrating the Cubs victory -- the underdog team, against all odds winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. \u00a0And taken in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-07T00:57:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html\",\"name\":\"Sometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs' win isn't one of them.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-07T00:57:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-07T00:57:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"Everyone's celebrating the Cubs victory -- the underdog team, against all odds winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. \u00a0And taken in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs’ win isn’t one of them.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs' win isn't one of them.","description":"Everyone's celebrating the Cubs victory -- the underdog team, against all odds winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. \u00a0And taken in","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs' win isn't one of them.","og_description":"Everyone's celebrating the Cubs victory -- the underdog team, against all odds winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. \u00a0And taken in","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2016-11-07T00:57:23+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html","name":"Sometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs' win isn't one of them.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-11-07T00:57:23+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-07T00:57:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"Everyone's celebrating the Cubs victory -- the underdog team, against all odds winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years. \u00a0And taken in","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/11\/sometimes-wildly-improbably-things-happen-the-cubs-win-isnt-one-of-them.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sometimes wildly improbably things happen. The Cubs’ win isn’t one of them."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}