You might have heard there's a baseball game going on.
The Cubs and Indians will play Game 7 of the World Series tonight at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Bill Murray will be there. Eddie Vedder will be there. LeBron will be there (once again keeping his Yankees cap at home, one presumes). Ron Rivera won't be in attendance, but the Panthers coach will be rooting hard for the Cubs, his adopted hometown team.
Rivera played nine seasons with the Bears, becoming a fan of all the local teams during that time in the Windy City. On Wednesday's edition of Up To The Minute, Rivera spoke with NFL Network's Andrew Siciliano (an Indians die-hard) about the winner-take-all matchup.
"It's unfortunate (someone has to lose tonight)," Rivera said. "This game being the decider it really is cool and it's what you really hope for all sporting events is that is comes down to the final game and it's really a neat thing. The atmosphere really has to be electric right now in Cleveland."
Rivera -- who flies a 'W' flag outside his home in Charlotte as a homage to his Cubs fandom -- initially picked a Cubs series win in five games. "Well, I was being optimistic," he says. Chicago lost three of the first four games of the series before rallying back with consecutive wins to force a Game 7.
The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908. If they pull it off tonight, Rivera is certain this team will become city royalty.
"Those guys will be revered for so long. The '85 Bears really are treated tremendously, as are the Bulls with Michael Jordan and the White Sox and the Blackhawks. But man, I'm telling you, if the Cubs win it, those guys will be revered forever and it's kind of neat because there are so many long-suffering Cubs fans it would be great for them and for the city to see a championship come to Chicago."
We'll find out tonight.
