Goat-busters want to break Cubs curse
Marge Flashing has seen it all.
A black cat cross Cubs legend Ron Santo's path in 1969. A ball slip between Leon Durham's legs. A bespectacled Steve Bartman thwart a sure-fire out.
A half-century of North Side loyalties have brought the Wheaton woman and her family frequent heartbreak. But with a third generation of Flashings learning to be true-blue fans, she and her daughter, Kathie Hesterman, decided to break the vicious cycle.
The duo created the "Break the Curse" kit, a tote bag filled with novelty items aimed at both ending the Cubs' drought and giving fans a release for their frustrations.
"The Cubs get so close, and then something goofy happens," Flashing says. "My daughter and I wanted to do something to help them."
The tote bags feature a stuffed goat that can be torn apart, in homage to the Billy Goat curse cast upon the team in 1945. There are also "Break the Curse" balloons for popping in frustration, a squeezable stress ball and a bumper sticker.
The kit sells for $19.08 -- in honor of the year of the Cubs' last successful World Series. They can be purchased via the Internet at www.breakthecursekit.com
"I just want the Cubs to win so badly, but I know something strange always stops that from happening," Flashing says. "We're hoping the kits help the team get past the curse."
Flashing, who considers the 1969 collapse her biggest baseball heartbreak, began selling the kits in August. Since that time, she has enjoyed learning just how much the Cubs mean to some people.
One woman bought seven kits, with plans to send at least one to a fan serving in Iraq. Another woman purchased a tote to leave at her mother's grave.
"We do all kinds of commiserating together," Flashing says of customers. "It's a bond we share."
On Monday, Flashing drew crowds when she brought her novelty items to Daley Plaza for the Cubs rally. She walked among the masses, accepting compliments and inquiries about her kit with each step.
Even Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, an unabashed White Sox fan, laughed when he saw Flashing rip apart her stuffed goat.
"That's a brilliant idea," Cubs fan Victor Torres of Chicago told her. "It's time to break the curse!"
Even if the kit fails to help the team this year, Flashing can console herself with the fun she has had showing her kit to fellow fans.
"It just has been so much fun," she said. "But it would be a lot more fun if we won."