The Chicago Cubs won the World Series this week, and with the victory ended the alleged curse of the goat.
According to Chicago urban legend, Greek immigrant and local tavern owner Billy Sianis and his goat, Murphy, were denied entry into game four of the 1945 World Series.
The full tale can be found on The Billy Goat Tavern's website, but claims Murphy was not allowed into Wrigley Field even though Sianis had bought him a ticket.
An angry Sianis proclaimed the Cubs would no longer win games, the legend goes. Cubs fan Chris Broz, of Chicago, said Sianis was his mother's uncle.
"I usually tell people he's my uncle, but he's kind of like a second cousin," Broz said.
Broz happens to be a college friend of TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Pete Zervakis.
So how often did the supposed curse on the Cubs, traced to his relative, cross his mind during the World Series?
"Oh, all the time," Broz said via FaceTime on Friday.
Broz was worried he'd catch grief for a Cubs loss.
"Most of my friends that are Cubs fans give me a hard time," Broz said. "My friends that are (Chicago) White Sox fans are always saying, 'good for you.'"
In Milwaukee, Cubs fans departing the intermodal station downtown to take in the team's victory parade in Chicago were mixed on whether or not the curse was ever real.
"I didn't believe in it. Not at all," said Ryan Fritsch, of Madison.
"I think to an extent it was a little bit true," said Grace Rodriguez, of Milwaukee.
"I'm a very superstitious person when it comes to baseball," said Trevor Pirics, of Milwaukee. "But the whole curse thing, I just don't believe in that."
Cubs fan, Jessie Maybrun, said she was worried the curse of the goat had returned when Cleveland tied up Wednesday's game seven with a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
"I was so scared. I was thinking, OK, who brought the goat in?" Maybrun said with a laugh. "But it's done now."
Broz said he was happier than anyone to see the curse debunked.
"The curse is broken. It's over. So there's no reason to talk about it anymore," he said.
Broz didn't make it to Friday's victory parade but said he did get to attend last Friday's World Series game at Wrigley Field.
