Chicago to throw World Series victory parade for Cubs

Chicago will throw a victory parade Friday for its World Series champion Cubs to celebrate their historic win after a more than 100 year drought.
“Chicago could not be more proud of the Cubs, and we are going to throw them — and their fans — a celebration worthy of the history the team made last night,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday.
The parade is planned for 11:00 am Central time (1600 GMT), beginning at the Cubs’ home stadium Wrigley Field and culminating in a rally at Grant Park, the city’s major tourist attraction along the downtown lakefront.
The city said it would employ strict security measures, including screenings of all attendees at the rally, as well as street closures, some of which will begin well before dawn.
Many Cubs fans were still digesting the historic win, even as the team and the city made celebration preparations.
The team last won the World Series in 1908. That 108 year dry spell was the longest of any team in baseball, and in fact in any major North American sport.
The Cubs ended it Wednesday evening in a nail-biting game against the Cleveland Indians, which went into extra innings before the Cubs scored an 8-7 win.
On the campaign trail in Miami, President Barack Obama, who is from Chicago, remarked on the fact that sliced bread had not yet been invented when the Cubs last won the World Series.
“This is actually for Cubs fans the greatest thing since sliced bread,” Obama said, invoking the common American expression.
More than half of all televisions in Chicago were tuned into the game, according to ratings results reported by Fox Sports, which broadcast the World Series. Nationwide, it was the most watched telecast since the Super Bowl in February.
Many Cubs fans celebrated into the early morning hours Thursday, pouring onto the streets near Wrigley Field.
Later in the day, the area around the stadium remained busy. Lines formed outside stores selling Cubs merchandise, such as hats and T-shirts.
Fans continued to gather — in much smaller numbers than the thousands who were there overnight — outside the stadium’s marquee.
They took photos and selfies in front of the sign, which still announced: “World Series Champions.”