What kind of fan am I?

Sports fans. I see and hear all kinds of them at high-school sporting events, but in an extremely rare occurrence Wednesday, I even got to be one myself. My wife and I headed down to San Francisco and took in the Cubs/Giants game, which of course the Cubs lost 5-4.

Nothing new there. The Cubs lost the first game I ever went to when I was 10, and in 35+ years of going to baseball games, I'd venture they have - at best - a winning percentage of around .400. I'm not being sarcastic, it just seems I pick the wrong games to go to. Either that or I am part of the many "curses" surrounding baseball's lovable losers.

Wednesday night's game was no exception to my notion of "just picking the wrong games." The Cubs starting line-up consisted of exactly two players who were part of the opening day line-up. The entire infield was made up of names not in the starting line-up when the season opened, and catcher Welington Castillo (you read the name here first) was making his major league debut.

Justin Berg, the Cub reliever who yielded the go-ahead homer to Pat Burrell in the eighth, has bounced back-and-forth between the majors and minors this year also.

Yet here I was, in enemy territory sporting my Cubs cap. I won't say I was "proudly" wearing it, because Cubs fans have had little to be proud of for the past 102 years. I was partially wearing it to show my undying support, but also because night games in San Francisco get a tad chilly.

I was also questioned more than once concerning my fashion faux pas of wearing a Cubs hat with a 49ers jacket. I plead guilty to this one, but at least I was warm.

So what kind of fan am I?

Pretty typical I guess. I left AT&T Park with a sense of defeat. After all, my team had lost - and it was probably due to the fact that I either didn't yell loud enough, or scream the right things at the right players, or had the audacity to not be in my seat when my team needed me most.

How else would you explain Aaron Rowand hitting a sixth-inning home run while I was in the restroom? And if I had not gone to the game, perhaps Cub third-baseman Aramis Ramirez would not have been a late scratch due to a pain in his side.

I am not a fair-weather fan, because I would hardly call the weather in San Francisco "fair" for watching baseball. I was there in my mis-matched sports gear, cheering on a team I had pretty much figured was going to lose. But they lost because I was there, and I apologize.

I'm sorry I did not do more to positively influence the outcome of the game, but I meant well. Like most of you, I cheer with my heart. At least with my beloved Cubs losing to the Giants, I can truly say "I left my heart in San Francisco."

Contact Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.