The Ramblers hit the diamond

Today, Wrigley Field was filled with champions as the 2015 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs invited the 2018 South Regional Champion Loyola-Chicago Ramblers to their home ballpark.

Loyola, who made an extremely unlikely run to the Final Four in March, received almost a negative amount of credit for their dodging of tournament obstacles. Instead, their team chaplin, a 98 year old nun named Sister Jean, received the media attention and the credit without even having the ability to stand up. And now, she was again in the spotlight over the squad as she threw out the first pitch, if you really want to call it that.

This was very good timing on a first pitch this horrendous because I had perspective. It begs the question, what is uglier? Sister Jean’s underhand, 3 foot first pitch, or the ivy at Wrigley in the early part of the season. On one hand, there is a first pitch that is shorter than Greg Schiano’s head coaching tenure at Tennessee. But on the other hand, Wrigley Field’s fence looks like the untrimmed bush of the baseball gods.

While looking for Sister Jean first pitch videos, I didn’t have to go past the first link. Or the second link. Or any of the other ones. But searching for any other appearance from the squad is hard. Not to mention Porter Moser and Clayton Custer singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” which appeared to be nowhere to be found. Sister Jean did it all on her own, guys. She rolled her way through division 1’s best all the way to San Antonio and the Final Four. Loyola-Chicago Ramblers who?