Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan, who also happens to be a life-long Chicago Cubs fan, found himself in the “perfect situation” on Wednesday night with a void in his schedule.
Seizing the opportunity, Ryan loaded up a bus with 12 of his friends and departed for Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio to witness what was arguably the greatest World Series game in Major League Baseball history.
Ryan should be ecstatic, right?
Unfortunately for Ryan and his pals, he’s not. And that’s because he made the ridiculously foolish decision to bail on the game during a 10th inning rain delay. Seriously. And because his bus radio was cutting out, he didn’t even hear the final out of the game, which ended a 108-year title drought for the Cubbies.
“I hate to admit it. I hate to admit it,” Ryan repeated via ESPN on Thursday, laughing off obvious pain. “We had [to leave] because, you know, we had to get back to work. . . We have the rain delay and I’m like ‘you have got to be kidding me.’ And then when you look at it, it’s like ‘when [is the rain] going to pass?’
“I’ll be honest, I was wanting to stay, but it’s like, if this thing is a delay for a couple of hours, there’s no way. We have to get back.”
Fearing the unknown, Ryan and his crew left. They couldn’t watch, they couldn’t listen. . . they had no way to know what had happened until Rex spoke to his brother, Rob Ryan, letting him know the Cubs had done the unthinkable.
“I called my brother, who actually did not go with us, [and he let me know the result],” Ryan said with his head hanging.
The Cubs had won and Ryan had missed it. He was there in Cleveland and he missed it. And he didn’t even hear it.
Ryan has made some questionable calls during his tenure, but perhaps none are as unforgivable as his decision to leave Cleveland on the night the Chicago Cubs ended their 108-year playoff drought. That one will haunt him forever.
