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CHICAGO -- Cubs players enjoyed their victory lap Friday, waving to millions of elated fans crowded along miles of city streets during a parade honoring the first Cubs team to win a World Series title in 108 years.The Office of?Emergency Management and Communications told the Chicago Tribune that an estimated crowd of 5 million packed the 7-mile parade route from Wrigley Field to Grant Park, where the party continued with a massive rally to celebrate the Cubs historic win.Team manager Joe Maddon -- wearing a stocking cap, sunglasses and a jersey over a We didnt suck T-shirt -- looked out over a sea of blue.Welcome to Cubstock 2016! he shouted to the fans after carrying the World Series championship trophy onto the stage. This is an incredible moment for all of us. Never have I experienced anything like Wrigley Field on a nightly basis. ... I want to congratulate you fans also. Thank you for being so patient.One by one -- from CEO Tom Ricketts to president Theo Epstein to coaches and players, past and present -- they all were introduced to their adoring, roaring fans. Catcher David Ross?even posed for a selfie before serenading the crowd with a rousing rendition of Go Cubs Go! along with his teammates before fireworks capped the 90-minute rally.Said first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who got teary-eyed while speaking at the rally: It happened, baby. It happened!Rizzo singled out 39-year-old Ross, who is retiring and is?affectionately called Grandpa by the teams younger players, before capping his speech by giving Ricketts the ball from the last out of Game 7.A victory party is new territory for long-suffering fans of the Cubs, who hadnt won a World Series title in more than a century before their Game 7, extra-inning thriller against the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday.?The last time the Cubs even reached the Fall Classic was in 1945.Earlier, on the parade route, throngs of young and old blue-clad fans roared as the motorcade of open-roofed buses carrying the players cruised along Lake Shore Drive. The mood was jubilant, bolstered by an unseasonably warm and sunny November day and clear blue skies.The parade wound through downtown and ended roughly 7 miles south in Grant Park. The route also took the buses over the Chicago River, which the city dyed a bright shade of blue to match the Cubs colors, repurposing a decades-long tradition of dying the river green on St. Patricks Day.Ricketts told the crowd that the players on the World Series team are going to be Chicago baseball legends.He said he was used to fans coming up to him, asking when the Cubs were going to win a World Series. For the thousands of people who have said that to me, there you go, Ricketts said.Vendors hawked pennants and shirts, and selfie-taking teens tried to capture the crowds. Many just beamed.Retiree Jarvis Moffett, 60, arrived at the lakefront park hours ahead of the rally just to take in the atmosphere.Im an old-school Cubs fan, he said, gesturing to the sky and crowds. This is what you live for. It doesnt get any better.Miriam Santiago, 51, said she carried holy water, her rosary and a bright green lucky baseball with her during the playoffs. On Friday, she brought a goat mask with dynamite in its mouth and let other fans pose for photos wearing it outside Wrigley Field. She said she believes her lucky charms helped reverse the curse.Steve Angelo carried his 4-year-old son, Nicholas, on his shoulders. The pair wore matching Rizzo jerseys.The more and more they win now, at his earlier age, the more and more excitement there is, Angelo said.Atop the double-decker buses, some Cubs players posed together for photographs, while others held their children and sat with their families. Center fielder Dexter Fowler had a cigar as the team headed toward the rally that some fans have called the celebration of a century.Fans packed morning commuter trains, causing delays despite increased service and capacity, to get downtown and find a viewing spot before the festivities began.Laurie Winter woke up at 4 a.m. so she and her 2-year-old son, Cooper, could come in from the suburb of South Elgin and be among the fans outside Wrigley Field to see the players.I think everyone is excited about where this team is going, Winter said. We cant wait to see them come out and get crazy.The city estimated 2 million people attended similar events in 2015, after the Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in six years. Obviously, with the 5 million estimate Friday, generations of Cubs fans had far more pent-up celebrating to do.Friday was already a scheduled day off for Chicago Public Schools and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner declared Friday as World Champion Chicago Cubs Day statewide.The Associated Press contributed to this report.Cheap NFL Jerseys China . At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. Cheap Jerseys 2020 . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. https://www.nfljerseys2020.com/ . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. Or, in other words, the two teams would appear to have at least spoken. And spoken is defined as one calling the other to inquire, no more, no less. NFL Jerseys 2020 . Their 38th instalment is arguably their biggest fight card to date, including three-title fights and a main event which was selected by the fans. The promotion boasts 14-straight years of business and is operated by MFC president Mark Pavelich, who is often overlooked in this country for the foundation hes established for MMA in Canada. NFL Jerseys Wholesale . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string.On Monday, the New York Yankees traded closer Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs, giving a significant boost to a team already well-positioned for a deep playoff run. New York received three prospects, including highly touted infielder Gleyber Torres, and reacquired pitcher and former Yankees draft pick Adam Warren.As a lifelong Yankees fan, people have been asking me my thoughts on the trade, which can basically be summed up thusly: For a team that had three top relievers in Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances, the Yankees sold high on Chapman, who is set to hit free agency at the end of this season, and in return got a top-15 prospect and a major league pitcher who threw quite well during his years in the Bronx.Most importantly, Im just glad that Ill once again be able to enjoy watching the ninth inning again.It pained me to watch my team trade for Chapman in December, when other teams had deemed him untouchable after reports surfaced of a domestic violence incident in which Chapmans girlfriend told police he choked her, pushed her into a wall and threatened her with gunshots fired in his garage. No arrests were made after more than a dozen officers appeared at Chapmans house and found his girlfriend hiding in the bushes.In addition to the uneasiness of having an apparently unhinged player in my teams clubhouse and on my teams field, it particularly didnt sit well with me that the main reason the Yankees managed to land an All-Star closer at the bargain-basement price of four unexciting prospects was because they were willing to look the other way from an act of violence.As I wrote at the time, the move was cynical and grossly opportunistic -- ESPNs Andrew Marchand likened it to the predatory nature of a foreclosure sale -- precluding me and many others from enjoying a win sealed by Chapman.That was quite startling for someone who grew up idolizing Mariano Rivera, for a fan base that became accustomed to the ninth inning as automatic, yet experienced the same level of excitement every time that cutter left No. 42s hand. With Chapman in for the save, many of us this season have simply been going through the motions, holding our breath and applause until the last out so we could cheer not for the pitcher who nailed it down, but for the team we still cant help but love despite ourselves. Rather than rising to our feet at the opening bars of Enter Sandman and gasping with every Rivera-induced broken bat, there was no joy in watching a Chapman save, no matter how hard he threw. A 105 mph pitch is exciting until you imagine that same physical force being used by an athlete against the mother of his child.So Im happy to see Chapman go, if only to reclaim my love of late-inning pitching. Thats why I sympathize with my colleague Sarah Spain, who wrote Tuesday about her own difficulties with Chapman potentially being a key component of her beloved Cubs World Series run. Now, I have to picture Chapman pitching the final out of the World Series, she wrote. Chapman on the front page of every newspaper in the country. Chapman, the lasting image of the victory. Chapman, the hero.That image is no big deal for some fans and writers content to settle on the conclusion that major league teams are in the business of winning, no matter what it takes (to quote USA Today MLB columnist Bob Nighteengale) -- a notion completely belied by years of PED reform, anti-tampering rules, regulations against foreign substances tainting equipment, not to mention MLBs revamped domestic violence policy.dddddddddddd The league itself has decided that whatever it takes isnt good enough after a certain point.To be sure, MLB did conduct its own investigation of Chapman under its new policy, suspending him for the first 30 games of the season.We can talk about whether that penalty was enough -- by comparison, the minimum suspension for a first-time PED user is 80 games -- and yes, relative severity matters in the message to both victims and offenders as to just what kind of infractions the league takes most seriously. With the understanding that MLB players have the strongest union and labor protections in all of sports (and thats a good thing), 30 games wasnt enough to delay Chapmans eligibility for free agency, setting him up for a huge payday after the 2016 season.MLBs domestic violence policy is more advanced than others in sports, and Chapman did serve his time. So heres where those win at all costs fans and commentators will bellow about second chances, admonishing those of us who dont think Chapman has quite yet earned that opportunity. If youre willing and able to accept Chapman as a Cub, thats your right as a fan, and your privilege as someone who has likely never been affected by violence against women. Many of these people are just as quick to dismiss the rest of us as reactionary torch-wielders who secretly hate sports and dont believe in second chances, rehabilitation or reform.Thats simply not the case. The issue with Chapmans moves to both the Yankees and the Cubs isnt just the unsavory opportunism; its that, as Spain and others have noted, hes shown little contrition in the months since the October incident.Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and general manager Theo Epstein should receive some credit for using the words domestic violence rather than glossing over Chapmans case as a simple mistake (Im looking at you, Sandy Alderson). But both of them also emphasized that the organization takes players character very seriously, and weve no indication that Chapmans character has actually improved. He hasnt spoken out about domestic violence education, and has repeatedly dismissed the October incident as nothing. On Tuesday, he did tell ESPNs Pedro Gomez in Spanish that he has grown tremendously since that time after a rather confusing news conference with English-speaking Chicago media.We have about as much clarity on Chapmans personal growth as we do on just how to feel as fans every time he steps onto a pitchers mound. I know precisely what many Cubs fans are feeling today, having felt it for the past few months. Even if, as a Yankees fan, Im relieved to see Chapman gone, there will be a gnawing in my mind should Torres turn into the pro phenom hes slated to become, if the pieces that help build another Yankees dynasty were acquired through a cynically shrewd trade of a player who might not have deserved to be in the Bronx in the first place.I suppose Ill confront that reality if and when it comes to fruition. For now, at least I have my ninth innings back. ' ' '