Superstitious Jake Johnson Has Classic Story Of Watching Cubs Win Game 7 Of World Series
(CBS) One of the many celebrity Cubs fans who enjoyed the team's historic championship last season is actor Jake Johnson, one of the stars of "New Girl" on Fox.
A graduate of New Trier High School who grew up in the northern suburbs, Johnson has been a diehard Cubs fan for life -- so much so that their struggles used to wear on him and friends.
"Something (my friend) Nick and I both related to in our earlier years, now that we've gotten older and the Cubs have won, we're happy to step away, is we used to associate the Cubs' success with our life success," Johnson said in an interview with Laurence Holmes. "And if they were in a losing streak, we'd just feel like, 'I guess we're losers. I guess I can't get out of this rut.' And we'd both be like, 'How are things going? Good.' And then they'd like blow it in the ninth, and we'd be like, 'I guess it's not working out for me.'
"And so when Theo Epstein came, there was a feeling in the air of, 'I think they're going to save us from this dark cloud of loserdom. And guess what? They really have. The whole Cubs franchise, organization thought as a fan is different in such a pleasant way. We are world beaters."
Johnson has quite the unique story of watching Game 7 of the World Series last November as well in which the Cubs clinched first championship since 1908. After attending Game 5 at Wrigley Field, he was watching Game 7 in Evanston with his father, and they can superstitious individuals. So when his drunk brother stopped by mid-game and the Indians began rallying late, Johnson told his brother, "You got to get out of here -- you're killing me."
Later when the 10th-inning rain delay started, it became too much for Johnson too and he left "to clear the air" amid the tension of watching Game 7. He ended up listening to the Cubs' two-run rally in the top of the 10th via the call of Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer on 670 The Score while driving back to the Airbnb where he, his wife and kids were staying.
"Incredible experience, driving through the empty streets of Chicago listening to the rally," Johnson said.
Johnson then sprinted into the Airbnb to watch the remainder of the game on TV, which turned into a blur.
"I'm standing in front of this little TV, my wife comes down," Johnson said. "I don't know how it happened, and I'm not doing this as a bit. I was shirtless and about two feet away from the television and my shoulders were shaking. At the final out, she said 'congratulations.' And there were tears in my eyes and my body was weird. And she goes, 'When did you take your shift off?' I said, 'I swear to God, I don't know.'"
Johnson is also one of the stars in "Win It All," a new movie that's now on Netflix in which he's a gambler who ends up in debt and needs to win his money back. Listen to the full interview below.
