For devout White Sox fans throughout Chicagoland, sleep became vastly overrated this week.
Bleary-eyed and aching for caffeine, they rose Wednesday morning–some later than others–and faced the work day in the wake of a marathon World Series Game 3 that stretched nearly 6 hours and didn’t wrap up until 1:20 a.m.
With a win and commanding series lead, fans were stumbling but not grumbling.
Paul Psik, 26, a bartender who hit the hay at 2 a.m., arrived at work in Hoffman Estates five hours later to prepare for the lunch crowd. He already was looking ahead to Wednesday night’s Game 4, and a possible victory celebration.
“I’ll get off work and keep drinking coffee,” said a smiling Psik. “I’ll be OK.”
At a Tri-State Tollway oasis, Rares Ungureanu, 24, was ordering about 8 ounces more coffee than he normally drinks.
“I’m tired,” said Ungureanu, clad in a Sox jersey. “I’m definitely tired, but it was worth it.”
He had been up until 2 a.m. watching the postgame coverage, then had to get up less than four hours later.
Doug Cayce, 35, was right there with him, hoping a pumpkin-spice latte might provide the jolt he needed. Cayce had been up since 6:30 a.m., getting his three kids ready for school on about four hours’ sleep.
His 8-year-old son, Drew, who was up for the entire game, begged to stay home. But Cayce wouldn’t let it happen.
“I told him it was part of being a Sox fan,” he said. “If you’re going to stay up to watch the game, you have to go to school. Work hard, play hard.”
Laura Bronkhorst’s snooze button got a workout. As a result, the Orland Park woman did not make that 9 a.m. physics class at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
And that homework she was supposed to do Tuesday night?
“I had all this stuff to do,” said Bronkhorst, 20, as she waited for a Metra train at the Tinley Park station. “But I couldn’t stop watching. … They won, and that’s excuse enough for me.”
Rich Lussier of Portage Park, who commutes to the west suburbs, started to nod off in the 12th but willed himself to stay awake. He went to bed at 2 a.m., but the excitement kept him up another half-hour.
After the alarm went off three hours later, he pushed snooze for almost two hours.
“I just couldn’t get up,” he said minutes after getting to the office 45 minutes late.
He said he dared not call in sick. His boss is a diehard Cubs fan.
