I’m not sure I really believe this, but the Chicago Cubs celebration of their 2016 World Series victory was reportedly the largest gathering of people in American history. It’s also the seventh biggest collection of human beings in one place in world history. (Then again aren’t we all still in a bit of disbelief that we even get to have a Cubs celebration as World Champions in the first place.
It’s hard to fathom how they can truly count these things with true accuracy, but I imagine they know what they are doing. Here are the top ten, via WFLD FOX 32 Chicago:
1. Kumbh Mela pilgrimage, India, 2013 – 30 million
2. Arbaeen festival, Iraq, 2014 – 17 million
3. Funeral of CN Annadurai, India, 1969 – 15 million
4. Funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran, 1989 – 10 million
5. Papal gathering in the Philippines, 2015 – 6 million
6. World Youth Day, 1995 – 5 million
7. Chicago Cubs celebration 2016 World Series – 5 million
8. Funeral of Gamal Abdel Nasser, 1970 – 5 million
9. Rod Stewart concert, Brazil, 1994 – 3.5 million
10. Hajj pilgrimage, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, 2012 – 3 million
11. Anti-war march, Rome, 2003 – 3 million
We took in the Cubs celebration today at the grassroots level, on the ground floor. Just like we were at Game Three of the World Series and at Clark and Addison, Wrigleyville ground zero for the Game Seven clinching celebration.
Here are some photos via Twitter, and then even more via Instagram:
Nice shot of the blue streaks in the river, dyed for the #cubsparade juxtaposed against the autumn colours pic.twitter.com/aFSSxfT2Iv
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 5, 2016
#cubsparade has commenced ?????? pic.twitter.com/eZ9zPWwIOp
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 4, 2016
Grandpa Rossy's holding the #WorldSeries trophy!! Money shot! #cubsparade #FlyTheW ??? #BecauseItsTheCommissionersTrophy pic.twitter.com/Z6MVOkKt8i
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 4, 2016
So much blue to celebrate! With @JohnnieWalkerUS Blue! #Cubs blue! Blue check mark #WorldSeries #cubsparade ???????? pic.twitter.com/ktS66SY2wO
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 4, 2016
.@KrisBryant_23 @ #cubsparade #FlyTheW pic.twitter.com/G7APRN8Fws
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 4, 2016
when 5 million people show up to a parade….you might want to not drive, even 5 hours later pic.twitter.com/u0ccXfZf2j
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) November 4, 2016
The Chicago river was dyed blue for the occasion.
Now of course, when you have five million people at an event, a lot of them are going to be total idiots. Let’s hope they’re just the types of idiots who harm only themselves and not others.
Chicago @Cubs fans do trust falls from 18-foot-tall statue https://t.co/NIhlDFvgcw #FlyTheW pic.twitter.com/FDNR02QNFN
— CNN (@CNN) November 4, 2016
Man down #cubs pic.twitter.com/tZ2swpbpvN
— Tony rinaldi (@Tonyrinaldi23) November 4, 2016
Yikes. It makes the guy who took his Fukudome jersey, and shaved off the letters “udo” from it look like a Rhodes scholar. (Take a second to ponder what that spells)
Now lets move on to more pics with the Instagrams.
Happy Cubs Celebration day everybody!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.