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HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. -- They went on their first date to a Valentines Day dance a few years after the Cubs lost the 1945 World Series. In the seven decades between that night and this one, Rene and Helene Van Hulle raised four kids, losing one of them a decade ago. They moved from the North Side to the suburbs, finally ending up here, in a small apartment with yellow walls, in their respective recliners, waiting on another World Series game to begin. Shes 83, and hes 88. Hes on oxygen all the time, dying, in the care of a hospice nurse. This is the last World Series hell ever see.Rene grew up on the corner of Racine and Waveland, a block from the ballpark. His dad was a janitor, and he became one, too. As a boy, hed climb the fence and sneak into Wrigley Field. He spent four years in the Navy, repairing submarines; she waited three years, 11 months and 26 days for him to do his time and come home to get married. During that time apart, hed mail her Easter corsages to match her outfit. The boy she met all those years ago is still in there; he loves roller coasters, stamp collecting and Wile E. Coyote. Sometimes he still holds a book above his head, with his arms locked, a kind of muscle memory from laying on his back with a wrench.?Tonight, hes wearing a T-shirt from his ship, the USS Orion. Theres a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label in the other room.If we win, his daughter Christine says, well have a shot out of your bottle.Well do that, he says.He closes his eyes for the national anthem, gripping the oxygen tubes with both hands, tapping his left foot, mouthing the words. Soon hes tapping both feet. When he nods off a few minutes later, his daughter touches his knee gently. He wakes up as the game begins, and everyone is telling stories, about the trouble the girls got into and about how Rene sent great gifts home to Helene while they were dating -- the key piece of his strategy to win her over.Its still working, she says, smiling. I still love him.When the doctors placed him in hospice care, essentially sending him home to die about a year ago, he asked his girls if theyd take him back down to Wrigleyville, to see the place where he grew up. That trip brought back so many memories, the World Series season of 1938, and 1945 when all the men were coming back from the war. Driving his block, he still remembered the houses where his friends, nearly all of them dead now, grew up, and where theyd play. He remembered the old German bar, where his mom would help fry fish on Fridays.Hes remembering tonight.I like to reminisce, he says. I aint got that much else to do. Its one of the few joys of getting old.As much as a sporting contest, Friday nights game served as a portal to that time and place. Cubs flags and banners decorated grave sites all over Chicago; at one suburban cemetery, an old man in a Cubs jacket laid a pennant in between his mother and father. At Renes apartment, while the game stretched out on TV, Rene and Helene talked about the past. Two of his daughters hung out, and they heard some stories for the first time, leaning in rapt, desperate for every detail because soon it will be too late to ask. Every Easter, the union boss gave him a chocolate egg with a dollar bill in it. Sometimes he and his friends rented a party room in the local auditorium, bought some luncheon meat and a case of beer. He played softball for a team named the Jokers.Even Helene learned some new things.Did you play baseball? she asked.He nodded.What position? she asked.Left.Left what?He grinned.Left out, he said, making fun of his own complete lack of talent.Over and over, they bring up Rene Jr., their son who died in 2007. He was beloved in the Chicago gay community, an activist and leader, and theyd often go hang out at the bar where he worked. Tonight, their daughter Laurie is wearing one of her brothers sweaters, turquoise and worn -- her good luck charm when the Cubs play. Rene Jr.s name is spoken with love and a touch of regret; he loved the Cubs more than any of them. But, for a few minutes at a time as his name is said aloud, their son and brother is with them. They can hear his voice describing seeing the green field for the first time, after only seeing Wrigley on a black and white TV.The nurse is sitting back watching, stunned, because she has been seeing Rene for months and this is the most upbeat and energetic he has been. Thats the greatest gift the Cubs gave so many people around the city Friday night. Who knows how many great days Renes family will have with him? Tonight, he was laughing and cracking jokes, the same sharp and quick man theyve know all their lives. The game woke something in him, something that doesnt come out much anymore.Ive never seen him this good, his nurse says.The girls pour a round of drinks from the Blue Label bottle in the seventh inning, and his nurse says that he can have a sip. The hot whiskey hits his throat and stuns him a little. When the Cubs lose, he curses in Flemish -- the language of his parents, still burned into his memory -- and sinks back into his chair. His time is running short, but tonight, he was living, surrounded by his wife and two of his girls and by the memory of his departed son. He sat in his chair, watching one of the last baseball games hell ever see. His eyes sparkled, and he looked content.Fake Yeezy 350 v2 Black . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. 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Born and raised in Toronto, Bradwell is entering his sixth CFL season, with all six played for his hometown Argonauts.An impressive first-up win to Divine Mr Artie has provided a tonic for trainer Brendan McCarthy who broke his arm when kicked by a horse.Jockey Craig Williams was impressed by the way the four-year-old gelding returned to racing in Saturdays Plenary Group Handicap (1200m) and is convinced the Group Three Standish Handicap on New Years Day over the same course would be ideal for Divine Mr Artie.McCarthy was not on track to see Divine Mr Artie sprint to a three-length win in his first start this season, with a stable representative explaining the trainer had undergone surgery on a broken arm sustained while loading a horse onto a float at his property on Friday.Its a good tonic for him getting the win today, getting hurt last night, stable representative Crystal Lethart said.Divine Mr Artie was resuming for his first start since winning at Caulfield on the final weekend of last season as a three-year-old in July, and Williams maintained a perfect record on the four-year-old gelding from his two rides on the sprinter.dddddddddddd.Well supported late from $5 to $4, Divine Mr Artie got cover back in the field in the straight track sprint before he chimed in on the outside and then surged clear in the final 200m to defeat Armada ($10), with another three-quarters of a length to Chiavari ($7) third.He ticked a lot of boxes coming into todays race and it looks like a race like the Standish, now that hes hopefully got his rating up enough to get him into the race, should be right up his alley the way hes come back, Williams said.Williams begins a stint in Hong Kong on Sunday but is back in Melbourne for racing on December 31 at Moonee Valley and the Standish Handicap the next day. 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