Hank Adaniya’s first reaction was similar to that of many other Chicago Cubs fans.

“Now what?’”

Adaniya asked it with a huge smile on his face Thursday while he prepared to serve Chicago Dogs — to Honolulu fans of the franchise that prior to Wednesday night was the reigning symbol of pro sports futility.

Adaniya was born in Hawaii, where his parents owned and operated a hot dog stand at Kapiolani Park. He became a Cubs (and White Sox) fan when he moved to the Windy City with his family at age 9, where he also eventually enjoyed a career as a successful restaurateur. He returned to Hawaii more than a decade ago to open Hank’s Haute Dogs in Kakaako.

“Wrigley Field was where we went to eat hot dogs and drink beer,” Adaniya said. “If the Cubs won it was a bonus.”

That’s one way some of the huge fan base dealt with the 108-year World Series victory drought. Another was to blame curses and scapegoats … one of them actually a goat.

“I honestly didn’t know much about the curses when I first became a fan and I still don’t think much about it. I think they were cursed by bad ownership and poor management if anything,” says Ku’ulei Agbayani of Waipahu, who fell in love with the Cubs and Chicago in general when she first visited the city in 2004. “I think now that they’ve won it’s a mix of all types of emotions.”

Crissy Terawaki Kawamoto of Palolo and Steve Hathaway of Manoa are examples of the power of the World’s Greatest Network in helping to produce Cubs fans.

Terawaki Kawamoto wasn’t much of a sports aficionado as a kid at Hawaii Baptist. And even when she went to college at Northwestern she went to Comiskey Park more than Wrigley Field (and not often to either).

But after graduation and returning to Hawaii, she found she could listen to Cubs games on the Internet via WGN and her fondness for the team gradually grew (for the Blackhawks, too).

“We try to make at least Opening Day and another game in the beginning, but I would really like to get back again later in the season because the ivy isn’t out yet in spring, and I miss it,” she said. “We’ve also gone to the Cubs Convention maybe three times, which is in January. That’s commitment right there, right?”

The Cubs benefit from a fan base that is metropolitan but also regional — and even the national footprint is enormous because of WGN America.

“I grew up in Omaha, Neb. A lot of my friends were Royals fans, but we had WGN,” Hathaway said Thursday. “I buy the baseball package every year just so I can watch the Cubs games. Even though I am a basketball coach, I would rather watch a baseball game instead of any other sport any day of the week. I would rather watch a Cubs game than the Super Bowl.”

George Hanns, Ed and Lisa Michener and Joe Wilhelm are football fans. You almost have to be if you go to the University of Florida. But my friends from Gainesville who grew up in Chicago might agree with Hathaway’s sentiment regarding Cubs or Super Bowl.

The Micheners became Cubs fans the old-fashioned way. They grew up in Blue Island, Ill., which is on the south side and considered Sox turf. But when they were children, Ed inherited the Cubs from his grandfather and Lisa did from her dad.

I asked Ed, who has moved back to the Chicago area, if he could help answer Hank’s question.

What now?

“Lisa and I discussed that (Wednesday after the game) and came to the conclusion that we can just be another normal baseball team now and that’s more than OK with us. Because while it’s nice to have this rich history and lore associated with your team, there was always this chest-crushing pressure and stress that accompanied it because of ‘The Curse.’ And that turns a sport, which should be fun and light and an escape, into something heavier and more burdensome. We both commented on how much lighter life seems to us now today. We can breathe easier and just feel like normal sports fans who happen to follow a team with one of the most fascinating back stories ever. That’s the best part about this — the history doesn’t go away, but it does become less real and, for lack of a better term, menacing.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads.