A group of six hikers -- plus a billy goat named Wrigley -- on Saturday began a hike from the Chicago Cubs' Hohokam Park spring training grounds in Mesa, Ariz., to Wrigley Field.
The hikers' goal? To "crack" the team's supposed decades-long "curse" preventing the Cubs from winning a World Series -- and raise funds for cancer research.
As their website explains, the "ragtag group" of men -- who hail from five different states, none of which are Illinois, and met while working together in Denali Park, Alaska -- sought to combine their adoration for the North Side Chicago team in addition to raising money for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a Seattle-based non-profit organization.
Their plan, according to NBC Chicago, is to hike roughly 25 miles a day along the 1,900-mile route. At that rate, they are due to arrive at Wrigley Field for the White Sox-Cubs series beginning on May 18.
Matt Gregory, of Elma, Wash., explained to NBC that all six men have been seen their lives "touched by someone with cancer." Gregory's mother died of cancer at the age of 43.
They plan to pull their goat along on a cart decorated with Cubs signage.
The crew is documenting their journey on Facebook and Twitter and on Monday reported that the goat is doing "great."
The "goat curse" reportedly dates back to 1945, when, as the legend goes, tavern owner William Sianis was not allowed to bring his pet goat with him into a World Series game at Wrigley Field.