When Munster's Mark Taylor thought he saw his cousin on television on Tuesday, sitting next to Bill Murray during the Cubs game, he dismissed the notion.

Almost immediately.

“I saw someone that looked like her,” Taylor said. “I didn't think it was her. You just don't make the connection.”

Taylor's eye's weren't deceiving him.

His cousin, Karen Michel, was sitting next to Murray.

It was as real as the Cubs' first World Series title since 1908.

Michel's serendipitous connection with Murray at Tuesday's game in Cleveland started with a simple premise.

If she could get a ticket for the Bears-Vikings game Monday night, Game 6 of the World Series was in play too.

Michel, who lives in Munster but grew up in Whiting, went to Soldier Field, bought a ticket and watched the Bears beat the Vikings 20-10.

A lifelong Cubs fan, Michel decided a trip to Cleveland was in order.

The spontaneous decision to see the Bears emboldened her.

“I hadn't been to a Bears game in 10 years,” she said. “I realized it was totally possible to get a ticket.”

To anything, like the sixth game of the World Series? For a skeptical, hardcore fan, it would seem a stretch.

It wasn't.

Michel was hardcore but not skeptical. She was hopeful and perhaps a bit naive.

Like the rest of Cubs nation, Michel was hungry to connect with this historic team.

The best outcomes occur sometimes when you don't overthink climbing the mountain in front of you. Just plunge onward and see what happens.

It turned out to be the trip of a lifetime for Michel, who sat next to Murray, eating nachos and drinking vodka and sodas, watching the Cubs defeat Cleveland 9-3.

Michel was slightly underfunded for scoring a ticket conventionally.

Michel had $200 in her pocket to buy a ticket. That was her limit. She was going to be watching from somewhere else if the price was any higher.

The cheapest ticket StubHub, standing room, was $748.

After waiting in line, with hundreds of fans looking for a ticket for more than two hours, Michel had about given up on getting in.

She was exhausted and ready to move on when Murray showed up, just after the game started.

Instinctively, along with a gaggle of fans, Michel decided to follow Murray.

For reasons she can't explain, Murray abruptly turned around and handed her a ticket as they got near his gate. It was spontaneous, unexpected and totally in character with Murray's goofy nature.

This was the same Murray who grabbed a microphone and started interviewing Cubs general manager Theo Epstein in the locker room after the Cubs won Game 7.

“He just shuffled me through the door,” she said.

Michel thought it was a random ticket to get into Progressive Field.

Instead, she got a batter's box view of the game, along with Eddie Vedder, Chris Chelios and Al Roker, to name just a few celebrities sitting near her.

It was both surreal and heart-pounding for Michel, who didn't know how she was going to watch the game just a few hours earlier.

Murray's buddy, Michel said, couldn't make the game. It was her lucky day.

Michel was sitting elbow to elbow, talking baseball with the famous actor, soaking up the moment. Among other things, she learned that Murray isn't a bandwagon fan.

He watches as many games as he can through an MLB service if he isn't at the game, and he played catcher as a kid growing up in Wilmette, Ill.

And his drink of choice is vodka and soda.

Michel was terrified when Murray first ordered a drink. He had asked her what she wanted. Michel told him she'd have whatever he was drinking.

Vodka and soda it was.

“I've never had a vodka soda in 54 years. I drink beer,” she said. “I was thinking to myself, ‘How am I going to get through this game drinking vodka soda?' Actually, it was really good.”

And so was Murray.

In between drinks, she ate ice cream and nachos and chatted with Murray about the nuances of catching.

Murray, she said, shook hundreds of hands from adoring fans and took dozens of selfies with people who sauntered by.

Michel felt like he was an old friend by the time she left, giving him a big hug and offering a thank-you for an experience she'll take with her to her grave.

“You know, he's just a big fan,” she said. “He's like the neighbor you want to have a drink with. He was totally humble.”

Even two days removed and with the World Series title in hand, Michel was still pinching herself.

“That is one of the luckiest things that has ever happened to me,” she said.

mhutton@post-trib.com

Twitter @MikeHuttonPT