It's mid-October now and the Cubs have been out of the playoffs for what feels like a century. But wait, that's not even just a state of mind anymore. It's a reality.
I can only speak from my experiences as a transplanted Cubs fan who is learning how to cope with the loss from Northwest Washington, D.C. I can only assume that most North Side residents' heads are hanging low and jaws are probably still dropped. Harry Carrey would be ashamed.
So we lost. We lose every year. And, we have for a 100 years. I hate to say it Chicago, but I think you secretly love it.
Think about it for a minute. If the Cubs ever won a World Series, what in God's name would you do with yourself? You would probably say something along the lines of, "Good! I can die happy now." You'd parade around the streets of Chicago braging to every White Sox fan you saw or high-fiving any Cubs fan you run into. From October to next April, it would be your time to shine and it would feel better than any happiness you've ever known because your team finally did the unexpected. But .... then what?
Your expectations would then be set. You would get greedy. You would want them to keep winning each and every year for the rest of your life. Because, as the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees have shown, just one World Series championship is ever enough.
I would hate to see such a passionate group who bleeds Cubby blue turn green from greed. That's not what Cubs baseball is about.
There is no other sports team in all of America that has the kind of fans the Cubs do. Red Sox fans can claim that they understand us, but they don't. The Yankees are just as rooted in history as the Cubs club is, but they're winners and we're not. But, those are the Cubs. They're are team. I'm proud of them either way and you should be too.
The Cubs stand for a lot more than just losses. They stand for the heart and soul of a giant herum of people from Chicago. Consider yourself lucky Cubs fans, we're the only good story left in baseball that both continues to be told and isn't finished yet.
Think of it this way -- as long as there's baseball in this country the Cubs will always be on top -- not because of World Series wins, but because of their fans and those fans love for the game and their team. The Cubs created the history, but the fans created the legacy.
We'll know by Friday night which two teams will enter this year's fall classic. But I'm somehow okay with the fact that the Cubs aren't going to be swinging there bats in that one.
So, to all my fellow Cubs fans out there....
'til next year.
Photo By: R.H. Levitin
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