The exuberance of youth cannot be denied.
This extraordinary collection of youngsters had no ties to the past with its fake curses and black cats and late season collapses. They played in the now because they knew no other way. And these talented collection of ballplayers will be youthful again when pitchers and catchers report in February. Young kids with talent who aren't going anywhere...and in fact are slated to be joined by another bumper crop of farmhands as the system is now set to keep feeding fine players to the major league club just the way the successful big boys have done it for years.
This exit feels like no other.
When the Cubs were evicted from playoffs past there was always a sense that the team choked and was destined to be the lovable losers for a lifetime. They were the punchline that kept on giving and the feeling that they had blown a rare opportunity was predominant among fans and media. Not so now. While nothing in baseball is a lock, the Cubs learning from this unexpected trip to the baseball stratosphere should put another arrow in their quiver when they begin the championship season again in the spring. Been there,done that...let's go. The boys become men. And with the now proven plan put in place by Theo Epstein and the crackerjack front office that is the best in baseball, be assured that the Cubs are going shopping this winter and they're going to be bringing some pitching to the checkout lane. There will be at least one big splash made to the mound corps.
I've gotta clean out my friends list.
This might seem random, but the Cubs run to the Championship Series exposed a few people whose lack of class and maturity had me rethinking why I would associate myself with those particular individuals. While it's just a game, I got a glimpse into the dark souls and personality disorders of some folks of whom I expected so much more. It caused me to re-evaluate my need to have them in my life, no matter that they were just on the periphery anyhow. If the Cubs aren't your cup of tea that's fine! Sports would be so much less interesting if we all backed the same team. And if you prefer the Sox,Cardinals or Brewers that's great! But can you at least muster up the class and maturity -if you are bound to express your feelings via social media or text- to refrain from being a jerk? One former FB friend found it mandatory to observe the Cubs ascension into the NLCS by writing an obnoxious screed that made the person look like nothing less than a sour grape ravaged jealousy laden fool. It gave me great pleasure to hit the button that sent them to defriended hell. Another person I will be seeing so much less of delights in not just sending hateful Cub messages but seems to have no concept of baseball past,present or future and just says things that are totally devoid of reason ..things that I know would have other Sox fans disassociating themselves from Mr. Clueless and perhaps suggesting a good therapist. One less Christmas party invite!
But I can't leave the topic without pointing out that there have been Sox fans of my acquaintance who had the good sense and the decency to either wish the Cubs luck (no matter how sincere that might have been) or who just laid low and said little or nothing. I do not expect Sox fans to do as I did in 2005 and climb aboard to root Chicago to a championship (no matter how much sense that makes to me) but when you get to a certain age, I think it isn't beyond the realm of possibility that you might exhibit a level of maturity.
Joe Maddon is the best manager of my lifetime.
Granted the list of managers I've seen since being birthed into baseball might be less than stellar, but there HAVE been some good ones. Yet Joe Maddon tops the list. Forget the fact that he brings excessive cool to the sixties, he is as well prepared and as intelligent as any manager in any sport. While I was never sure about the outcome of the game, I was always more than confident that the manager of my team would make better decisions than the guy in the other dugout. Versed in metrics and the numbers that drive baseball in the 21st Century, Maddon was able to combine that with the best attitude of any manager I've seen. Magicians, dress up road trips, animals in the outfield....Maddon doesn't get lost in the metrics-he keeps baseball fun and he made every member of that team feel valued. Keeping a large number of young men engaged just can't be easy. The Cubs have the manager everybody wants and like the kids that surround him, he will be here awhile.
ESPN is awful
Like so much of the out of town media, they relied on the lazy narrative of curses and black cats and collaspses because it would have been too much work to actually get into the trenches and study this team that owes nothing to that past and those images and comes from a far different ideology. Instead, feeding into the lovable losers mentality that makes them comfortable, out of town outlets showed why you can't rely on coast based media for anything you will ever
Chicago sports reporters are mostly awful.
Gee, it's just great to see Jim Rose cheerleading through his 6 pm sportscasting and picking the Cubs to win! I don't think Rose has ever picked against any team with Chicago in its title. He should get pom poms to match his suit. And the same can be said for most of TV's sports reporters. The exceptions are Mark Giangreco and Siafa Lewis ,neither of whom I expect to see kissing the Cubbie mistletoe during their air time. I also applaud radio people like Dan Bernstein, Matt Spiegel, Jason Goff , Terry Boers, Brian Hanley and Mike Mulligan who give you an honest count. And then there's Gordon Wittenmyer who writes for the Sun Times covering the Cubs but seems to bend over backwards to be critical even at the expense of being correct.
The Cubs are the next team win a Championship.
Aren't they? The Hawks are off to an unspectacular start with many new faces who have yet to find their footing and may spend the season doing so. I sure hope they win the Cup again but I'm not expecting it. The Bears are on year one of rebuilding on the fly and while Aaron Rodgers is in the NFL and LeBron James in the NBA I think the outlook is similar for the boys of winter. The Sox need a Cubs-like restructuring but that isn't going to happen so they will continue to search for the right combination of skill and chemistry. They have pitching to build on but their manager is vanilla and his team seems to often take on his persona, as the Cubs have with Maddon. The Cubs return fresh, talented and pitching fortified in a year where spring baseball forecasts should be picking them to finally win the world series. And I think they will.
Facebook Loves the Cubs
The flood of memes and Cub related posts were a Facebook tsunami. It seems almost everyone with social media access had something blue posted or had thoughts on the Cub climb . It would be hard to dispute the Cubs position as "America's team" based on what has been posted, written and produced these past weeks. It has been a great run and it may never be this way again. That's because starting in spring, the level of expectation rises big time. This was the year the Cubs almost snuck up on MLB and won everything . Next year they will be expected to perform in this manner and the weight of those expectations could be cumbersome. Yet Joe Maddon will be there keeping the mood light and imploring his charges to never let the pressure exceed the pleasure.
How many more days til spring training?
