This season, the city of Chicago has one of those elite teams that has spent the spring and summer flashing leather, driving opposition pitchers to the safety of the dugout, displaying the exuberance of youth still years from their prime but still threatening to walk amongst the game's best for years to come. I'm not here to quote the statistics that scream the Chicago Cubs been kicking ass and taking names the way we like our pro teams to do (as rare it is), but rather to encourage you to bathe in the glory that is post season baseball and remember the moments that very well could etch this one particular baseball season into the history books.
Forever America has loved the saga of the underdog no matter the situation in which the protagonist must prevail against daunting odds.... the little guy rising up to punch the powers that be squarely in the nose and experience the glory reserved for the more established and better connected when for so long he was thought a punch line and a poser. And in that vein I ask you has there been a more persistent punchline, a more reliable pin cushion, a team that coined and minted the term "loveable loser" than the Chicago Cubs? What has been more assured than death,taxes and the Cubs being an also ran? Anyone who loves the stories of the downtrodden arising to conquer should take more than passing interest of the events unfolding on a baseball diamond on the north side of Chicago.
This is a rare opportunity for a city to celebrate. This city is ripped by gunfire and excessive tax and teacher unrest and on and on and on, But for an unspecified period of time we can join together and escape , partners in the possibility that something that hasn't happened in our lifetime--hell, in your PARENTS lifetime, could happen this month of October. And if it does, the headlines that generally make us cringe will transform into fonts of joy and not just here at the epicenter of Cubdom but around the world. Lovable losers no more, a real life Rocky, a goat that lost its glamor...hope for humankind ignited by a hippie manager and his band of brothers who lifted the city above its problems, at least for now. Those are the tantalizing possibilities and why anyone would conciously choose to hit the snooze button on a story bigger than baseball perplexes me. We have all tried and come up short...some more than others, but we are talking about the kings of consistent coming up short here. For decades they couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel...they couldn't even see the tunnel. And in those rare autumns when they tantalized their fans and teased baseball lore by threatening to join the ranks of championship clubs, they ultimately crashed and burned and reinforced their reputation as the ultimate also rans , the little engine that just couldn't. Fodder for late night TV and assurance that the world order had been preserved.
2016 holds the possibilities none of those artificial runs presented. In nearly every category, the Cubs compare favorably with the big boys and in fact, in most cases, overshadow them. The mom and pop shop that once was the Cub front office has been replaced by 21st century technology and savvy young execs whose decision making has been frighteningly accurate and their strategies transparent. From day one of the new regime that front office told their fans what was going to happen and then it happened. The build towards "sustained excellence" was at first painful and at second, even more so...but the seeds had been planted and if there is one thing Cub fans are lauded for regularly, it has been patience. And so waiting for a few more seasons to grow into this one was a process but this has been the season of Cub fans dreams...108 to wait before a team as good as this one convenes at Wrigley Field daily.
No divas here, no noteable grumps...its been the summer of love best demonstrated by the coronation of a back up catcher to legendary status by a team grateful for his leadership, wisdom and strength of character. David Ross is a little guy who has been raised to champion , a perfect metaphor for what might happen to his team in the near future.
Hate the Cubs wish them ill, cling to the hope that when the dust settles you will be able to say that your team is still the only local team that has been to or won a world series. But in so doing, be on the wrong side of history and miss out on the joy that has been the journey no matter where the path leads. If being petty or jealous or rooting against a decent bunch of exceptional athletes that have made your city proud and for just awhile has given us brief respite from our bloody summer to validate your fandom for another team than I pity you. You are going to miss the party...the one being held this year and quite likely for many seasons to come.
Whether you like baseball or abhor it, we all like rags to riches tales and who among us doesn't root for a happy ending? Our best chance of that beckons on a baseball
