Edit: The following is a column from April, 2005.
By: Justin Jacobs
For Cubs Fans… Love Hurts
As much as I hate the incessant complaining that comes out of Chicago on a regular basis, I still feel sorry for how much Cubs fans have to go through. Labeled, “Lovable Losers,” it is easy for a Cubs fan to become (and I’m copyrighting this one) Lositutionalized. Being Lositutionalized is something like becoming institutionalized, that is, when you are in prison for too long and become dependent on it. Of course I’m ripping off the Shawshank Redemption here, but I needed to use a term that people could identify with.
Cubs fans have been dealing with disappointment for so long now that they are beginning to become numb to the feeling of success. They have built up a sort of level of tolerance to losing and now only feel good when they are able to complain about how bad their Cubbies are. Even when the Cubs are winning, they expect that something will go wrong. And usually… something does go wrong. Prior gets hurt for the season last year and ruins any chance of the Cubs doing any kind of damage. Sosa mistakenly uses a corked “practice bat” and a few weeks later in a twist of karma gets tattooed in the head and is never the same. The Cubs upper management. NOMAR. NOMAR? Are you “bleepn” kidding me?
With a steady dose of loosing like this, it is no wonder why Cubs fans are less lively than a heroin addict in Seattle on a Tuesday. I’m beginning to worry about you guys though. In the past I half-admired your blind optimism. Every year it was the same thing, “maybe next year”. You guys reminded me of Andy Dufresne, always holding onto hope that one day you would make it to the promise land. Of course then there was the Bartman incident a couple of years ago, and it looked like your rock-hammers broke and you would end up spending the rest of your years taking it up the arse by Boggs Diamond.
But before you decide to jump off the Sears Tower, take this into account. The Red Sox were Lositutionalized too and looked what happened to them. Sure they went completely crazy, stopped shaving/showering and stopped playing nice. But that worked for them. This was a team that looked more cursed than any other team in sports history. Just think Bill “Bleepn” Buckner for God’s sake. Yet in their complete oblivious psychosis they were able to do the unthinkable, come back from a 0-3 deficit (to the Yankees no less) and go on to win the World Series. To do something unthinkable, you have to stop thinking. Stop thinking about how Nomar being out is going to hurt your chances of making the playoffs, stop thinking about Priors’ Pitching status and start believing. God said that with a little faith you can move a mountain, and with a lot of faith you can win a World Series. That’s what Red Sox fans did, and they are still celebrating like the incoherently drunken idiots that they are. I would like to think that God is more of a Cubs fan than a Red Sox fan, because Red Sox fans put their faith in a midget. So for God’s sake BELIEVE!!! And stop being Lovable Losers, that title make you sound like you are a bunch of “bleepn” Care Bears!
And when you do finally make it to the promise land, don’t act like a Red Sox fan. In my little Shawshank analogy they are definitely Brooks Hatlen. They made it out of jail and didn’t know what the hell to do with themselves so they killed themselves (In the Court of public opinion that is). Instead act a little more like Red, take it all in, enjoy the moment and come see me down in Mexico (we’ll do lunch).
AND FOR GOD’S SAKE (AND MINE)
PLEASE STOP COMPLAINING!!!
………………
That was three years ago, 97 years from the last time the Cubs won a World Series. Since then the White Sox have finally gotten off the wagon, figuratively and literally. The Cardinals, much to the chagrin of Northsiders everywhere, won one too. Hell, the Red Sox won another World Series in that time. Bleeping Red Sox! Yet the Cubs are still looking to shake that goat curse and win the big one. Since I wrote that column three years ago a lot has changed. Upper management finally wised up and spent some money on quality players like: Alfanso Soraino, Carlos Zambrano, Aramis Ramirez and Japanese sensation Kosuke Fukudome. They also brought a respectable manager in, if Lou Piniella can’t get you up for a game you might as well pack it in because you are probably dead. Cutting ties with Mark Prior was also a big step for the Cubs, it wasn’t working out, and in letting him move on they were saying that they were ready to move on. Hell, word is they are even going to sell the naming rights to Wrigley Field.
These are all good things.
With a number like 100 years out there it’s easy to become intoxicated by words like destiny and fate. I mean just look at that line-up Chad went through, and with the possible acquisition of a second baseman like Brian Roberts, wow, color me impressed. I know Cub fans are excited, not because they are being chatty about the upcoming season, but because they are deathly silent. Besides Chad (who can’t shut-up about sports god bless him) I haven’t heard a single Cub fan brag about their team. You want to know why? Because they are nervous. They know this is probably the best team they have ever had. They know that the NL is up for grabs yet again this year. They know that the Cubs are long overdue for a date with destiny, and they definitely know that there is no better time than now. No more talk about next year on the north side. Now that the Cubs fans have seen their team go from frequent cellar dwellers to on the cusp of winning it all, you can start to see that killer look in Cub fans’ eyes. They know how close they are.
So am I ready to proclaim that this year is the end of the Cubs long and storied championship drought? Have I drank the blue and red Kool-Aid? Do I have the Cub Fever and the only prescription is more championship?
No
No
A thousand times no!
Listen, I like the Cubs this year for all the reasons I’ve listed above, but I don’t love this Cubs team. Not to spoil my MLB preview, but the Cubs are not my favorites to win the World Series. I’m not even sure the Cubs are one of the five best teams in baseball. They are probably the second best team in the NL. I think with the addition of Johan, the Mets are the best in the NL and I doubt they will have a monumental collapse two years in a row. Then there’s the AL, which is kind of the like the Western Conference in the NBA, any one of the teams in the AL playoffs would probably be favorites over any NL team. I mean you have Detroit with the addition of Miguel Cabrera, Boston with it’s youth movement, and Cleveland with perhaps the best one/two punch of starting pitchers in the bigs. There’s also this other team out of New York, but I’ll get into that later. So does that mean the Cubs can’t win the World Series? Not necessarily. A pretty average Cardinals team won the World Series a couple of years ago, and no one saw the White Sox winning it all in 05′, except maybe Ozzie Guillen, but that just adds to his mystique.
There may be a day when I decide the Cubs are the favorites to win a World Series, and that day may even be sooner than later, but it’s not this day. Not this year. There are still too many questions. We still don’t know who there closer is going to be, and if said closer can handle the responsibility. We still don’t know where Alfonso Soriano fits into this team or how well Fukudome’s game will translate to the MLB. Which means we don’t know that much about the Cubs’ outfield. We still don’t know if the Cubs have any big-time playoff pitching, which is really everything when it comes down to deciding the favorites.
I’m sorry Cub fans, but there are still just too many questions, and here’s one more…. Maybe next year?
