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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 26 February 2010 |
It’s time for Spring Training to begin, for any baseball fan, this is a time of rebirth, a time of spiritual awakening, a time of possibilities, where every team starts out equal in the standings. The only time in the season where the Yankees haven’t bought the Championship.
I have always been a baseball fan, more specifically, a Chicago Cubs fan. I attribute the blame for this to my father. He grew up on a farm in Central Wisconsin and was constantly surrounded by Milwaukee Braves Fan. (The Braves would move to Atlanta in 1966 and the Brewers came from Seattle in 1970 and changed their name from the Pilots). Being a rebellious sort, he chose to follow a different team. Many a time he would get in a fight with his brothers about the rights to the radio.
This spirit was instilled into me from birth. I was born in 1969, the year of the Black Cat and the Miracle Mets. Dad swears, that the day the Cubs were overtaken in the standings for good by the Mets, I developed colic and wouldn’t stop crying for three days.
The 70’s basically, set the course of my cursed devotion. The Cubs were absolutely miserable during that decade, often languishing at the bottom of the standings. I was scorned and ridiculed for my choice of teams. It was hard to justify supporting a team that last won a World Series in 1908 and, as one songwriter put “The last time the Cubs won a national League Pennant was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan”. Of course, looking back, I see now that those years were very important in shaping me into the type of man I am today, a champion of lost causes, defender of the underdog, and all around fool.
It wasn’t until 1984 that I was rewarded for my patience, the Cubs were headed for World Series play, when another swoon kept them out. That year, we took a family vacation away from a television so we wouldn’t have to watch any of the games.
In 1989, the Cubs were destined once more for the playoffs, but cruel fate conspired to dash my hopes once again. You may remember the World Series of 1989, it was marred and delayed by an earthquake in San Francisco. Many of us Cub fans believe that it was Mother Natures’ way of letting us know she was a Cub fan and was as hurt as we were.
The 90’s were much the same as the 80’s and 70’s before it, several seasons of mediocrity and heartbreak, with occasional flashes of actual promise.
But, it seems every year, the Cubbies revert to form. As a Cub fan I am used to such heartbreak, I relish the pain each season brings. Each spring I eagerly pour over box scores, muttering to myself, this is the year...this is the year. Knowing deep down inside that come Opening Day, the grandest of all holidays for a baseball fan, I will be let down by the team that does it year after year after year after year.... But you see I AM a Cub Fan! And we Cub Fans stick together! We may laugh good naturally at your jokes about the Cubs, we will discus the standings with you even though we really don’t care how many games out the Braves are, we will attend your World Series parties. But just you wait, one year, it may not be soon, but one year my friends, the Cubs will be back on top. Oh Yes! That will be a glorious day! All love and devotion I have invested in the Cubs will come back ten fold! My life will make sense once again! All will be good in the world!
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