November 3, 2016

Epic

Perhaps that was the greatest baseball game I have ever seen. I'm confident I would say that no matter the outcome. But man oh man am I happy boy today. I never thought I would see this day. In 2012 the Cubs lost more than 100 games. The blew leads to lose in elimination games in 1984, and twice in 2003 with lots of bad, bad baseball in the intervening years.

I started following the Cubs closely when I was eight or ten. I read the box scores every day in the paper. I listened to games on my tiny transistor when the weather was just right. When we got cable in the late 1970s, I could finally watch them on the mighty WGN. Heartbreak and hopelessness were the tone of every season.

I thought the Cubs were the best team in baseball in 1984. Lost in the LCS.

I thought history was ready in 2003, but the team cracked under a century of expectations.

I feel bad for Indians fans. They played a great series. The teams so evenly matched.

But I am on a happy planet today. We broke out a bottle of 15 year old champagne last night. We did not finish it, but who cares?

THE CUBS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS

9 comments:

Jean said...

Fabulous game. Congrats to the Cubs and their fans.
I'm already looking forward to next season.

Jean said...

Oh, yeah...when do we see the tat?

Ed Bonderenka said...

The Cubs are like a dog that finally caught the car.
Now what are they going to do with it?
Their whole culture has been, “Wait til next year!”
They got nothing to wait for.

Joe said...

If I ever get over this hacking cough lung rabies thing...

Joe said...

Oh yes Ed, waiting for the next one.

Have you waited and longed for anything for most of your life? I have a T-shirt that reads "just one before I die". I think of my grandpa, who never saw it. I think about the bad years, the weeks of lying on my back this summer, the daily ball game keeping me sane.

Today I think of the joy in my wife's smile as KB threw out the final batter, happy they won, but more for how happy the victory made me. Sure, it's just a game, but it made what has truly been a couple of shitty years of life pretty special, at least for a couple of days.

Jon Moore said...

Congratulations to you and your Cubbies, Joe.
A little heartbroken but not disappointed, it was quite a ride.

hey teacher... said...

ENJOY!

Ed Bonderenka said...

My congratulations Joe.

Fuzzy Curmudgeon said...

Eddie Vedder needs to write two more verses -- one ending with "This year we went all the way" and one ending with "Next year we'll do it again!"

I couldn't watch. All I did was check the damn score and Cleveland tied it. I shut everything off and went to bed.

I woke up yesterday morning thinking of Schroedinger's Cub. [Sic.] And then I picked up the iPad, looked at Cubs.Com, and started bawling like a little baby.

Yesterday was the best day of my life, possibly even eclipsing the day I got married.

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