And
no, I don’t mean “Go Cubs, Go.” Which is about as insipid a lyric as ever
crafted.
I’M
ACTUALLY REFERRING to the early 1980s tune “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request,”
which purports to tell the tale of the final moments of life of an aging man
who spent his life in fruitless rooting for a Cubs team that didn’t embarrass
itself, and actually brought a championship to Chicago.
Of
course, it didn’t happen. The fan in the song wound up being cremated with his
ashes spread at Wrigley Field – with the “prevailing 30 mile an hour southwest
wind” blowing them over the left field wall and bleachers so he can, “come to
my final resting place, out on Waveland Avenue.”
Which
is kind of a touchingly truthful sentiment, if you think about it. But would
that be a loss if this truly is the year that the Chicago Cubs wind up doing
anything of significance – rather than finding yet another way to blow it come
playoff time.
Because
that’s the mode we’re in now, what with the Cubs managing to win a division
title with Thursday night’s St. Louis Cardinals loss. Although the Cubs tried rewriting history Friday by doing the cliche'd champagne splash following a victory over the Milwaukee Brewers that came a day after the clinching actually occurred.
 |
| Cubs fans consider fantasy pennants ... |
IT
ACTUALLY REMINDS me of the 2000 season when the New York Yankees actually lost
15 of their 18 final ballgames. Yet because the Boston Red Sox managed to pick
the identical time of the season to stink, the Yankees clinched a division
title with a loss.
I
suspect many Cubs fans are now fantasizing about a Yankees-like scenario – the Yankees
went on to win in the playoffs and wound up winning the World Series that year.
Which was an even bigger deal than usual because they got to whomp the New York
Mets for the World Series championship title.
 |
| ... of 1969, 1984 and 2003 ... |
But then again, the Cubs don’t have Yankee
aura or winning ways. Every time the Cubs try to feed off Yankee aura (Bobby Murcer as a ballplayer, Gene Michael and Lou Piniella as managers), Chicago Cubbie-ness manages to overcome success!
 |
| ... to be more real than the one ... |
Which
makes me wonder if the smart-aleck I read on the Internet on Friday has it more
correct. That person pointed out that the St. Louis Cardinals managed to win
World Series titles in 2006 and 2011, even though in both years they failed to
win a division title.
COULD
IT HAPPEN again come 2016? Could this be the year the Cubs manage to blow it
when it matters the most and the Cardinals manage to prevail yet again?
Because
that would truly be in Cubbie-character. This is the team that, as Goodman put
it, hasn’t won since, “the year we dropped the bomb on Japan.”
It
is why I just can’t get all excited the way I’m seeing some Cubs fans already
wetting their pants with glee, as though they think this year will go into the
record books as some sort of championship season.
 |
| ... that has flown over 35th/Shields for 11 years now |
This
may well be the big difference between the perception of baseball fans who root
for Chicago’s two ball clubs. Cubs fans in their minds see those league
pennants for 1969, 1984 and 2003 flying above the center field scoreboard.
WHITE
SOX FANS still have the nightmare that they’re going to wake up someday and
find that the 2005 World Series championship was somehow just a dream.
There
are still several rounds of playoffs that need to be completed before we have a
National League champion, which then will face off against the (likely
superior) American League champs!
In
fact, the way baseball is now set up with all these extra teams thrown into the
playoff mix, it seems that the powers-that-be would just as soon see a lesser
team actually win the whole thing.
 |
| 71 years, and counting, since "the year we dropped the bomb on Japan." |
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