Like so many other fans of sports teams, my favorite teams logo is embedded on my chest as a symbol of pride. That logo says that you stick with that team through winning and losing seasons without giving up. Except for a few expletives you might scream at the TV when watching your team, you quickly forgive them. Similiar to the Sour Patch Kids candy commercial...first their sour, then their sweet. Fans of the Chicago Cubs have experienced this sweet feeling. They might be dead now because the Cubs haven't experienced the sweet feeling of experiencing a World Series title in over a hundred years, but we constantly have stuck with this team. Is it time to give it up and take the "Loveable" title off of this cursed team?
I started watching the Cubs in 98 when Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire had their homerun battle. Since then I've seen the almost good, the bad and the ugly from a team that blames it's hundred year World Series drought on curses and goats that have nothing to do with the play on the field.
Players have come and gone since the 1998 season and after watching this team for a little over 10 years I've realized one thing...the curse is REAL! There's no other way to explain it. 2002 was our year. The right pieces were all in order. We had a proven World Series winning manager, great offensive threats and a pitching staff the New York Yankees would kill for. But then, the curse began to take its course. The infamous Bartman catch ruined our chances.
Ever since that season the Cubs have been going down further and further in the standings and that logo that all of us have embedded on our chest is unraveling quickly. Why set yourself up for disappointment when you know the outcome? It's a 102year trend and it's not going to end anytime soon. So is this team still loveable despite the heartbreaks they've given us over the years?
That's like asking if you can still love a girlfriend after she betrayed you, cheated on you and burned your house down. After taking so much, you can't deal with it anymore and you have to leave. Not to imply that I'm a bandwagon fan, but I just can't watch anymore or go back to that girlfriend who has caused me so much heartache. I may double back if I see hope for the future, but even then I would be skeptical of things working out because of the heartache from the past.
Now that Lou Piniella has given up, Dusty Baker left, and Sammy Sosa's skin color has changed, maybe it's time for us to also make a change. We've been supporting this team and putting our hearts and dollars into an organization that isn't doing anything to make the right moves towards winning a championship. It's like we're settling for mediocrity and accepting the title of this team being the Loveable Losers. I can admit the only reason I attend games is because they've been free and the women around Wrigley Field are much more appealing than the team but seeing as though I usually only make it to one game a season, this appeal for the women of Wrigley can only go so far.
We are the fans and we demand to be heard! We want a World Series title! And if this team doesn't deliver within the next 5 years, a riot will ensue, led by yours truly. I'll lead a group holding tiki torches in Cubs jerseys to the field to demand a change. And I know your tactics to distract me Cubs organization, so don't you dare send out those Wrigley women to distract me from this protest. "Now you can run and tell THAT! Homeboy!"
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