It Is Our Time

If you a run across me today that bulge in my pants is not the side effect of a Viagra I took last week. It is simply there because today is opening day for this years World Champion Chicago Cubs. I know that sounds ballsy to come out and proclaim that this is our year, but I am going to stay positive this season.

That is a vast change for yours truly because I am what some might consider a bitter, pessimistic Cub fan. Really, after all the heartache and losing can anyone blame me? Why, the change in attitude one may ask? Simply put, what is the point in being a fan if you don’t have faith? Despite being burned so many times, I still have faith. Despite all logic and reason screaming at me to set the bar low, I dismiss it. I believe, because I have no other choice.

They say those that don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. And, well if history is any lesson the Cubs will not only lose but do so in gut wrenching fashion. The Cubs have made the post season five times since 1945. Each time, the following season, the team with the expectorations set at a World Series level instead took a massive shit.

In 1985 the Cubs were coming off a NL East championship, only to have our hearts broken at the hands of Steve Garvey and the shit colored uniformed Padres. Still, we had the whole team coming back and we looked like a lock to win the division again. On May 31^st, 1985 we were tied with the Mets for first place. Then in June our entire starting rotation got hurt and we sunk to a fourth place finish.

In 1990 we were coming off a playoff appearance. We had a young ball club that had gained valuable experience the year before. Again, our hopes were raised and again, reality would set in, cruelly. Jerome Walton the 89 rookie of the year would hit .263 the following year. Mike Bilecki an 18 game winner in 89 would come crashing down to earth in 1990 with an 8-11 record and an era near 5.00.

It would nine long years between post season appearances but in 1998 we won a one game playoff with San Francisco to win the wild card. We then got our asses swept at the hands of Atlanta. But, still we had somewhat higher expectations coming into 1999. That would be a mistake. Instead of realizing we caught lighting in a bottle with some of our veterans Ed Lynch, rested on his laurels and re-signed them. Gary Gaetti, Micky Morandini, Lance Johnson, and Jose Hernandez all came down crashing down to earth and led the Cubs to a last place finish.

We all know what happened in 2003 so there is no need to re-live that horror. The 2004 edition of your Chicago Cubs might be my least liked team of all my years of being a fan. It was so hard rooting for a team like that. With a little over a week to go they had the lead for the wild card only to blow a tire. In New York LaTroy Hawkins blew a game in the 9^th which led to a complete choke job. We would proceed to lose one more to the Mets. Then we went home and lost three of four to the last place Reds who were playing a minor league team. Then the Braves came in and beat us two more times. It was a total collapse which Baker and the team blamed on Steve Stone.

With all of that evidence, I should be fearing the worst. But, today I am hopeful. I am hopeful that this team under Lou’s guidance can at long last bury those demons and ghosts of years past and bring us home a World Series. There is absolutely no reason barring injuries why the Cubs should not win the NL Central. And as we have seen in years past anything can happen once the playoffs begin. So, I say sit back and enjoy 2008 Cub fans it should be a hell of a ride.