Sports Thread #1 for 10/4-5/08- Just A Cub Feeling

Sorry Cubs fans guess there will be one more
"Wait Til next year" (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

By James Eddy

I am going to apologize to all Chicago Cubs fans, or maybe ESPN should apologize for making Cub fans everywhere believe there team was going to win the World Series. Throughout the summer we had to hear about how magically the Cubs had finally found a way to put it together and were on the yellow brick road to the World Series. Most pessimists were trying to find ways that the Cubs would blow it, but the more they looked the better the Cubs played.

The Cubs dominated the National League Central, and by early September had the Astros and Brewers battling for the Wild Card spot. When the Cubs did face adversity, they received help from the strangest places. When the Cubs were thin at outfield they got help from veteran outfielder Jim Edmonds who was released by the San Diego Padres (who missed the playoffs) earlier in the season. When it seemed that ace Carlos Zambrano was going to be out with shoulder problems, he came back the next week and pitched a no-hitter. Everything seemed prime for the Cubs to win their first series in 100 years, but for me there just wasn’t something right about the team.

I don’t know if I am just not the type of person who hops on bandwagons or it takes longer for me to be convinced that a team is truly dominate, but I never felt that this years Cubs team was going to win the Series. There was nothing wrong statistically, nothing someone on the Cubs did or said, it was just a feeling. I felt that the playoffs are a different animal and teams have a habit of losing when they’re the favorite, for example the Phillies of last year being swept by the Colorado Rockies. There just was something not right about the possibility of the Cubs winning the World Series. I felt secure in my decision about the Cubs when I learned that they were going to play the Dodgers.

The Dodgers were the hottest team in the majors coming into the playoffs riding the momentum of the Manny Ramirez trade. I felt the Dodgers were the worse team to match-up with the Cubs (best team if you are a Dodgers fan). I laughed when the experts were picking the Cubs to win or even sweep because of their pitching staff; it was obvious that none of the experts had watched the Dodgers lately. The Dodgers were getting contributions from every member of their team, and their pitching staff had found new life.

I noticed this on a Sunday night game when the Dodgers pounded National League Cy Young favorite Brandon Webb, despite the Diamondbacks intentionally walking Manny Ramirez twice in the game. I then added this equation in my head: my bad feelings about the Cubs plus the Cubs facing the Dodgers equals the Cubs being swept from the playoffs by the Dodgers. Now the Cubs are one game away from making my theoretical equation a true statement.

I only wish I could’ve written this earlier so that Cubs fans wouldn’t hurt as bad.