Going down swinging...

I am a Cubs fan. I have an endless supply of clothing items bearing their logo, two lucky bracelets, and I seriously considered naming my dog Theriot. My car liscense plate reads GOCBSGO - which is not, as most people think, expressing my love for the television channel. It is the name of the song hey play at Wrigley when the Cubs when a game at home. Its also one of my ringtones.

A lot of people ask me "Why the Cubs?" - I never really know how to answer that question. My dad is a Yankees fan and has been my entire life. Had I started watching baseball when I was younger I would undoubtedly be one myself; a stuffed bear from Yankee Stadium that he brought home from a business trip when I was 5 remains one of my favorites today.

My boyfriend can't decide whether he likes the Nationals or the Indians better, but either way, it's not the Cubs. our first date was actually watching a game in the 2008 Post Season. He could tell you which games were playing, and probably the score of the game, because that is the sort of thing he remembers. I just knew a man who agreed that watching a baseball game in a sports bar was the best first date ever was a guy worth holding on to.

So, why the Cubs?
I think part of it is that I am a classic underdog myself. Would YOU expect someone entering their 7th year of college this fall to have a nearly 4.0 GPA? Yeah, I didn't think you would. When I rode in IHSA at college - in the days before VI - my coach never made me the point rider for the team, and then got pissed off when I beat whoever she had selected every time. When i won the first IHSA class I ever competed in, edging out he rider whose points counted for the team total that day (she took second place), my coach didn't talk to me for the rest of the day. Let's just say that I am used to being underestimated.

I'm also an optimist. I like happy endings and I will give anyone a second (or third, or twelfth) chance to not let me down. A team that hasn't won the world series in a hundred years? Oh yeah, I'm on board. Besides, it just feels right. I never got behind the Yankees this way, and even though the Nationals are way closer and every game is televised here, I just don't like them the same way.

That being said... This season has been INCREDIBLY painful to watch. It seems that every game I watch, they blow a lead and end up losing 14-2. They just haven't been able to get it together this season, and I don't know what the problem is because we have some really excellent players and our starting pitchers have really done well. Our bull pen has been crap, sure, but our hitters aren't hitting and our fielders are making errors and it has just been a big mess.

On and off, of course. They have won the games that I haven't watched. I'm starting to feel like a curse - the Curse of Mabry, perhaps?- wherein every game I watch, they lose. Thank goodness for my work schedule making me miss games or their record would be 0-35!

Today, though, the game has been really good. Even if they lose, they are playing well, so that is a positive thing to say about today. There have been times this year where I have been really close to just not even bothering to watch the games. But I keep coming back, every game that I can watch I turn on & hope for the best. That we will turn this season around and stop embarrassing ourselves. That we can get above .500. That maybe, maaaaybe this will be the year.