The Chicago Cubs begin their century-long quest for a World Series title in earnest today in the shadow of one Steve Bartman.
Few fans will forget the earphones, the hat, the sweatshirt, the cursed right arm that reached over the Wrigley wall to deflect a ball away from Moises Alou in Game 6 of the 2003 N.L.C.S.
“This preceded a cascade of plays and misplays that squandered the team’s best chance to reach the World Series since 1945,” writes The Times’s Joe Lapointe, who describes the Cubs as “the most hexed and vexed team in American sports.”
Definition of an optomist: an orthodox Episcopalian AND a Cubs fan.
It’s in the past–let Bartman rest.
sjengelhardt
As I have said time and again, Steve Bartman (poor guy) did not give up all those runs (8, I believe) and Steve Bartman did not lose game seven at home with the ace on the mound. As for suffering, the Cubbies have well prepared me for my life as a dissident Anglican…Maybe next year? (Maybe next Primates meeting?)
Bartman wasn’t the only fan reaching for that ball.
Then BCP28, I’m officially an optimist – who knew?
My dad was a big Cubbies fan. He was buried with his Cubs cap and his Green Bay Packers jacket.
Looks like the agony is continuing at least for tonight. 🙁
This, from the Sun Times, gets it right:
Sheepdog (#6):
Wow! I look forward to meeting your father on the other side of the pearly gates…
#8, you have to check rationality at the door when dealing with Cubs fans. It wasn’t Bartman’s fault—It was a goat that made them lose for all of those years.
#10–It’s not a matter of rationality but frustration. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory has been a Cub habit since 1945. While New Yorkers want a federal investigation about the Mets’ collapse, Cub fans think ” yeah. I can see how that would happen. We know these guys.” It wasn’t Bartman’s fault, just as it wasn’t Leon Durham’s fault in 1984, nor Ron Santo’s, Ernie Banks’, or Billy EWilliams’ fault in 1969. (It probably wasn’t Dusty Baker’s, Jim Frey’s, or Leo Durocher’s fault in those respective eyars either although you may be getting warmer.) Last night, for instance, Pinella pulled Zambrano and the next batter whacked a homer and everyone (in Chicago) wants his head on a plate. The game, however, was not lost on that but in the previous inning when the Cubs could not break it open with the bases loaded. Carlos grounded out to end the inning. Had he taken the mound, he would have given up the gopher ball. The issue? First, the Cubs have to learn how to manufacture runs, how to make their opponents make mistakes and to capitalize on them when they do; and never, never, NEVER let their opponents have a second chance. Meanwhile, I wish the New Yorks Times would go back to what it does best–mismangaing the news and twisting the truth so that white liberal elitists can feel good baout themselves.
Mea Culpa! Please excuse my numerous typos. I live in an Eastern Daylight Savings time zone and stayed up to watch the Cubs. Needless to say, after the loss, I tossed and turned. Sadly, I’ve been here before….
Die, Yankees, Die ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
(Sorry, just had to say it. Bless the Cubs. I’m Red Sox Nation meself.Sure and begorra) Larry