I came to Los Angeles with the Garciaparra trade. I now root, like the song says, for the home team. I did not abandon the Cubs and embrace the Dodgers simply due to my new address. The Cubs abandoned me. From ages seven to forty-five I cheered and wept for the Cubs. I wish them well. I genuinely hope they win the series. I will enjoy the cultural event but I no longer love them; the punishment I endured as their fan won't allow it. I've moved on. While it is true that baseball is no longer as sweet to me but it is also, mercifully, no longer torture.
Are you people nuts? Why would you print an article that the Cubs are going to win the World Series? You are the New York Times. You are going to jinx us for sure. The Cubs aren't going to win. They never win. At least not since Teddy Roosevelt was President.
So please stop your crazy talk. If we win in the Series in November. Please feel free to print a story that they won. Thanks.
Ed.
So please stop your crazy talk. If we win in the Series in November. Please feel free to print a story that they won. Thanks.
Ed.
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Please please please s talking about the Cubs as the top rated team, and please never say they are on track to win the World Series. We life long Cubs fans have had our hearts broken so many times, we don't need any help building up our hopes.
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I'm hopeful...but I'll keep my powder dry. My mother and father were die-hard Cub fans but the Cubbies killed both of them. I lived through the summer of '69 - I know what killed them. In 2003, with 1 out in the 7th of game 6 NLCS, I turned to my wife and with tears in my eyes, I said, "My God, they are really gonna do it!" The next pitch was a lazy pop foul down the third base line. I don't care if they ever win a World Series - I just want to see them make. Just once. Before I die. Santo didn't get into the HoF until the year after he died. Ernie never made it to the Series and now he's gone. Haven't we given enough?
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Cubs look strong and built to last, but baseball history tells us things can go south sometimes. Talk to me in August and September. Injuries and the unforeseen can change a runaway April and May into a swoon in the fall!
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There was another piece of bad luck that the article didn't mention: The loss of Kyle Schwarber for the year due to an injury suffered the first week of the season. Schwarber had been predicted by many to hit 30 homers this year. With him, maybe the run differential would be even wider.
As a Yankee fan, ( 15 championships in my lifetime), I can be generous; the Cubs vs the Mariners in this year's World Series. The 1908 champs will play a team that's never been there. Got Ring?
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See you boys in the fall - now I'll need tics to Comerica and Wrigley!
Time to forget the curse of the Billy Goat and the ex-Cubs factor - Let's go Cubs!
Being a diehard Mets fan who thinks this is the year that supersedes 1986, I will spend the summer worrying about these Cubs. They can pitch and they can hit, even after losing a big bat in Kyle Schwaber to injury. I have waited a long time to have my team in contention for the World Series but my wait pales in comparison to that of Cub fans. Can someone please find a black cat to walk in front of the Cubs dugout in September? It worked in 1969.
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Nice try with the reverse jinx NYT!!!!
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When you wait 86 years for this level of result you do little but hold your breath waiting for the score each day. The Cubs may fold, but it will take at least two weeks to blow the lead and I can enjoy the winning record all that time.
This lifelong diehard has more hope for this bunch of Cubs than any other because it's not a one shot deal. This team has a core of young players that will only get better. The organization from top to bottom is high quality, and there is a steady stream of talent at all levels in the minors that will be more than ready to plug in any gaps. Many of the bench players on this team would find signficantly more playing time on other squads.
More than anything, this team is at once highly disciplined, loose and extremely mentally tough. It has the perfect manager at the helm. It will be a pleasure watching this team over the next decade at minimum, over which time please God I hope to see at least one and possibly multiple trips to the World Series.
More than anything, this team is at once highly disciplined, loose and extremely mentally tough. It has the perfect manager at the helm. It will be a pleasure watching this team over the next decade at minimum, over which time please God I hope to see at least one and possibly multiple trips to the World Series.
Definitely a solid team, but mentally tough has yet to be proven! Play Ball!!
Forget the goat. The real curse on the Cubs was brought on by their deplorable treatment of Steve Bartman. Cubs fans, I hope you have all repented for that. Otherwise, I am predicting another sweep by the Mets!
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It's worth noting that apologetic Cubs fans raised over $3,500 to provide Bartman an all-expenses paid trip to the wildcard game last year, He declined.
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The real curse is that of Fred Merkle and his alleged "boner" of 1908. Then the Cubs cleverly took advantage of Giant fans rushing the field because they thought the game was over. Instead the Cubs got a questionable force-out that negated a GIants victory. That was a key game in the 1908 pennant race and a step towards the Cubs' championship. But you can argue that the Cubs and their fans have more than paid their debt to Fred Merkle.
Harry Caray is smiling, looking down from heaven, smoking a Churchill and drinking a cold Bud.
But as much as I like to dream of Harry's World Series game 7 yell of "Cubs win, Cubs win!!" here in May, let's wait 'til October. My Seattle Mariners won 116 games back in 2001, and somehow the sure-thing World Series parade didn't materialize either.
Be kind to goats, Cub fans!
But as much as I like to dream of Harry's World Series game 7 yell of "Cubs win, Cubs win!!" here in May, let's wait 'til October. My Seattle Mariners won 116 games back in 2001, and somehow the sure-thing World Series parade didn't materialize either.
Be kind to goats, Cub fans!
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Like all us cub fans, I am a diehard fan. Definition: a person who vigorously maintains or defends a seemingly hopeless position, outdated attitude, lost cause, or the like. adjective.
Diehard since 5 years old in 1977, until the day I die, win or lose, I will always love the cubs.
Diehard since 5 years old in 1977, until the day I die, win or lose, I will always love the cubs.
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The last time the Cubs were in the series was the year before I was born. I tell my friends to bet on the Cubs the year after I die. They will have frustrated me for a lifetime ;-)
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I agree, this is a powerful team from the field to the mound to batting (especialy to batting). Well managed as well. I like these Cubs.
Ahhh, the Cubbies. sigh. The first time I had my heart broken I was 10 years old. It wasn't by a girl, it was the '69 Cubs. I spent many summer days that year in the bleachers with my pals, arriving at 8am to wait for the box office to open (50 cents, unreserved seats). (being right at the el stop, our folks let us go). Then the Padres (where we had home field advantage taken away from us by the networks! Shame on the commissioner!!!). Then, well, y'all know the story... Wrigley Field is still an incredible baseball experience, and I am always hopeful that "this will be the year!" My biggest wish is that my dad, who is 90 and goes to a dozen games or so, will get to see a championship. It is because of him that I am such a fan (as is my nephew...). Leicester City did it! Let's get some runs!
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I was 10 too. No one told me they would collapse. It was cruel. After that, whenever anything good in life happened I always waited for the September collapse.
I will take a wait and see attitude on the Cubs again this year. I have followed them long enough to know that disappointment is one pitch or bad call away. Cub fans always find someone to blame for their misfortune but the team. I have seen good managers fail for many years in Wrigley Field then never manage again or succeed elsewhere. Bartman reached for a foul ball along with every fan in the area and he was blamed for their demise that season, not the ensuing poor play that lost the Cubs a World Series berth. Hoping for October, but used to Wrigley being closed by then!
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