I hold conversations about sports on a daily basis. I love talking about sports. Hashing out anything from who the best kicker in the NFL is to who the most overrated center in the NBA is to which four college football teams will make the Playoff.

And then there's baseball. Baseball is "America's Past Time." Professional baseball has been going on for decades longer than pro football, basketball, and hockey (the other three of America's "Big Four" sports). The longevity of the sport, combined with its historic popularity, brings us some of the greatest sports topics to talk about.

When people have debates over the greatest basketball player of all time, one side of the argument is always Michael Jordan. When tackling the best hockey player ever, it's almost always simply agreed that the answer is Wayne Gretsky. As for football, there is a little bit more range, but more often than not the argument still comes down to a small handful of players.

Now think about having this argument for baseball. A debate between fifteen people over the greatest ever baseball player could involve fifteen different baseball players being argued for. It was Mickey Mantle. No, it was Ted Williams. Guys, Babe Ruth was the best. No you're all wrong, it was Joe DiMaggio... And there's a good chance that you as a reader have in mind someone I did not just mention.

There's more to the aura of baseball than that. We can talk about what kind of team the Yankees were over a hundred years ago. We can't do that with the other sports. The old, historic NFL teams were around in the 1950s and '60s. The farthest back people go when discussing basketball greats is the Celtics dynasty of the '50s and '60s.

Babe Ruth began his MLB career in 1914. For decades to follow, baseball was the sport to beat out when other sports wanted to become the most popular. There isn't a sport in America still popular today that holds as much historic value as baseball.

I just pointed out that Babe Ruth started playing in the majors in 1914 because that was over a century ago, and to me it's crazy to think about all that has changed in our country since then. The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908.

At the time, the Cubs became the most successful franchise in baseball history. 1908 made the Cubs the first franchise to go to three straight World Series and the first to become two-time title winners. And then it stopped. They weren't the best anymore, and 108 years later they still have never reclaimed that title.

The current oldest person in the world is 116 years old (sidenote: only person in the world who has seen three centuries). She was hardly old enough to know what baseball was when the Cubs won the World Series. And most importantly, every yearof her life that her age has been double digits or more, she has seen as many Cubs World Series titles as I have.

When the Cubs are good, everyone knows about it. Every Cubs fan gets excited. "This is the year!" "It's really happening." In 2015, I saw more baseball fandom than I have any other year of my life. The Cubs made it to the playoffs and seemed poised to make it to the World Series. For the first time in my life, I knew more people who knew the status of a baseball team than of any NFL team.

This year even that has been amplified. The Cubs finally made it back to the World Series, and they have a shot at winning it.

But they have to lose.

Once they win, the mysticalness surrounding the team disappears. No more team in any sport with a century-long championship drought. The Cubs are the only team in all of North American sports to have a drought that hit triple digits in years. What special aura are the Red Sox carrying with them anymore? They aren't. Of course the Sox still have their fan base, but they are no longer a mystical team. They went 86 years without a World Series title. Breaking that drought is a historic moment for them, but the present-day team doesn't get to hold anymore mysticalness.

If the Cubs win, the nation will go nuts, and there's no way the excitement dies down even within the next couple of years. But ten years down the road, this championship will be one of many baseball memories over the course of a decade. As it stands, the Cubs hold arguably the greatest storyline in all of baseball, a 108 year drought.

I don't hate the Cubs, but I want them to lose to the Indians tonight. I don't want the greatest drought in history to disappear just yet. The Cubs help Major League Baseball stay popular, particularly in the Midwest. I love baseball, and I'll be able to enjoy the fun of those around me every season as long as the Cubs keep losing. It makes the team mystical. It makes baseball fun.