As I'm writing this article, the Cubs are losing to the Mets two games to nothing in the National League Championship Series. Things are looking bleak for the series, and it will suck if they can't come back to win. However, to me and many other Cubs fans, it doesn't matter. This year has been so surprising and so much fun, that no matter what, we see it as a success.
Before the season, I was arguing with one of my friends, a Cincinnati Reds fan. I was saying that the Cubs would win around 80 games, because I knew how young they were, and a lot of times rookies need some time to adjust. He said that the Cubs would finish behind the Reds, and that was saying a lot because the Reds flat-out suck. Well, he was half right, the Reds finished with 64 wins. The Cubs finished with 97. That number was beyond any of my wildest dreams. Fast forward to today and you can't walk to class without seeing at least one Cubs jersey or hat. Granted, many of these "fans" just hopped on the bandwagon, but it's great seeing everyone on campus and back home excited about baseball. I was just a Team Leader for Boiler Gold Rush, and I was able to bond with other TLs just because we were all Cubs fans. Usually around this time we're too busy complaining about the Bears to care about baseball. Now we're too busy with baseball to complain about the Bears.
We have been disappointed so many times that we've been conditioned to reserve our optimism about anything baseball related. All that conditioning doesn't matter now, because for the first time in forever, we believe. For the first time in forever, our beloved Cubbies have exceeded expectations.
I remember seeing the 2008 Cubs, who were the best team in baseball during the regular season, get swept out of the first round. During that run we were all nervous because we knew that this could be the last chance, and so did the players. That pressure ended up being too much. This year, the Cubs are so young and so talented, we know that we have the next 10 years to compete at a high level. No matter what happens in the NLCS, Cubs fans have a bright future to look forward to.
After the first couple months of the season, we started to believe that they could make a run at the wild card. Once we got that far, we believed that we could make the pennant. Well here we are, and now we believe that we can make it to, and even win the World Series. Even if we fall short this year, we believe that that our time will come, and that time is going to be soon. Who cares if the prediction in "Back to the Future II" is a year or two off? We've waited over a hundred years, I think we can wait a few more.
