If you've been keeping up with baseball lately, you might know that the Chicago Cubs have finally earned their place in the World Series championships. This may be obvious anyway if you live anywhere in the Chicagoland area, because you're bound to see W flags adorned on at least one house per block.

Truthfully, I'm not much of a sports fan, at least, I'm not an entirely dedicated one. I can't tell you what Anthony Rizzo's batting average is, and I probably can't even tell you the last time the Bears won the Super Bowl (I suspect it has been quite a while). I do love watching sports, though.

However, baseball holds a special place in my heart. You see, my mom and grandma are die-hard Cubbies fans. It's hard to walk through their houses without seeing some sort of obvious Cubs decor, and during baseball season, you'll probably find some sort of device broadcasting a Cubs game. So, naturally, I grew up to love the Cubs, and just baseball in general. It's the one sport I was raised to watch. I played softball up until I was fourteen, but I think I loved it most when I was around the age of ten.

It was 2008, and the Cubs were having an amazing season. They had had 97 regular season wins, and were NL Central champions. That summer was one of the best summers of my childhood. My mom and I spent a lot of time together because she was traveling around the state of Illinois for work related reasons. So, I went with her most of the time. I would sit in the back while my mom and brother were in the front, and we would all listen intently to the games on the radio while we cruised down the interstate. I was young, impressionable, and I was able to name the Cubs' lineup backward to forward by the end of that summer. We even made it out to a game, my mom and I, which was without a doubt, the highlight of my ten year old life. There's just something about the ivy, the old fashioned scoreboard, and Wrigleyville in general that you just can't understand the beauty of without seeing it in person.

That was the year we thought we'd 'reverse the curse'. It had been exactly one-hundred years since the Cubs had taken the World Series title. The W flags were waving and my mom would play "Go, Cubs, Go" while she was making dinner. Our neighbors, who were Sox fans (not uncommon because I grew up on the South side), would mock us, and as a result I learned a few inappropriate words to call Sox fans. Nonetheless, spirits were high.

In 2008, the Cubs were swept by the Dodgers in the National League Playoffs. I remember the night they lost the third game to a tee. I watched with my dad in the living room, and when the game had ended I nervously waited for my mom to come home. When she finally did, she poured a glass of Crown Royal and cried. I cried too, I think. I haven't watched baseball the same way since then.

My mom's love for the Cubs hasn't faltered, though. Neither has my grandma's, even in her 77 years of life. They still wear their Cubs gear with pride, shaking off the loss of 2008, and if there is a game on during the weekend, they're probably watching together. I imagine that's how it is for a lot of Cubs fans, who stand by their team silently, waiting for their turn. It has been 108 years since the title has been brought back to the North side, and they are still one of the most beloved teams in sports.

My point is that this isn't just some championship. It has been 108 years since they won it. It has been years of goading from Sox fans and years of crossed fingers and watching other Chicago teams bring home championship titles. My grandmother hasn't even been alive long enough to see them win the World Series, let alone me or my mother. I think that could be said for a lot of Cubby loving families.

Being in the North side at the moment, I can't describe the feeling in the Chicago land area besides electric. It's like the city is literally holding its breath. Our guys are good, though, really good, and I hope my grandma will get to see her Cubbies bring the title back to Wrigley.

So here's to the Chicago Cubs, the incredible players it has, and here's to generations of baseball fans holding their breath. Go, Cubs, go!