There was something special about the Chicago Cubs--until this week. They were not only on a losing streak, they were on the losing streak.
The Boston Red Sox ruined their image by winning a handful of World Series in the last decade. Over in another, lesser sport, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints tarnished their images of lovable losers too by winning Super Bowls in the recent past. But there was one thing sports fans could count on: the Cubbies. And losses.
Then they went and spoiled it all.
Sure, there are Cubs fans spread out here and there, including in Arkansas. Most baseball fans in these latitudes are St. Louis or Kansas City fans, and you can see the occasional Texas Rangers bumper sticker. But what with WGN broadcasting the Cubs games all those years, a lot of baseball lovers grew up watching Jody Davis, Ryne Sandberg, Ron Cey and Lee Smith. Not to mention listening to Harry Caray calling the game--and filling the airtime during blowouts by spelling players' names backwards.
For all our friends who are and have been fans of the lovable losers: Congratulations. We suppose. Because can a team really be lovable winners? Does anybody call the Yankees or the Patriots lovable? (Answer: Not outside four or five precincts on the East Coast.)
The Cubs' losing streak was a part of history. You could gauge the streak and explain it to the kids by pointing out significant dates and human events:
The last time the Cubs won a World Series, in 1908, there was an Ottoman Empire. Mark Twain was still alive, but Barry Goldwater hadn't been born yet. And women couldn't vote in this country.
The last time the Cubs won a World Series, a new technology called "the radio" was in the near future. Nobody had thought about World War II because World War I hadn't been fought yet.
The last time the Cubs won a World Series, using new-fangled "airplanes" in combat was a thought for futurists. The United States had 46 states. The Boy Scouts? The Girl Scouts? American kids had never heard of them.
Halley's Comet would come and go--twice--since the Cubs won their last World Series.
And now the Cubs celebrate after a Game 7 extra-inning contest for the books. A game in which the lead kept changing, rain delayed the final innings, and, somehow, the Cubbies outlasted the Cleveland Indians.
It just doesn't seem right. It seems, somehow, the Chicago Cubs have accidentally broken history.
Oh, well, nothing lasts forever. Streaks come to an end. One day, Bama will lose, Massachusetts will vote Republican, and Mama's biscuits will burn.
Besides, for anybody who still wants to root for lovable losers, you still have the Cleveland Browns.
Editorial on 11/05/2016