There were the normal number of letters from Cubs fans in today’s Chicago Tribune talking about what the Cubs need to do next year (mostly spend more money, which doesn’t work, but that doesn’t stop them from suggesting it) and about the long-suffering Cubs fans.
Well, I have been a Cubs fan for a long time (I remember when Hank Sauer was traded in 1956), but I’m not long-suffering. I would not be a Cubs fan if being one made me suffer. I am a Cubs fan because I want to be and because I enjoy it.
I like going to baseball games, and I like going to Cubs games. The Cubs don’t win them all, but they don’t lose them all, either. I have been to some heart-breaking losses, but I have also been to some victories that I will remember all of my life.
It is true that the Cubs have not won the World Series while I have been a fan, but you know what, only one team gets to win each year. That doesn’t make the fans of the other 29 teams losers. They can still be winners, maybe just in a different way.
When I took my son and daughter to Cubs games 20 years ago, that was winning. When my daughter comes home from where she is working and when my son comes home from where he is going to school to go to a Cubs game, that is winning. When I listened to Vince and Lou, that was winning. When I saw Ernie Banks play or Ron Santo or Billy Williams or Ryne Sandberg or even Greg Maddux, that was winning. When I get to go to Wrigley Field, that is winning.
I am a Cubs fan, but I am not long-suffering – because I’ve got too many winners.
[Update (10/4/06): A slightly different version of this post was published in the Chicago Tribune today. You can find it here.]
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