The Stages We Play On

I don’t get to follow the Cubs as closely as I’d like these days. It seems like there’s always something else going on: work, bills, cleaning, obligations, engagements, etc.

Entering the workforce is obviously much different than college; much different than the carefree life of beer drinking and late night paper writing. But at least when we stayed up late working then, we understood that it was our fault; our procrastination.



It feels like this thought should be coming to a certain point: namely that it’s someone else’s fault now that we’re in the workforce. It’s someone else’s fault that we can’t see positive results so clearly anymore while negative ones get magnified. The burden of stress we bear is so much greater because of the man, and dammit we need to strike back!



In all honesty though, that thought is shit. I’ve started writing this at ten in the evening on a Thursday night while drinking a Sam Adams and the only thing that seems different to me is the beer is better. I still write e-mails about frat house antics. I still use instant messenger. I still think if the band got back together we could be rock stars. It was our fault we stayed up late and drank too much in college, and it’s our fault if we do those things now. In short, the players in life haven’t really changed, and neither has the play, only the stage we play on.



So often this is how I think about the Cubs. We can all count the things that have gone wrong for the Cubs this season – the injuries, the bullpen, the lack of resolve, the injuries, the lack of a solid leadoff hitter, the injuries. The fact is however, this is still a team that has the resources to be better than .500. So why aren’t they? In short, the stage has changed for the Cubs and they’ve been unprepared for it.



What I mean by this is that selling 30,000 tickets isn’t an issue for them. Everyone in this city knows who Todd Walker is and he hasn’t even played most of the season. I’d venture to say that five years ago only true fans could tell you who Fred McGriff was. The point is that there is pressure on this team to win, more pressure than this particular core of guys has ever had to face, especially this early in the season.



In 2003 when they made it deep into the NLCS, everyone could pass the blame onto Bartman -– king of 80’s headphone wearer’s. In 2004, the season was a disappointment. A huge f’ing mess. The crowds that had swelled shifted the blame to Sosa who made himself an easy target with his ever more public idiocy.



But what do the Cubs do now? Especially after they blew out the Diamondbacks in the first game of the year to up the anticipation level even more.



The Cubs have to figure out what we all do during a period of transition: they have to look around and realize only they have the power to change these things, and what the fans, the media, or anyone else say about it is of no consequence. They need to take back the game. They need to play baseball and not worry about the rest. And I hope they do it soon.



In watching them play this latest series against the Rockies, I’ve seen signs of this. I know, I know… it’s the Rockies, but maybe we needed to play a team like the Rockies to get our confidence back. In the third game of the series Aramis hit a home run that was served to him on a silver platter. However, when he hit another one in the fourth game of the series, it was a low breaking ball that he had to reach down and go after. I think he is starting to believe he can hit a baseball again, and maybe all it took was a putting an easy one out.



I think we all need to do this sometimes. Every once in awhile it’s good to score the cheap, easy joke in conversation just to kick-start your humor. Aramis went with the one-liner and it gave him the confidence to deliver one hell of a punch line later.



I’m hoping that the Cubs are starting to build their own stage, a stage for themselves as individuals and as a team to play on. Taking a series against the Rockies could be the igniter this team needs. Or I could just be overly optimistic about this. But at this point in the season, optimism is all I have.