The Summer Season

There was no mistaking the smell of Lake Michigan in the air this morning as I awoke.

This is rare where I live, two miles west of the lake, across the Kennedy Expressway in what used to be called the upper-west side long before I moved here. I didn't so much fall asleep last night as I passed out, so when the sun came piercing through my window to poke my eyes awake I cursed myself for leaving my window open and my blinds up. Except, there was the smell of the beach in the air, distinctly announcing what feels like a summer weekend morning. It took me a few moments to realize where I was, and not in a bad way at all.



Things are blurry concerning yesterday. After watching the Cubs game there was heavy drinking, and grilling, and conversations with friends and with women, and then a couple of bars and more conversations, plenty of jokes, and then a walk home that I barely recall. In short, it was a summer weekend, the first of this year, and it was brilliant. (Although I do recall now coming home to discover that I left my bedsheets in the dryer and then battling the temptation to just sleep on the couch.)



It would have been hard for a Cubs fan in Chicago to be in a bad mood yesterday. A couple of months ago we would have been disappointed to learn that we would watch the Cubs just now get back to .500, but our perspective has shifted. After weeks of slumbering the bats came to life this weekend, and even if it was against Colorado we will take it as a sign that the team is heating up. They earned a winning homestand. Nobody is kidding themselves into thinking that this team is great right now, but we're encouraged.



Despite the fact that the only starting pitcher we have who has not been involved in drama and melodrama is Greg Maddux (*knock on wood*), we feel a tiny bit of positive momentum for the first time this year. I wonder if perhaps the Cubs were as mad at themselves as I was at them after Thursday's game, because they played like a team that had enough self-awareness to realize that although they are not great right now, they are better than a lot of teams and ought to demonstrate it. For me -- right now -- that's enough.



So now they head out west, which means a week of late nights for those of us watching at home. In a way I'm glad that they don't play any divisional series for three weeks because I think they can use the freshness that a stretch like this affords. It's a chance to ditch what the psycho-babblers call baggage. It's not so much about literally giving themselves a chance to heal (though there is that) as it is about giving the season a chance to heal.



In a season that feels a lot older than eight weeks, they're back where they started. Things being what they are, it's not a bad place to be. Finally.