So That's That

You know, the Cubs are only 19 games behind the Cardinals with 35 games to go. I think they can do it. At least there are only three teams ahead of them in the division. In the Wild Card, it's six.

35 games to go. Consult your local priest, rabbi, reverend, shaman, nightrunner, dervish or swami. It's going to take a miracle, and Cubs fans believe in miracles...

Not in 2005.

If they had won yesterday, they'd have been 6 back in the Wild Card with head to head games with teams in front of them. We might have held on to a sliver of hope. After all, they would have won the series against a good team. Three straight Cubs starters dominated the Braves lineup. Earning the Wild Card spot would have still felt possible, if barely.

Then Prior ran out of gas, and I looked over my scorecard at the lineup to gauge the Cubs chances of a comeback. With Ramirez out, Neifi and Blanco in, and the hole resurfacing in Patterson's swing so big that you could throw a bowling ball through it, I thought "No chance." For any sports fan, that's as low as it gets.

So I decided I would head out and tie one on last night. I started at the dive bar, finding solace in the fact that the Blue Jays were cudgeling Mussina and the Yankees. Then I met a few friends to see the Flametrick Subs, a brilliant band with unbelievable crowd energy. Someone was filming for a DVD of the show, and the band destroyed. I left in a great mood.

Two things I don't do for Agony & Ivy are post short entries and post after I've been drinking (although they might increase the readership). I also don't subscribe to concepts like "closure." Last night though, I seemed to find that feeling that closure alludes to, and I almost wrote a short, half-drunken entry. I thought better of that, but that feeling of coming to terms with the season is still there.

It just ain't happening in 2005. Time to get over it. At least maybe it will be easier to buy tickets in 2006.

We'll still follow the team until the very end, but as of the 7th inning yesterday, the tone changes. Now it's just baseball, not playoff-hopeful baseball. The 2005 season is not returning our calls and there's no longer a point in leaving sloppy, pleading voicemail messages with the hope that she will change her mind. It's been a stubborn season, and no one is more determined to hope than Cubs Nation, but when hope blurs with delusion it's time to stop.

Until next year.





(I reserve the right to retract this if they sweep the Marlins and Dodgers.)