Anxious For The Story To Begin

Well, it’s getting to be that time when we turn our attention more fully back to baseball. Football has ended, or it might as well have for me anyway since all the storylines I care about have closed. UT won the Rose Bowl, and Vince Young is going pro, although Houston has said they won’t draft him if Reggie Bush is available, disappointing all the fans who might be representing 713 and nodding along to Still Tippin’. But I am not one of those Houstonites.



For that matter the Bears lost in disappointing fashion. So did the Colts, and now Peyton Manning lost all the street cred he might have gained from those Mastercard commercials where he asked grocers for their autographs. New England is not going to three-peat, and that’s that. So, other than a brief occasion to party for the Super Bowl, I don’t have anything much left to interest me on the gridiron.

The Cubs convention ended, and a lot of the Cubs’ representatives said a lot of the right things. In particular, they brought up a few of my favorite criticisms, starting with the fact that they led the league in hits but were second to last in runs. I have a term for that phenomenon: leaky lineups. Although I didn’t realize the Cubs’ lineup was that leaky. Then they brought up the production at leadoff, another item I see as exceptionally important -- especially for a team with what looks otherwise to be a leaky lineup. And then there was acknowledgment of the bullpen walks, and in particular I was pleased to see Baker talking about how this sort of a bullpen as Hendry has given him for 2006 will not demand so many moves.

They also brought up outfield production, and I didn’t realize how far down the Cubs were, but I also never thought to consider it from that angle because I usually break it down by lineup and position, not group of positions. Anyway, they hit on the right items as far as I’m concerned, and also pointed out how they addressed them as best they could. I suppose I’ll take the occasion to go on record again saying I think the additions of Pierre at leadoff and the stronger bullpen will make more of a difference than some people might suppose.

But that’s not what I’m thinking about tonight. Tonight I’m thinking about how I’m anxious for baseball to start again. I’ve decided to buy myself an HDTV this year but I’m waiting until the end of March because once I buy it I will feel Protestant Guilt if I don’t watch it, so I’m waiting for baseball season because I watch that anyway. And I kind of want it to hurry up.

I’m finding myself turning away from the chatter again. By chatter I mean the independent Cubs websites that a lot of people frequent and to which they post comments. I find myself going there whenever a rumor seems particularly hot, but that hasn’t been lately and so I can do without another person saying “The Cubs will never win until” ... substitute your item of choice, whether it’s fire Baker or fire Hendry or give up on Wood or Prior or whatever else is the criticism du jour. I can do without the invocations of demands for a World Series on principle and exhortations about what we deserve as Cub fans and whatever else, because as far as I can tell they’re just constructs in our head.

I’m not going to make apologies or excuses for the Cubs, and I’m also not going to spout naiveties and blind-faith irrational pronouncements. I mean, this is going to be the year, but I’m going to enter it on an even keel. Quite frankly, the Cubs have not played at the appropriate level for 3 straight seasons, playing over in 2003 and under the last two. So who’s to say what’s in store?

What I am thinking, though, is that this year more than most there will be significance in April. A good start means a shift in media tone and fan tone; it means less irritation for Baker and Hendry and the players; it means momentum and attitude. The other side is that a slow or even a mediocre start will tighten everyone up because it will feel like last year, when we all heard (and thought) that while they played .500 ball there was still plenty of time to start winning more games. This year, there's less room for April to be neutral in anyone's mind.

At least for me, the last thing I want to think to myself is “Here we go again.” And I don’t think I will. Or, I hope. No, I take it back: I don't think it will be 2005 all over again. It will be better.

In any case, I’m getting that feeling that means the back of my mind is longing for the season to hurry up and start.