Approaching Perfection

Sometimes it’s worth it to take time you don’t exactly have to do something that is more than worth doing. Sometimes it works out darn close to perfect when you do. Sometimes you look back and realize that you were lucky enough to be in the corner of the world that is at least as good as any other corner in the world was on that particular weekend, instantly a memory emblazoned among the select set you will carry with you for decades.



Last weekend at Wrigley Field was that good.

The Cubs won two games in rousing fashion. The bats thumped, the pitches darted, and the crowd swooned. The clouds stayed away, the sun hovered a moment longer than it ought, it seemed, before fading behind the horizon, and a sense of celebration mixed with hope for even more—and yet even still, caution—coursed through conversations in every direction.

Yep, 2007 is the year it was fun to be a Cubs fan again, and on the final weekend of the season, we were there.

This is when it’s all worth it, the concentration we spend on a team that often frustrates, but occasionally affords one a glimpse at what a baseball season can be, a team coming together at the end with grace and poise and achievement, and a story that borders on redemption after several seasons of disappointment.

I have a lot of thoughts on the team, their chances coming up, and the way that this season fits in with the others of my lifetime. I hope to put these thoughts to paper very soon. Tonight, though, I’m simply still basking in the weekend that was, the end of a wild summer, with Wrigley Field overlooking a charmed scene. The narratives of baseball ebb and flow, and the Cubs have had more than their share of ebbs. Still, the best moments—it seems on a weekend like this past—stand all the more vivid for the dreadful moments we endured before.

And right now, I suppose I have to be careful because I don’t want to jinx it. Nothing is certain. But like I would tell anyone within earshot last weekend: I got a good feeling right now.

Hey Chicago, whaddya say?

I say I think the Cubs are going to the playoffs, and once they get there, I think they can win.