These last two days have been hard. Like being forced to eat broccoli as a kid when you hate broccoli hard. In both days, we Cubs fans headed into the 8th inning with a lead and in both games we gave up that lead and, seemingly, our chances of making the playoffs. Watching these last two games, I’ve been reminded of my childhood and all those years of futility. Bill Madlock. Ivan Dejesus. George Mitterwald. Manny Trillo. Jose Cardinal. Of course, Leon Durham. And the greatest baseball name of all time… Pete LaCock!
So. Much. Losing.
I thought I was over those losing feelings. I thought once you win a World Series, you’d never feel that impending sense of doom again. And yet even with the lead heading into the late innings of these last two games, I never thought we’d win. Some call it pessimism. I call it Jewish optimism. No matter how bright the future, how promising the start, in the end it’s always meant to come crumbling down.
It’s not like we were going anywhere. It’s hard to win a game, much less a playoff series, when the relievers you bring in toss the ball into the dirt more often than they throw it into the catcher’s mitt. The sad truth is, ever since the start of this ‘playoff run,’ I’ve been waiting til next year. After all, that’s what we’re best at right? No one is more suited to wait til next year than Cubs fans.
I know it’s depressing. I know we should have hope. But if I’ve learned anything thus far in life, it’s that lowering your expectations makes life far more manageable. This way, when the birthday cake doesn’t have banana filling, the bike doesn’t have 21 gears, the grammar school crush doesn’t crush you back, the rain ruins the vacation, the album doesn’t live up to the single, the government can’t avoid a shutdown, and the Cubs don’t make the playoffs, you find a way to get on with it and wait til next year. Next year will be better. Right?
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICKS
Speaking of not being a loser, I’ve had good luck with the last two weekends in college football. Here are this weeks’s picks:
6 TEAM Moneyline Parlay: Penn State, Georgia, Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma, Alabama (-147)
3 Team Moneyline Parlay: Toledo, Notre Dame, Appalachian State (-104)
Nebraska +17.5 (-110)
Kansas +16.5 (-110)
LSU -2.5 (-110)
