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Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win!

Last week my beloved Chicago Cubs ended 108 years of futility and won the World Series! For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge baseball fan and hardly a day goes by during the season when I'm not watching a game. Even though I grew up in Minnesota, I got hooked on the Cubs because both my parents are originally from Chicago and WGN used to broadcast all the games and that channel is a staple on cable systems.

I have hung through the Cubs through bad seasons, through good seasons where they fell short, and everything in between. This year, though, had to be THE YEAR. This team is good. They won 103 games during the season, the most in Major League Baseball. Nothing in the post season was easy for them (or for me) though.

As tough as the two early rounds were, the World Series was the most stressful of them all. So stressful for me that I pretty much couldn't watch. It just meant too much to me. And the Cubs did their best to keep my blood pressure high.

In a best-of-7 series, they fell behind 3-1. That meant if Cleveland won one more game, they were world champions. Every game became a must-win.

The odds of winning three games in a row, including two in Cleveland? Including a game against one of the best pitchers (Kluber) in the American League? The chances were slim and it left me sad. 108 years without a title and to get this close and fail? Devastating.

But the Cubs were more resilient than I gave them credit for. They won those three games. Game 7 was sloppy--with errors and leads switching--but it ended up being a good game because the Cubs won. The CUBS won!