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Watching through my fingers
September 14, 2007Being a Chicago Cubs fan is hard work.
Growing up in Tennessee, you'd think I would have ended up a St. Louis Cardinal fan. Yet, with the advent of cable television, every time I flipped the tube on in the summer time, the Cubs were always right there on WGN.
Naturally though, they've broken my heart a few times such as the 1984 NLCS when they let the San Diego Padres off the hook after jumping out to a 2-0 lead and most notably, the Bartman incident in 2003 that came in the middle of a three-game collapse after a 3-1 lead.
Lately, I've become accustomed to either watching through a space in my fingers because my hands were covering my eyes in anticipation of more heartbreak or just waiting for the highlights on SportsCenter.
But at least I'm watching -- and for me, that shows growth.
New Cubs manager Lou Pinella seems anxious for the team to shed its loveable loser label and become a consistent contender while rumors persist that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban still has a shot to become team owner.
So things are looking up and moving further away from past disasters.
The good guys have a half-game lead coming into a weekend series with St. Louis while the second-place Milwaukee Brewers host the Cincinnati Reds, who just finished off a damaging three-game sweep of the Cardinals.
Hopefully, the Cubs can put the defending world champs out of their misery while the Reds do to the Brewers what they just did to the Cards.
And rest assured that I'll be somewhere watching -- with one hand over my eyes.
Posted by Stephen Smith at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
