Now that the Cubs have won a World Series, what do I have to live for?

Law Professor Jonathan Turley claims that pampering a group of goats lifted the "Billy Goat curse," which perhaps prevented the Cubs from winning it all for several generations.  Seems as good an explanation as any.  So to lift the curse:

The four goats were rubbed down, feted and pampered. One particularly adorable goat named Neptune was passed around like a goat version of the Adoration of the Magi. When it began to storm, we refused to risk insulting the goats again and brought them into the house. The connections between Cub and goat were so strong that we were told that farm would name the new expected goat Cubbie in celebration.

I have struggled through the years to teach my four kids that being a Cubs fan is character building. It is easy to be a New York Yankees fan and be fed a constant diet of pennants like peanuts. But being a Cubs fan is a test of faith. Indeed, when you spot another Cubs fan, there is an instant bonding. The Cubs stand for the idea that there is something transcendent and liberating in groundless hope. You stand by your team like you stand by your God, your family, your country … in that order.

Now what does this year and the arm of Yu Darvish hold for the Cubs?  Grab the beers, boys, and let's enjoy the season, billy goats be damned!

Prayers Accepted

Joe Madden: The Mad Scientist of Baseball

When talking baseball, many rely on statistics--which get more arcane and obscure every season--and only 50% of baseball depends on talent.  The other 75% happens between the ears: a player on a hitting streak sees the baseball like a beach ball coming towards the plate and wallops it while a player in a slump tries too hard, gripping the bat tighter, swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone, pressing too hard and failing rather than finding hits.

This makes many players among the most susperstitious people on the planet.  This also explains the antics or mind games Joe Madden,just named baseball manager of the year, has employed throughout his career: bringing pythons into the club house, bagging on batting practice, and perhaps in the greatest stunt of all time having his team wear pajamas on a flight back to Chicago from Los Angeles,

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/146343826/cubs-wear-onesies-from-los-angeles-to-chicago

You just have to admire the sheer lunacy of that idea!

[LOS ANGELES -- Kris Bryant found a Ninja Turtle onesie. Addison Russell has a bright green one. Starlin Castro was wearing a Mario Bros. pajama top and pants that match his son's. Dexter Fowler had a matching navy print top and bottom. A few players found camouflage-colored fleece onesies.

It's all part of Cubs manager Joe Maddon's "onesies" trip home. Players were encouraged to wear onesies or pajamas on the overnight flight from Los Angeles to Chicago Sunday night, and Maddon guessed he had 100 percent participation....]

Sports of Sorts

No one knows why God in her infinite wisdom made sports and handed them down to humankind and yet theories abound.

First, sports helps people to get in and stay in shape.  Like Rule # 1 from Zombieland, cardio.  Good cardio health helps people outrun those zombie bastards and help us live longer even in normal times.  Of course, don't go overboard with it; exercise can kill you.

Next after solo sport like jogging or skiing, we have team sports.  These allow us to escape our mundane lives and identify with a concept greater than ourselves, often a college or university or perhaps pro sports

Of course, people often take things too far like Raiders fans.

'Nuff said.

Or we scream and yell in our living rooms as if that will influence outcomes of games 1000 miles away.  It also seems silly for us to wear all our game gear, putting in the aggregate millions of dollars into the maw of greedy schools supposedly concerned with student athletes and horrible graduation rates and billionaire owners of pro teams.

Nevertheless, in my time of stress--dialysis, paralysis, physiatrists and physical rehab--it helps me to root for my home team, the Florida Gators.  Sheesh, good thing life taught me to deal with soul crushing defeat before this season.

At least I have my Miami Dolphins.

What, a bullying scandal and team turmoil?  Can't a brother catch a break?

Well, at least I have my Chicago Cubs to root for for eternity.

Go Cubbies!

Not Sure I Want a Cubs Themed Funeral

C'mon, Cubs fans have died millions of metaphorical deaths rooting for the "loveable" losers.  What would people wear, sackcloth and ashes?  Not a good look for anyone.

Should we show video of the Flubs losing to L. A. in the playoffs, maybe the 4 Cubs errors in one inning?  How on earth can you have four errors in one bloody inning?

Don't blame Bartman.  Maybe we could show video of Dusty Baker sitting on his ass in the dugout after that and then shortstop booting a routine grounder by the very next batter, watching Mark Prior going down in flames after the error.  Certainly, blame Dusty for putting too much strain on Prior and Wood's arm with too many innings.

Besides, I want people to have a festive occasion.  Whenever my time does end--if it does because the Apocalypse might come and Jesus take all His children home before I croak--the fact remains that as of today chance has given me 32 years more than might of had since could well have died on 3 May 1980.

Fugging A right!

Sure, those yeas carried a fair amount of pain, loss, and a Titanic filled with regrets.  Nevertheless, can't even pretend my pain worse than others'.  All Eve's chilluns live to suffer and sometimes to love.

So have had a good, or at least entertaining, run, the parts I can remember.  (Note to self, whiskey can make me mean but beer makes me happy.)

So it seems then all human's have Hobson's choice in front of them, to live the life offered or to wail, weep, and yet worse wine about their eventual fate.

To hell with the latter, I say, let's eat, drink, and be merry.

[The great documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, whose movies include Gates of Heaven, The Thin Blue Line and Fog of War, has tackled quite an interesting topic with his latest eight-minute short film: People who love their favorite teams so much that they request sports themed funerals.

Included in the film are a Steelers fan who wanted his funeral to look like he had just fallen asleep while watching a Steelers game, so his body was placed in a recliner, with a TV in front of him, showing a Steelers fan.]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/06/some-nfl-fans-take-their-love-of-their-teams-to-the-grave/ 

You gotta watch this video.

[As Slats Grobnik has suggested, "maybe all that suffering means just means we're {Cubs fans} stupid."]

5 Life Preservers for Cubs Fans

No, seriously, some other wrote about hope for the Cubs at link below, and reading the piece gave me enough hope to take the box cutter away from my wrist,

Seriously, however, the last part of the sentence refers to the existential dread of a Cubs fan near 54th  year on earth, not to a physical fact.

The Cubs miserable play so far has exceeded my low expectations.

But you know what?  With 81 games to go, we only lie 13 games out of NL wild card crawl-err, race.

Go Cubbies!!!

http://www.chicagonow.com/as-i-see-it/2012/07/a-few-reasons-to-still-believe-in-the-cubs/