Big Mike, I gotta tell you: When I read your description of your experience of the 2003 Cubs’ collapse, I felt like I was re-living a number of painful traumas I endured as a lifelong Red Sox fanatic. I could especially relate to the part when you observed that after Moises Alou failed to catch that foul ball, that Cub fans, collectively, just knew the series was over. It reminded me of the feeling I had after the Red Sox blew Game 6 against the Mets in 1986. Everyone remembers Bill Buckner and the ending, but no one (but Sox fans) think about how they still had a chance to win Game 7. Very few Red Sox fans felt they had a prayer in that Game 7 — just like the Cubs’ fans felt – and, they were right. The Sox blew Game 7 too. This is where the experiences of Cub Fans and Hub Fans genuinely intersect.
The difference is the Red Sox finally, miraculously, won in 2004 – and, then, in 2007. But, I have to tell you, Big Mike, there is a fine line between winning and losing. I will never forget sitting at Game 5 of that 2004 ACLS game against the Yanks – and watching one mediocre Sox pitcher after another somehow get those awesome, powerful Yankee hitters — barely – make thee outs each inning until the 14th or whatever it was when Big Papi hit a bloop single to center and Fenway went wild. The Red Sox barely, barely scraped that win out…..I’m not a religious man, but the fates were with us that night.
I’m rambling – but, I guess, I’m saying “It CAN happen. Anything is possible!”
But, I’m also saying two other things: 1) As we agree, you have to get enough good players – as the Sox did before 2004 – before you win anything, and, 2) The only way to get rid of that gloomy pessimism that many Cub fans still have is TO WIN – to experience winning. I remember Bill Parcells, when he was here, used to be asked what the Patriots needed to do to get better, and he would say: “Win a game” Players get accustomed to winning – Then, believe it or not, fans do too.
Meanwhile, Jim Hendry and his staff have a long road to go before they assemble enough players to win it all. It can happen in your lifetime, Big Mike!
