111 days until opening day…111 days.

Ok it’s the holiday season, please tell me I did not just look at when the Cubs home opener is and count the days until the date. OMG I just did.

After an ending season of utter heartbreak I did it again. WHAT is wrong with me? Do I have a disease? Does the city of Chicago slip something in their water to make me this addicted and not stick to my word that I will NOT make them a priority in my life? They have to because once again, here I am back already before the holiday season is even over.

I need help. Is there a cure to this disease? Is the only cure a World Series win?

Is there a special treatment center somewhere in the suburbs of IL off of Lake Michigan that I don’t know about? If so please send me the address. The first step in any addiction is admitting it. I’m there!

111 days until Cubs home opener 2009.

Someone help me!!!!

Ok so only because someone just posted a comment to my last post-season entry of game 1 against the Dodgers am I writing now about my thoughts on the Cubs utterly, excruciating, embarrassing loss this past season. I know, I’m about 3 months short and another day late writing this, but better late than never.

Besides – I am not the only one who took this loss pretty hard. Part of me was thinking, really this was THE year. Not just because of the amazing season, but because history making records would have been set – 100 years of losing and then a win? Don’t tell me that wouldn’t have been the perfect fairy tell ending that all sports fans dream of. It’s like if you wish for it hard enough, it can come true, right? Maybe I should have re-read “The Secret” before the playoffs. But would that have helped? Would my prayers to my little Cubby figurine statue that says “I believe” really helped? No because I prayed several times to that thing. It didn’t help.

So now, as a die-hard, true believer, it’s time to change my ways. It’s time to finally accept the fact that even if I wear the exact same Cubs shirt to a playoff game because they won a bunch of series in it, doesn’t mean they will win this next one. Just because I, and so many others believe and hope and wish that it will come true, doesn’t mean it’s going to. And, like Lou said, in true realistic replies to the press – When the playoffs start, every team starts all over. It doesn’t matter what you do in the regular season. It only matters what you do in the post. And he was right.

Let’s boil it down shall we, as if you haven’t had your fill of what happened those 3 horrific games. Did all of our in-fielders make errors? Wait, just about 90% of them did. Did anyone hit? I can’t really recall details, because not only did I want to forget them, but I couldn’t even believe them

This is how I felt after we got swept by the Dodgers:

And so I go back to my original plan of attack for the ’09 season. I pledge to no longer believe in curses or being superstitious. I pledge to not get so emotional, to just enjoy the game, listening to Ron Santo cover the game on WGN while I sit in my home in Cali, or enjoying the true ambience of Wrigley when I’m visiting my home-town of Chicago, enjoying the breeze off the lake, the ivy on the field, and the thousands of fans singing to the 7th inning stretch. I will do this instead of crying like a baby if they lose it all in a playoff game, or cursing to myself if they lose a 4 run lead in the bottom of the 9th against Arizona. From here on out, I will be just a fan who loves the game of baseball, and the Cubs, with no emotions. If they go to the playoffs – fantastic! If not, oh well. Life goes on, it’s JUST a baseball game.

Please people. Who am I kidding? How many days until Cubs home opener? Oh you know I know this by heart.

And I can finally say it..finally over the heartbreak and the wounds are slowly, slowly healing, but, here goes:

THANK YOU Chicago Cubs, all of you, for making this season exciting, memorable and tear-jerking. To quote a die-hard fan from the HBO Cubs special: “The Cubs have brought me much joy and sorrow in my life, and I will always believe.”

Wait until next year!