This sports writer nicely sums up the pain us Cubs fans feel right now in this excerpt from yesterday's USA Today:
Cubs are champions of futility, again
But most of all, we should mourn with the most pitiful victims of all. The huddled masses who are in the 22nd month of their Doomsday Scenario.
We speak, obviously, of Cubs fans.
First was the blown pennant in 2003. An infamous October calamity that began when the box seat ghost in headphones, Steve Bartman, reached out for a foul ball.
Then came 2004. A summer-long tease. A fade at the end. And then the indignity of watching the Red Sox, the only other franchise that could match the Cubs in woe, dancing at the World Series. Leaving the Cubs alone in their historical futility. As if fate had only room in its heart to heal one curse.
And now, 2005. The Cubs have collapsed, doomed by injuries and atrocious play. As of Friday, they have lost 12 of 16 and dropped 18 games behind first place. Starting play Thursday, they stood a wobbly seventh in the National League wild-card standings.
Meanwhile, just down the train rails a few stops, the White Sox are rolling and roaring. They have no ivy and they are not loved by so many. But at the moment, they hardly ever lose.
So to sum up, the two best records in baseball belong to the Cubs' hated brethren on the south side of Chicago, and their most bitter rivals in St. Louis.
The reigning champions are the Red Sox, their former brothers-in-misery.
Meanwhile, the Cubs still pack them in at 39,000 a game, and lose in mysterious ways. Their rookie starting pitcher coughed up three-bases loaded walks against Cincinnati Wednesday, including to the Reds pitcher, who is hitting .186.
So the losses mount, the despair deepens, and they can't even count on Red Sox and White Sox fans to feel lousy alongside them anymore.
All things considered, it must be a Cubs' fan worst nightmare.
And it's not over yet.
Mike Lopresti writes for Gannett News Service
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