Shhhh...Don't Tell Anyone...The Cubs Are Doing...OK
1. It's July 30th.
2. The Brewers are still in first place
3. The Cubs are only 1/2 game out.
4. I am still breathing.
Somewhere, around fact #3, things start to get all blurry for me. Being a lifelong, die-hard, bleeding Cubbie blue fan, this is where The Twilight Zone theme is cued. As Jack Brickhouse and Harry Caray used to say "Hey, hey!!" "Holy cow!"
Normally, this is not something a true Cubs fan would ever speak outloud, but since I am not actually talking, it's okay. We have a chance . See, even when I write it, it's very, very, very small. Not really hardly there at all. Even with Carlos Zambrano becoming the first 14-game winner in the majors - plus getting three hits to help the Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-0 Saturday, it's only to be thought. Don't even mention that we're seven games OVER .500, when last year at this time it seemed like we were 100 games under.
This is totally different from the usual "Wait 'til next year" or "This is next year" we usually say. That's an oft repeated platitude that does not come into play this far into the season. Think of this along the same lines of "He who must not be named". You just don't speak it, it's all in your mind. Not that we Cubs fans believe in jinxes, mind you (darn goat). We just don't want to be thought of as boasting or anything. So what if it's the Cubs' smallest deficit since opening day. Who cares if it's finally somebody else whose lead is tumbling away. Doesn't mean a thing that we made it through the "June swoon" or that we (note the collective pronoun used by Cubs' fans everywhere) are actually - dare I even think it - hot since the All Star break.
No, we will maintain our composure. Express our sympathies to our brethern to the north and the plight they are currently experiencing (can you say "plummet"?). Talk about the crops, the weather, the Bears chance for making it to the Superbowl. Just never, ever, EVER say anything about the fact that there's only 58 games left and we're not only in it, we are surging forward, heading for the top, bound for the playoffs, and... Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Breathe!!!
Okay, so, where was I? Oh, yeah...ummm...corn's looking good this year...