The End of Summer

In the world according to teachers, the summer is coming to an end. No more coming home for lunch with your mother as she is back to work. No more hanging out watching episodes of True Blood back to back and back to the routine. For those not married to an educator and those with no kids the summer still goes on a few more weeks, but not us.

This is a sad time when your mom goes back to work, but it does mean a few good things are coming. After all, the best part of the Cubs season is coming up, football season. Stupid Cubs...

1. The new Madden is out. Yes, I am almost 30 and I know the release date. Yes, I did buy Madden the day it came out. Yes, my franchise is coming along nicely. The Bears defense is fast, and the Mike Martz offense is a blast to run on the new game. Should I be ready to launch into a full Madden analysis at this point in my life? Probably not, but I figure these are my final weeks of being selfish with my time because...

2. You are almost ready to join us. If you come on your due date we only have about six weeks until you are ready to hang out. FINALLY. I think it's been a long time and I don't even have your feet kicking me in the ribs. (I have your mother's elbows for that.) I can't wait to meet you. I am very excited that you will be potty trained within a few weeks of birth... Right? Isn't that how it goes? I don't really know much about this whole fatherhood thing, but I figure that it has only taken me about a week to figure out how to run Martz's offense in the new Madden, so I should catch on quickly. It took Kurt Warner years to master that offense, and I am averaging like 42 points a game after only a week.

3. Fantasy Football. I love fantasy football. For years I renounced it as dorky. Now, I know that it is dorky and I don't care. It's a great way to keep in touch with old friends and prove my dominance. Yes, I do have the highest average finish over the five year history of the league. Thanks for asking.

4. The Fantasy Football Draft. I love the draft. We all get on line and talk smack over beverages, eat manly food, and have a great time. Then we all sit around and analyze everyone's team. It's at this point that everyone decides that I have a very average team, Fid thinks his is great, and Pete proves he has no idea what the hell he is doing. Then we all await Dallas's post draft preseason predictions. Dallas runs a huge set of self designed logarithms to predict where everyone will finish. He's a huge dork, and is usually way off. It's all part of the fun.

5. The NFL Season. I love football. I love sitting in my basement in front of the big screen all day. We switch which church service we go to just so I won't have to miss pregame. I might have to switch my lineup due to injury after all. I try to avoid watching preseason games just so the opening weekend is that much better. I think the Bears will be vastly improved. I am a huge optimist. This year your uncle Jordan and I plan on getting you and Charly together to teach you the finer points of the 4-3 Cover 2 defense and other important things. Football is awesome.

Summers on it's way out, fall is coming in. Soon days in the hammock will be replaced with nights by the fire pit. Grilling season will be replaced with grilling season... I grill all year. Charcoal. I wonder how old you have to be to eat pulled pork? Three weeks?

Nothing is Guaranteed

One of the most heralded pitching prospects of all time was Mark Prior. He was drafted by none other than the Chicago Cubs. Paired with Kerry Wood and to an extent Carlos Zambrano it looked like the Cubs were set to have a staff like the Atlanta Braves during the 1990's (Lead by Greg Maddux- Greatest Pitcher of the Modern Era, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine.)

Baseball, and life in general, gives hope and takes hope away. For a time in 2003 in looked like the curse was on it's way out. One fan interference and a few blown plays later the season was over. Unfortunately, so were Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. These weren't just great prospects

for my favorite team, they were can't miss once in a lifetime franchise saviors for the most down and out franchise of all time. A few arm surgeries and failed comebacks later, Prior is out of the league and Kerry is a journeyman.

I miss them both, and I admire them both. Kerry Wood came back to close games for the Cubs, and then as a reliever for other teams. He has had a respectable career and even has a shot at a ring as a member of the Yankees. It makes me shudder to think I might root for the Yankees at some point just because of him.

Prior's career has not gone as well. After leading the league in simulated innings and towel tosses (pitching rehab) he was traded to the Padres. He didn't do much there either. Years later he is now pitching in an independent league (Read: Last Resort) trying to get one more shot at the big show. I don't feel bad for him. He got to live a dream most of us would kill for. He made mad cash doing so. He got to experience the thrill of pitching in the postseason, and having the best fans in the world adore him.

I do admire him however. He's been at the the highest of highs. He's been close to the lowest of lows. He still has a dream, and he's still fighting like hell to get back. I don't know if he ever will get back, and almost certainly will never be what he was. I wish him well. He never gave his dream away for drugs and alcohol or anything stupid. He just ran into some bad luck with injuries. He has such a pretty delivery and he inspired so much hope. Good Luck Mark.

Kerry Wood used to be the nastiest pitcher alive. Watch the video on this link. It still gives me goosebumps thinking about what was, and what might have been.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080505&content_id=2645741&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc

Even though it seemed at one point that both were guaranteed to have Hall of Fame careers, neither has. Keep that in mind. You will likely not be a "can't miss prospect" in anything, and even if you are it might not happen. That doesn't mean you can't dream however.

Ron Santo

Ron Santo is my hero. I have never met Ron and I probably never will. That doesn't change the fact that I think the dude is an inspiration and someone to look up to. He doesn't know it but we have spent many afternoons and evenings together.

Ron Santo was, is, and always will be a Chicago Cub. Sure he had a season or two with another team, but he bleeds Cubby Blue. He had a Hall of Fame Worthy career as a player, has his number retired, and is the best color man on radio for my money.

Back in the day Ronnie was the 3rd baseman for the Chicago Cubs and he was the finest of his generation. Why isn't he in the Hall of Fame? Media people are stupid. I tried to find more eloquent wording there but sometimes you have to say it like it is. He did this all while dealing with diabetes. That might not sound like much now, but back in the day the medical community knew as much about diabetes as you will about cooties during elementary school. While you are fogging the area with invisible cans of "Cootie Spray" he was eating Snickers bars between innings trying to balance out his sugar levels. They didn't have the little blood sample kits, they didn't even know what the hell to look for if they did. They just knew that some people got all whacked out sometimes and a candy bar seemed like a good thing for it... Really. Science has come a long way. I will save you the statistical argument on the matter, but just know that when you stack him up against his contemporaries he was one of the best. If not the best. The whole time he managed a disease that could kill you with Snickers and a hunch.

After Ron left the field as a player he had to deal with a lifetime of managing diabetes with candy bars. He had both legs amputated, a bunch of other illnesses, and a generally rough go of things for quite awhile. Did he give up and feel sorry for himself? Hell no, he wouldn't be my hero if he had. He gave up a few limbs, got a sweet hair piece and returned to the booth.

Jack Brickhouse, Harrey Carrey, and even Pat Hughes get credit as being the voice of the Chicago Cubs. I wasn't around for Jack. Harrey was awesome, and I love Pat Hughes and even Steve Stone. To me there is only one voice of the Chicago Cubs. It's the voice of a former player, a current broadcaster, and the biggest Cub fan in the world. Ron Santo. You could cut out the sounds of the crowd, Pat's play by play, and just listen to Ronnie and know how the game is going. You don't need the count, the men on base, or anything else. The "Aw Geez" and "COME ON" from Santo says it all. My favorite two stories about Ron.

On night at Shea Stadium, the Met's old park, Ron got too close to the heater. His wig lit on fire. Everyone in the booth gave him shit all game. Ron was the happiest person in the world when Shea got torn down.

I was listening to a game one day when Ron says, "Aw geez! I just realized why the Cubs are playing so bad! They don't have a second basemen!"
Pat Hughes, "Well Ronnie, Mark DeRosa just went to grab his sunglasses, and here he comes back to second base."
Ron. "Aw Geez, Sorry."

Listening to a game with Ron Santo is like listening to a game with your Grandpa that just lives and dies with the team. I never had a grandpa like that, but I always pictured it that way. You will have an experience like that with your Grandpa Curt, except that he likes the Twins and you will always know that it's stupid that they have a DH.

Ron might not be in the Hall, but those of us that understand who is is and what he represents couldn't care less. Ron has his number retired by his team, and the hearts of millions of us that love listening to the game with him, and all those that had the joy to watch him. So really, who cares what a bunch of fat sports writers think?

Ron Santo- Hall of Famer in my book, and my hero. Watch This Old Cub and you will understand why.

Temper your expectations

The 2010 season is upon us, and with every season comes new hope. Sure the Cubs are due, but we should have hover cars by now and the last time the Cubs won the series a car was part of a train.

There are tons of life lessons that can come of being a Cubs fan. Patience, loyalty, belief, delusion, and panic being some of them. Nothing in life is given to you and sometimes what you wait for is only made sweeter by a long patient wait. Of course many Cubs fans die waiting for it... but let's not dwell on the negatives here. You are due to be born right during playoffs so let's just hope that you are the luck we have been waiting for. No pressure, it's just generations of Cubs fans that are counting on you.

Love the Cubs

It's not going to be easy. It's a path of failure, but if it ever works out it will be everything you put into it. But enough about me courting your mom.

Being a Cubs fan is a great thing. You will learn about faith, love, forgiveness, and redemption. I am hoping for the redemption part. You will learn about the failures on your own, we have a real flair for spectacular failure.

You will learn more by watching the process. If God wanted us to all worship success and indulgence we would be Yankees fans.
If God wanted us to complain about money and surround ourselves with garbage bags we would be Twins fans (ok, maybe the new stadium won't have garbage bag outfields)
If God wanted us to be drug dealers, hookers, or a democratic president we would be White Sox fans.

But if God wants us to be good God fearing Christians he would have us be Cubs fans. It takes faith, belief, and an undying commitment to something that hasn't happened in a really long time to buy into this dream. We are Cubs Fans.