The Futility of Being a Cubs Fan

Maybe next Tuesday, I'll be smiling because the unthinkable happened. Maybe the folks at ESPN and SI are wrong and it isn't over.

I know at some level that it won't happen. Teams just don't recover from being down 0-2 in a best of five series. But I can't let go of that hope, that "maybe this time" attitude. Why? Because I'm a Chicago Cubs fan, and that's the way we are.

I started rooting for the Cubs when I was a little kid. On Saturdays during the summer, my dad would take me and my brother fishing. We'd come back in the afternoon, clean the fish, fry some up, and sit down in front of the TV. Apart from the national game of the week on the networks, there were only two teams to watch: the Braves (thanks to TBS) and the Cubs (thanks to WGN). And so was born an affection that became fandom when I moved to Chicago to go to college.

All season I have hedged my hopes, telling myself the Cubs were going to blow it and not even make the playoffs, that Carlos Zambrano's arm would fall off or that Aramis Ramirez would go into a ghastly 0-for-a-100 hitting slump. But they not only made the playoffs, they won their division and posted the best record in the NL. They were clearly the best team in the National League. So I began to hope...

I thank God that through Christ, I don't need to hedge my hopes, and I need not fear that my hopes will be crushed. I know that might sound tagged on or cliched -- I'm a pastor, and this blog is about Christian stuff, so I have to make it sound Christian... But at least for today as I write this, it's neither tagged on nor cliched. I went to bed last night disappointed, and I woke up feeling down and dragging through my morning. Proverbs 13:12 says that "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," and that is what I was experiencing. Over a baseball team. So I set about meditating on passages such as Romans 5:1-5, Ephesians 1:15-23, Titus 2:11-14, Hebrews 6:17-20, and I Peter 1:3-5.

There is a hope kept in heaven for me, a hope that will not be disappointed but will most certainly be fulfilled. My Lord is more precious and of greater worth than anything else, and certainly moreso than any sporting event or organization. And that is a great encouragement at all times.

And just because they're down 0-2 doesn't mean it's over for the Cubs.