A note to DU Cubs and Phillies fans

[WilliamPitt]

"I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming."

- Abraham Lincoln, "Letter to Mrs. Lydia Bixby," November 21, 1864

So yeah, the context is all wrong. The line above is from Lincoln's letter to a woman from Boston who lost five sons on Civil War battlefields...and this is just baseball. But as I was walking home from the bar tonight, after watching the evening's dual massacres, the line above wouldn't leave my mind.

I don't want any DU fans of the Rockies or Diamondbacks to take this as a snub. I went to a Diamondbacks game back in the summer of 2003 during a day off from a book tour, and pounded gigantic flagons of Flat Tire while watching (former Red Sox pitcher) Hideki Nomo face (former Red Sox hitter) Scott Hatteberg, and had a marvelous time...and also, any team that beat the Yankees to win the World Series deserves full props, period.

As for the Rockies, well, baseball has been the runt of the Colorado sports litter because of the Broncos, whose fans are awesome and make Denver a serious sports town for sure, so this is a good day. Plus, Denver is the town where Ray Borque was finally able to lift high the Cup, and that means everything to a Boston idiot like me, especially given the catastrophe we call the Bruins.

So I'm not hating.

...but I'm really feeling for all Cubs and Phillies fans tonight. I was rooting sooooooooo hard for a Phillies-Cubs NLCS. No two baseball teams in America deserve a championship more...and no two towns die harder and in more agony when another baseball year ends the way theirs ended tonight. As a matter of national security, it's a good thing the Eagles are idle this Sunday...because if the Iggles also lost after tonight's debacle, the entire city of Philadelphia might have burned to the very ground.

I'm a Boston fan, so mine is an old sports heritage regarding baseball. Same goes with Philly and Chicago...and with old-school teams like the Yankees and Indians in it as well, baseball was possibly looking at two championship series between four teams that have been living and dying through pro sports teams for over 100 years.

I want the Sox to win it all, of course...but a weight lifted after 2004, and it ocurred to me recently that if the Sox did make it to the Series but lost, I'd be honestly happy if that loss came at the hands of Philly or the Cubs.

Nothing helps, but maybe this: go back and watch the 2003 Sox-Yanks ALCS game 7, 9th inning, Aaron Boone, etc. 375 days later, we were drinking the sweet champagne. It did happen. It really did.

So... :hug: and :toast:

Congrats to Arizona and Colorado. Might be seeing one of you a couple weeks from now. :)

[HuskerDU]

1. Your kind words are greatly appreciated Will.

If this Cub team was really a great team, I'd be more disappointed. Still, we had a chance and blew it.

Congrats to the D-backs and the Rockies. Good luck to your Sox Will though I'll be pulling for the Indians from here out.

Happy baseball to all.

[cboy4]

2. Will stop making this sound like a funeral! LOL

The Cubs are an okay team with problems, and they only made the playoffs because they were in the Central Division and seemingly played the Pirates and the Reds and the Astros every other series. Not to mention the fact the Brewers collapsed. (The Milwaukee offense scares me more than the Chicago offense).

The Phillies are an okay team, with problems, who made the playoffs because they got hot near the end of the season. They caught the Mets who were otherwise in first place every single hour of the day throughout season up until that time.

So don't be "really feeling for all Cubs and Phillies fans," because I think deep down inside, the sensible ones realize they don't have a World Champion caliber team -- certainly not a team nearly as complete from top to bottom as the Red Sox.

The Cubs and Phillies aren't even as good as the Yankees and Angels, who are about to be eliminated.

on edit: grammar/typos

[cboy4]

3. Also Will, why would you say, " no two baseball teams

in America deserve a championship more?"

That's silly.

I admit the Cubs are due.

And even though it's been almost 30 years, the Phillies did win it all in 1980.

How about the Giants? Yea, they won a ring in 1954 while they were in New York. However, they haven't done shit in San Francisco. It's a nightmare for people like me who don't remember their glory days from New York!!

How about the Padres? Their fans are ready to drown themselves in the ocean...if they can even get there considering Cubs fans clog all of the freeways to the beachs!!!!!! LOL

Believe me, my heart doesn't ache for Philadelphia.

[WilliamPitt]

6. 99 years for the Cubs is a no-brainer

and Philly just needs to win a title in any sport. Name for me another old-school four-sport town since 1981 that has come so close so often and failed.

[cboy4]

8. No Will, we're not going to play whose suffered more

since 1981. LOL

Sure, it's been a long time in Philadelphia (just as it's been for a lot of cities), but at least their fans have enjoyed a World Seres title in 1980 and a couple of Stanley Cubs in the 1970's.

The city off of the 5 freeway hasn't won shiite, despite being teased and tortured mercilessly by the Chargers and the Padres.

And, they've suffered the nightmare of losing a professional franchise. That's bad enough losing a team, but they lost their NBA team to a city that already has a storied NBA team.

(It's not S.D.'s fault they don't have an NHL team.)

[rep the dems]

9. Well, for one thing the Giants just aren't a very good team.

Having a guy like Barry Bonds only makes them less deserving.

Plus you had lots of good days with the 49ers.

[Voltaire]

4. Thanks Will

This old time Phillies fan appreciates it!

[WilliamPitt]

5. Anyone saying, "Bah, the Phillies won in 1980"

doesn't get Philly...no other American city has a worse case of championship blue-balls to deal with. A four-sport town whose teams are always almost good enough is something one must experience to understand. Boston remembers 1986-1987 the way a lot of people remember the Kennedy assassination - the Sox and Buckner lose the Series, the Celtics lose the championship, the Patriots get mauled in the Super Bowl, and the Bruins lose the Cup...one after the other after the other after the other.

Grim.

Seriously. Search for "Boone 2003 ALCS" on youtube...and remember what happened the very next year.

:toast:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

7. Thank you Will :)

It's been 40 years of Philly fandom for me, from Pete Liske to Lowell Palmer to 5-for-1 to Fergie Jenkins and Ryne Sandberg to Insert Agita Here. Used to it seems a tad defeatist, so I'll go with it being All Too Familiar a heartache.

But, Division Champions will do nicely as a poultice for the winter :)

[Voltaire]

10. PETE LISKE!!!

I thought only I remembered Pete Liske. I go back to Norm Snead and I will not admit to anything earlier!!!

[regularguy]

11. Rocky Horror!

That was the headline in the sports section of the Inquirer the other day. Oh well another non championship season. (Last one: Sixers, when I was 20. Now I'm almost 45). Thanks for this post! I've lived in Boston and it sort of reminds me of Philly with a clean shirt on.